I had the huge pleasure of seeing 1980s icons Soft Cell at Hampton Court Palace this week. And what a joy it was. Marc Almond in magnificent voice exuding energy and charisma in abundance, Dave Ball (performing in a wheelchair following his fractured vertebrae last year) in every sense the straight man. From classics like Torch, Bedsitter, Say Hello Wave Goodbye and of course Tainted Love to newer material like Nostalgia Machine and rousing encore Purple Zone, the band soon had its somewhat ageing fan base on their feet and singing along. I thought they were the best band around in the 1980s – and hindsight hasn’t changed my mind. They are retrospectively so underrated it’s a crime.
We all lionise the music of the era we grew up in. It relates automatically due to being the sound of our formative years; we heard it when it was new and fresh. But when I try to look back dispassionately on my teenage years, I think the early 1980s (up to 85) does stand the test of time. ,
The New Romantic/new wave/electronic scene in the UK spawned some truly great bands. The Human League and Duran Duran competed at the top of the charts, while the likes of Echo and the Bunnymen, Visage, Japan, OMD, Tears For Fears Heaven 17, The Teardrop Explodes, Yazoo and ABC were all churning out distinctive sounds. The Cure built on their late 70s emergence, Joy Division became New Order. David Bowie – the godfather of it all via Low and Scary Monsters – teamed up with Nile Rodgers to produce his most successful album yet. The Smiths emerged towards the end of the era, changing indie music forever. The late 80s feels less glorious, though a special mention for The The for producing the best albums of that period. But that early 80s period remains definitive – and Soft Cell were a huge part of it.
Everyone remembers Soft Cell for their massive pop hit, Tainted Love – and those who were there remember even more fondly the extended version which segues into a relentless Where Did Our Love Go? But they were so much more than that one song.
Their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret is ground-breaking – it redefined what synth pop could be. I bought it on the strength of three magnificent singles – Tainted Love, Bedsitter and the devastating Say Hello Wave Goodbye (one of the truly great break up songs), but there was so much more to enjoy – Sex Dwarf, Secret Life, and Chips On My Shoulder among the best. The whole album evokes a sleazy underworld where pimps and perversions lurk around dark corners as a neon-lit nightlife unfolds. It’s dark but tongue in cheek; there’s a kitsch enthusiasm to the whole production (which was allegedly recorded on ecstasy). Soft Cell felt wonderfully transgressive and distinct: nobody else was like them. When non-album single Torch and a cover of the 1960s song What provided took them to five successive top 5 hits, they were also, briefly, a massive mainstream success.
There followed the mini-album Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing – mainly remixes of earlier material, including their iconic (but unsuccessful) early dance-based single, Memorabilia, and the afore-mentioned Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go hybrid along with the What cover. It kept them firmly in the public eye ahead of their second full album.
The Art of Falling Apart is smoother and less danceable while exploring similar themes; Almond said at the time he was fascinated by “filth” and his lyrics continued to explore the seediness beneath the surface of shiny bars and nightclubs, while also painting pictures of the mundanity of suburban life: tensions with parents in Where The Heart Is and the dullness of a routine, meaningless existence in Forever The Same (a theme previously explored in debut album opener Frustration). The gorgeous Loving You Hating Me was somehow never a single; it may have reversed a trend whereby the band’s chart success never again hit the dizzy heights of those first five singles.
Their third album This Last Night In Sodom was something of a departure: the themes remained similar but the music was more experimental. It was wrongly seen at the time as one for the diehards: the reality is that it’s as underrated as the band are. Down In The Subway is a great cover; Soul Inside, Little Rough Rhinestone and L’Esqualita (which foreshadows the Spanish/Latin influences on some of Almond’s solo material) are all magnificent; album closer Where Was Your Heart (When You Needed It Most) is a great sign off for a band who had already announced they would be parting after this recording. It is even darker, more raucous and possibly slightly less cohesive than the first two albums, but it felt like a very fitting end to the Soft Cell story arc.
Except the story wasn’t over. After the pair went their separate ways and pursued different projects – Almond has had a successful solo career including a number one hit with Gene Pitney – they suddenly reunited for a fourth studio album in 2002. Cruelty Without Beauty was largely unheralded but very good, notably the cover of Frankie Valli’s The Night and new songs like Monoculture, Last Chance and the magnificent Darker Times. The songs are definitively and unmistakeably Soft Cell, but with all the advantages of 21st century production.
Another long hiatus followed, then last year Happiness Not Included appeared: it’s not just a great Soft Cell album, it was honestly as good as anything that anyone did in 2022. Purple Zone, their collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys, saw them back in the singles charts, and the album generally has so much to recommend it: Bruises On All My Illusions, Happy Happy Happy and New Eden among the standouts. Some of the themes are similar, others are new, reflecting on ageing, the disappointments of technology and unfulfilled dreams. The album’s a triumph: Soft Cell didn’t need it to confirm their status as my favourite 80s band, but it was great that they could also be my favourite band of 2022.
Soft Cell’s influence on electronic music was huge: they brought fun and debauchery to the mix in a way others had not thought of. Bands as diverse as Nine Inch Nails and the Pet Shop Boys cite them as a major influence: indeed, as good as they are, it’s sometimes tempting to see the Pet Shop Boys as a sanitised, poppy stab at being Soft Cell.
The band have hardly been prolific as a duo: they produced three albums and a mini-album and then disappeared until 2002, then again until 2022. But they were consistently brilliant, ground breaking and distinct: Almond’s voice and lyrics over the backdrop of Ball’s synthesisers sounds as great in 2023 as it did in the early 80s. There were lots of great electronic bands around then; for me Soft Cell top them all.
Rory writes 