In the spring of 1982, The Human League's "Don't You Want Me" was a hit, but that summer, Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" was a phenomenon. Staying on the Billboard charts for 52 weeks straight, the single made it clear that the new wave of British synthesizer bands were commercially viable in America. AM radio stations even willingly played the nine-minute extended version of the song, which paired the obscure Ed Cobb (of "Dirty Water" fame) R&B tune with a complete reworking of a certified soul landmark, Holland-Dozier-Holland's "Where Did Our Love Go."
That second song is included--though "Tainted Love" isn't--on the EP NON-STOP ECSTATIC DANCING, which collects extended mixes of several other Soft Cell singles, including the remarkable "What?" and the contents-under-pressure "Insecure...Me?" alongside a remix of the album track "Sex Dwarf." This is one of the first and best of the early-'80s remix EPs, or "mini-albums."
