August 2, 2006 was when I became an official Soft Cell fan.
Ironically it’s also my grandmother’s birthday she would have been 82 if she
were alive. At the time I was 13 going on 14 becoming a fan of Soft Cell. I was
unsure of what music choice I was into at the time. I was obsessed with P!nk at
one point, then listened to multiple artists from the 80’s and even classical
music; I still listen to these types of music by the way. But when I heard
“Tainted Love” for the first time, that I can think of, it was during between
June and July, I had the Music Choice channel on cable and “Tainted Love” going
off and I immediately wrote down the song and artists’ name before the song
went off. I was asking my mother, aunts and my grandparents have you heard of
the song. So far only my aunts and my mother heard of it. My mother showed me this really, really old
tape (I’ll add a photo of it) she liked the song when it came out and she
recorded it off the radio. You can tell it was old but it didn’t sound that bad
and somehow she managed to capture the full version of the song. Before I was
exposed with technology full on, I almost wore her tape. So I finally decided
to make CDs with “Tainted Love” and then the power of downloading and all, had
so many versions. Then my cousin, Dario bought me my first Soft Cell CD, which
was their compilation The Very Best of Soft Cell. At the time, I only thought “Tainted Love”
was their only hit or song really, I was so obsessed with it, like literately.
I mean every time the song played, they wondered where I was. Then I remembered
I printed out so many photos of Soft Cell to the point, I compiled a collage
jive book, my aunt called it, with photos, interviews, just about everything.
When I actually did more researches on them, I realized they had more songs to
be expected. Now I’ll be quite honest, I was actually afraid of what to listen
to because of the track titles. I honestly had no idea what I was about to get
myself into. I mean I never heard such track titles like “Sex Dwarf”,
“Bedsitter” or even “Entertain Me”. Then I checked out what “erotic” meant and
was nervous because at the time, I was intimidated with sexual stuff, but after
a while. I wanted to explore Soft Cell, regardless of what the case may be. I
heard bits from their first and second albums. Then when Tower Records was
still around, I begged my mother to buy me Soft Cell’s first album, she was mad
but she bought it anyway. I really like the album actually wore it out, it was
so full of scratches and then later on buying more of their albums, all went
terrible until I downloaded their tracks and then when those were deleted on my
grandmother’s computer. I finally managed to get them recently thanks to Amoeba
Music. Actually because of Soft Cell, it opened doors for me when It came to
music. I started reading articles that I printed out and seeing bands like Pet
Shop Boys, Bronski Beat, Human League, etc, I soon later became interested into
the bands and there are more I need to explore like Kraftwerk, and so on. I
didn’t even know at the time Neil Tennant was part of the Pet Shop Boys since
there was an article where he claimed “If it wasn’t for Soft Cell, there
wouldn’t be no Pet Shop Boys, Soft Cell realized we could form a group.” It was
amazing how bigger artists and bands had so much to say about this band and
especially being America too. I was quite astounded. My adoration went even further with them in
middle school where people at school told me I liked a gay band, I should
listen to rap, or they don’t know you exist and all that stuff. I couldn’t stop
listening to Soft Cell, their lyrics really spoke out to me. So I had folders
where I spelled out the name and the band mate’s names throughout my items.
Then even used some of the photos I had into clear slots, where I would flash
out Soft Cell pictures and stuff. What was so funny, at the time I still
remembered walking around with the Soft Cell scrapbook with me to school at the
time. Even someone gotten me into trouble because I had an almost nude photo of
Marc Almond that I gave to someone, they wanted to keep it after class. I
actually thought the person was a fan, but it turned out she was only doing it
for a mere friendship. She told me she had photos of Marc Almond that were “rare”
which were common photos I already seen. Told me innumerous lies about Soft
Cell were with mainstream artists and all that. Soft Cell only around briefly
in the 2000s and there was no way they would be around any mainstream artist,
not that I know of. Even this dude was gay and still mocked me for liking them.
It was crazy at my middle school year. I remember this one girl told me that
Rihanna actually sampled the track for her song “S.O.S.” song and guess what,
it was a big hit, not really a shocker because the song is still popular to
this day. I don’t care if it was a big hit, I love the song regardless of what
people have to say. Even yesterday my neighbor across from the apartment, had a
movie playing and I heard “Tainted Love” which was bizarre because my fan
anniversary was very soon and then by finding Bedsit Tapes, I was so excited.
But going back to fans, I did meet a hand full of fans. One that so into them, he was younger than
me, but later stopped liking them because of the gay thing, which, I’m thinking
you just now realized that? I knew Marc Almond was gay, I used to think Dave
Ball was his partner but after reading, I immediately gotten that out of my
system. What angered me was that the fan have so much rare items of them it was
crazy. He never gotten back to me about it, but it’s fine the technology is so
advance it’s possible to retrieve. I met this other nut from South America; I don’t
know what his issue was honestly. He was a fan of Soft Cell and the Pet Shop
Boys, he seems popular with YouTube, I think that’s also how I took an interest
on them too. All I can was that he called me a stupid black girl in Spanish
then few months later talking to the previous fan I mentioned and claiming he
wasn’t a racist. As if I would believe that. He sketched and all, his art was
alright, but he needed improvement. All this was on MySpace and messenger by
the way. Then I found out karma had him when he made that animal cruelty video
using a Marc Almond song and Marc hated that. Hell he probably hated me too
because I mentioned Soft Cell or something, but I am an American fan, I didn’t
know anything at the time. Actually I came across a few of Marc’s associates,
then to find out he doesn’t want to do with them anymore, for some odd reason.
But not all fans were assholes or changed because of ridiculous reasons. I met
others who didn’t want to do anything with me, jut because they were stuck up
fans and all that. I did; however, met some awesome fan friends: Yvonne Moore,
Elaine Darvas, and Jacqueline. I would say more but I found out they were
nutcases looking for attention like the Pet Shop Boys fans I met on Facebook. I
honestly don’t understand the whole superior thing, but they will learn one
day. Anyway, so far I stayed in touch with those Marc Almond fans, our
friendship never really faded out. I met a few more that were nice or decent
but I kept my distances only because I don't want any ruckus with anybody. It was quite a war, even then no matter what superior
fans want to think, if it came from the horses’ mouth, then there’s nothing
more to say. I still love Soft Cell, even Marc Almond’s solo work and
collaborations. I don’t know what made me really drawn to the music, but I
really adore their way of thinking and they were unique and weren’t afraid to
be artists. I must say I’m a proud fan of them and it will take a lot to get me
off of them. Then by getting awesome gifts lately, it really had it in my mind;
that it was fate that I would be into this band. I’m not sure on what date I
became a pethead but I will post about it around my birthday. Don’t worry I have no hatred on fans, I’m only
pointed out what happened during the years. I would like to continue meeting
awesome fans. Overall I didn't have that much trouble with the fans rather than the Pet Shop Boys fans.
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