While I normally focus on newer music, there's always something to discover from the past. Paleolistening is a new category of review I'll be doing here, focusing on music twenty years or older.
The song "Tainted Love" has always been one of those unspeakably cheesy old songs that occasionally comes up on the radio, or gets covered by Marilyn Manson. While I'd always liked the lyrics, I could never get past the obnoxiously bouncy sound to it. Even MM didn't do a thing about how goofy it was. Adding some base and slowing it down slightly didn't alter the thick, gooey cheese of the song itself.
Somebody, somewhere, found a way to turn that cheese to gold, though:
The song "Tainted Love" has always been one of those unspeakably cheesy old songs that occasionally comes up on the radio, or gets covered by Marilyn Manson. While I'd always liked the lyrics, I could never get past the obnoxiously bouncy sound to it. Even MM didn't do a thing about how goofy it was. Adding some base and slowing it down slightly didn't alter the thick, gooey cheese of the song itself.
Somebody, somewhere, found a way to turn that cheese to gold, though:
The experimental British band Coil came out with this cover of Ed Cobbs' composition in 1985 and it was the very first AIDS benefit music release. All profits from the sale of this single were donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust.
This re-imagining of a broken heart as a broken body, viewing the song through the lens of the AIDS crisis is absolutely brilliant. It's so slow, intense and absolutely relentless. This isn't a feel-good song, but one that drags you down to its miserable level. Instead of those obnoxious Casio poundings from the more familiar Soft Cell cover, an orchestra hammers the listener like blows to the heart. Finally, those lyrics that were always the best part of the song are given the treatment they deserve. The video only enhances the atmosphere created by the song, giving it an almost mythological feel as it lingers over images of a hospital room, slowly drizzling honey, and captured flies. This is one of those rare videos that needs to be watched again and again to really catch all of the fabulous little details, like a fine piece of art.
This re-imagining of a broken heart as a broken body, viewing the song through the lens of the AIDS crisis is absolutely brilliant. It's so slow, intense and absolutely relentless. This isn't a feel-good song, but one that drags you down to its miserable level. Instead of those obnoxious Casio poundings from the more familiar Soft Cell cover, an orchestra hammers the listener like blows to the heart. Finally, those lyrics that were always the best part of the song are given the treatment they deserve. The video only enhances the atmosphere created by the song, giving it an almost mythological feel as it lingers over images of a hospital room, slowly drizzling honey, and captured flies. This is one of those rare videos that needs to be watched again and again to really catch all of the fabulous little details, like a fine piece of art.
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