Tainted Love: From Nina Simone to Kendrick Lamar

by Alex Coles

The first book-length inquiry into the twisted romantic ballad, giving a sense of both its history and contemporary currency.

Titled after Soft Cell's version of the original 1965 Gloria Jones track, Tainted Love is the first book-length inquiry into the subject of the twisted romantic ballad, giving a sense of both its history and contemporary currency. Sometimes extreme, this twist to the conventional romantic ballad spans across gender and generational boundaries to subvert our understanding of both the genre’s function and its behavior. Each chapter of Tainted Love takes a deep dive into a single twisted ballad, examining both its inner workings—lyrics, melody, and vocal approach—and its broader cultural resonance.

Featuring an analysis of songs by Kendrick Lamar, Nina Simone, Roxy Music, Joni Mitchell, The Velvet Underground, Frank Sinatra, Soft Cell, Paul McCartney, Charlotte & Serge Gainsbourg, PJ Harvey & Nick Cave, and Little Simz, this book turns on the What compels songwriters to compose—and us to listen to—these warped songs?

Genres: Music

96 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2023

Reviews

[Eve Machin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not think it was v well-written so admittedly stopped reading …!

[caroline anhalt]

It picked up towards the end, I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did! First half felt deeeense and impersonal but second half felt a lot more relatable (I think I knew the music better). Some1 borrow this! It’s fascinating

[menschorama · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. interesting! but not thatttt interesting. cool to read bc music analysis like this is something i’m interested in doing but i don’t think this was groundbreaking for me. totally worth reading tho!

[Joseph Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A generous 4 stars. The intention is good and the book starts off well. Mostly engaging writing which falls short in some places.
Definitely looking for a second book. The potential is there and hopefully will be an improvement.

[Harry · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5. really sad that i didn’t love this. made some interesting points but on a critical level, did not love the analysis or how it presents its ideas. interesting stuff left unexplained or major claims just dropped with no real follow through. however, am fond of any project that connects joni, kendrick, nick cave, and simz.

[Kaitlin Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this while listening to music.

At first I was kind of over the annotations of the first couple songs mentioned. Lot of very obvious observations BUT I think I had crazy expectations for this book when in reality it’s just an opinion piece. It’s a very relaxing book to read. Sets your mind at ease.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

[I'm not writing any sort of review on here anymore, as Amazon owns GoodReads and is not a friend to bookstores and more entities that I love. Pls read the book 50 Ways to Protect Bookstores, and yeah, I'm not long for this platform.]

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I almost never write negative reviews but this book really irked me. It sounded like it was written in high school English class by someone who just discovered music last week. I can't believe this guy is a professor. I hope not an English professor :|

[Phoebe Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting insight and stories behind well known songs/albums, written in an academic style which made it hard to get through at times

[Milena Verdesia · Rating 2 out of 5]

El concepto está interesante pero fácil pudo haber sido un blog post 🤧

[bby gengar · Rating 2 out of 5]

the book attempts storytelling behind iconic songs but falls short. part analysis and part art appreciation but for me it didn’t succeed in doing so effectively

[Sofia Stivale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly I love music so much but this book was so much more dry than I expected. I liked the concepts tho!

[Adrian Burger · Rating 5 out of 5]

not the most lyrical - no pun intended lol - writing i've ever encountered but i didnt feel it needed to be that way! well researched, highly engaging, and didn't overstay its welcome (you could read it at a leisurely pace and still finish it in an hour)

won't be everyone's cup of tea but if you're a self-proclaimed music nerd i would definitely recommend it :)

xmas gift so had no expectations, which i think helped - overall thoroughly enjoyed it!