Marilyn Manson released “Tainted Love” to U.S. rock and alternative radio on November 13, 2001. Recorded for the Not Another Teen Movie soundtrack, the single paired Manson with producer Tim Skold before Skold joined the band. Their work on the cover preceded a partnership that would continue through the next studio album, The Golden Age of Grotesque.
The song had already traveled between musical worlds. Ed Cobb wrote it, and Gloria Jones released it in 1965 as the B-side of “My Bad Boy’s Comin’ Home.” Soft Cell rebuilt it as electronic pop and reached No. 1 in Britain in 1981. Manson’s recording drew on that arrangement, giving the soundtrack a connection to 1980s pop through a composition whose history stretched back to American soul.
That history fit the soundtrack’s retrospective approach, but Manson described a more personal attraction to the music. In a 2002 Kerrang! interview, he told Ian Winwood that nostalgia hadn’t been his motivation for recording “Tainted Love,” even though he recognized it as part of the film soundtrack’s concept. What he remembered liking about new wave was its darker character and the unusual imagery that accompanied it on MTV. “I did like the real coldness of it,” he said. His interest was in how that music had made him feel.
Manson placed the recording in the stretch immediately after the tour supporting Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death). He told Winwood that he had gone straight from touring into recording the cover, painting and writing his next album. The single’s production credits joined Manson and Skold, with Ben Grosse contributing additional production and mixing. That combination connected the soundtrack recording to the work taking shape around it: all three would have production roles on The Golden Age of Grotesque.
The accompanying video kept the film connection visible. Manson arrived at a suburban high school party populated by members of the movie’s cast, while drummer Joey Jordison appeared in a cameo. The setting gave the cover its own encounter between the singer’s image and the teen-comedy world of the film. It won Best Video at the 2002 Kerrang! Awards.
The single’s British chart success followed its American radio launch. In 2002, “Tainted Love” reached No. 5 on the Official Singles Chart and spent three weeks in the Top 10. A recording made for a film soundtrack had also become a substantial pop-chart hit.
Skold joined the band as bassist in May 2002 and continued working with Manson on The Golden Age of Grotesque. When that album arrived in 2003, international editions included “Tainted Love” as a bonus track, placing the earlier collaboration alongside the music that followed it. The recording subsequently appeared on the 2004 compilation Lest We Forget: The Best Of.
