Tainted Love Analysis

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Written and composed by musician and songwriter Ed Cobb, there are many different cover versions of this song that have been recorded by a vast number of diverse artists throughout the decades who have all brought something new to their own version. These include popular artists such as Marilyn Manson, in 2002, and The Pussycat Dolls, in 2004, along with less known acts such as New Jersey band Shades Apart, in 1995, and Singer/Songwriter Hannah Peel, in 2010, whose version was used in the popular television show American Horror Story.
This specific version of Tainted Love was first released on a cassette tape as part of a compilation track recorded in Glasgow by an initiative represented by the acronym NEET – Not in Education, Employment or …show more content…

The opening bars of the song have the ability to reel in a listener with its serious bass and slow tempo while also giving the honest impression that it is ‘not a crisp, clean, studio production’ (Sawers, 2017) with its ‘warm and fuzzy sound’ (Sawers, 2017). From the beginning until the end it is obvious that this has not been professionally produced and recorded but that adds to the style of the track and makes it different from all of the other cover versions that exist. There is a nice balance between the instrumental recordings and the added effects throughout, and it is these effects that are the main reason this version of the song is so vastly different to others as they cause the vocals to acquire an echo effect which, along with the background effects, helps to give the piece a cosmic and intergalactic sound. Heard clearly throughout the piece are live guitars, keyboards and vocals which add to the originality of the cover as many popular songs are not recorded with live instruments but with recordings and technology to make the desired sounds. The fact that NEET have opted to use live instruments really helps their version to stand out amongst the others and also show that it is possible to create a good piece of music using both live instruments and technology to produce background effects that compliment the sounds. All of …show more content…

This quote is relevant to both NEET and Soft Cell’s covers of Tainted Love as in order for people who were only aware of Gloria Jones’ original version of the song to want to listen to these covers they still had to contain the same overall shape and structure as the original. For example, if the lyrics or the overall tune of the song had been changed by Soft Cell or NEET then people may be less likely to listen to them as they may believe that they were attempting to change an already perfectly pleasant song, so by keeping the overall theme of the song the same they could please even fans of the

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