Photo: Distributed by Sire Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Soft Cell
Soft Cell were Marc Almond and Dave Ball, two Leeds art students who turned cheap synthesizers and a taste for sleaze into some of the sharpest pop of the early eighties. Their 1981 cover of "Tainted Love" became one of the defining singles of the era, and songs like "Bedsitter" and "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" proved they could write heartache as well as they could borrow it. They burned fast, splitting in 1984, but their mix of synth-pop, torch song, and club culture echoes through just about every alternative pop act that followed.
Start here
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (1981). Their debut and the record that made them. It has "Tainted Love," "Bedsitter," and "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" all on one album, and nothing they did later captures the seedy, tender world they built quite as completely.
Biography
Soft Cell are an English synth-pop band who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They consisted of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball until the latter's death in 2025. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their platinum-selling debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.
In the United Kingdom, Soft Cell had twelve top 40 hits, including "Tainted Love" (No. 1), "Torch" (No. 2), "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye", "What" (both No. 3), and "Bedsitter" (No. 4). They also had four top 20 albums between 1981 and 1984. The duo split in 1984 but reformed in 2001 to tour and release a new album. They held a reunion concert in London on 30 September 2018, stating it would be their last live UK performance as a duo but that they may still perform abroad and record together.
Soft Cell's songs have been covered by several artists, including David Gray, Coil and Nine Inch Nails. Their track "Memorabilia" earned recognition for the band as pioneers of the synth-oriented techno genre. The duo have sold in excess of ten million records world-wide.
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Studio albums
Discography
Official studio albums and EPs.
- 2026DanceteriaAlbum
- 2026The Rainbow RoomEP
- 2026The Space InsideEP
- 2026In Heaven (When I Dance With You)EP
- 2025First Hand Experience In Second Hand LoveEP
- 2024Memorabilia / A Man Could Get Lost E.P.EP
- 2024*Happiness Now DigitalAlbum
- 2023*Happiness Now CompletedAlbum
- 2022*Happiness Not IncludedAlbum
- 2021Tainted LoveEP
- 2002Cruelty Without BeautyAlbum
- 1984This Last Night in SodomAlbum
- 1983The Art of Falling ApartAlbum
- 1981Non-Stop Erotic CabaretAlbum
- 1980Mutant Moments EPEP
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