The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their platinum-selling debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.

Soft Cell's songs have been covered by several artists, including David Gray, Coil and Nine Inch Nails.

[8] Soft Cell's next recording, "The Girl with the Patent Leather Face", appeared as a contribution to the Some Bizzare Album, which included Depeche Mode, the The, and Blancmange.

The band opted to record a cover version of "Tainted Love", an obscure 1965 northern soul track originally released by Gloria Jones (the girlfriend of Marc Bolan at the time of his death) and written by Ed Cobb of the Four Preps.

8 single in the United States and went on to set a Guinness World Record at the time for the longest consecutive stay (43 weeks) on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

[14][9] Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret garnered two additional hits: "Bedsitter" dealt with the loneliness and lifestyle of a young man having recently left home to live in a bedsit while partying hard.

The song was highly acclaimed in a retrospective review by AllMusic journalist Ned Raggett who wrote that it "ranks as one of the best, most realistic portrayals of urban life recorded.

[17] In June 1982, as was the trend at the time, the duo released a mini album titled Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing, containing remixes of older material along with their new single, "What!

Soft Cell's third album release, appropriately titled The Art of Falling Apart, was a Top 5 hit in the UK but the singles were only modest successes.

They played farewell concerts at Hammersmith Palais in January, and released one final album called This Last Night in Sodom (UK No.

The track "God Shaped Hole" featured on the Some Bizzare compilation titled I'd Rather Shout at a Returning Echo than Kid Someone's Listening, released during 2001.

Soft Cell had considered recording "The Night" in place of "Tainted Love" during 1981, though keyboardist David Ball stated in a 2003 interview with the BBC, "I think history has kind of shown that we did make the right choice [in 1981]".

The album included Soft Cell tracks remixed by such acts as Paul Dakeyne, the Grid, Manhattan Clique, Cicada, Richard X, Ladytron, MHC, Atomizer, Mark Moore, Spektrum, The Dark Poets and many more.

On 21 August 2018, Almond revealed on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 that Soft Cell were releasing two new tracks ahead of the concert: "Northern Lights" and "Guilty (Cos I Say You Are)".

Originally to be part of the UK June Record Store Day 2020, the 10 inch EP was sold directly through the band's website, as the event was cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

[29] In July 2021, the duo announced that their new album would be called Happiness Not Included and would feature tracks such as "Heart Like Chernobyl", "Light Sleepers" and "Nostalgia Machine".