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Dave Ball RIP
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
Musings on the byways of popular culture
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https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/oct/23/dave-ball-hitmaker-as-one-half-of-soft-cell-dies-aged-66
Talented bloke. Must have been a great collaborator, since he was half of two very different duos that were at the top of their games. Soft Cell just wrapped up a new album, which will be interesting to hear. I’ll spin Leviathan by The Grid/Fripp now…
That’s very sad. Soft Cell being a huge pop band is, in hindsight, incredible. But also brilliant.
I am sad to hear of his untimely passing. I’ve never been particularly thrilled by Soft Cell, but I do like to give Electric Head a spin every now and again. Condolences to all his friends and family. Much too young to leave us.
That is sad news. As is said above, two absolute classic double acts, Soft Cell and The Grid in which he weaved his musical magic. I’m more of a Grid fan, loving so many of their tracks, I don’t know which clip to put here in tribute. Maybe later a separate list inviting favourite clips of any and all Ball-related tunes (as long as it’s Dave, not Tommy). But what a catalogue of great music!
Very sad to hear this news. RIP.
Torch. What a song!
I recently bought a load of Soft Cell 12″ singles. My goodness, when they were good they were great.
RIP, Dave.
What @fentonsteve said.
SHAWG remains a huge fave of mine
I remember hearing it for the first time in Davids Records in Bracknell. It was a brilliant record shop and not a little intimidating to the mid teen me. There were about 8 people in the shop at the time including a couple of serious punks (Bracknell was about 4 years behind London at the time).
Nothing out of the ordinary until the chorus came in. Everybody stopped looking at stuff and started looking in the air and at each other. Literally stopped in our tracks.
It still has that effect on my now. Stunning song.
A song so good it deserves to be written in full Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
There were a lot of bands in the years 1980 to 84 that I loved at the time, but seldom listen to nowadays, if at all. Soft Cell are one of the few exceptions.
It was the 12” of Tainted Love that got me first – I don’t remember where it was but it was very loud. That transition into Where Did Our Love Go is so damned clever and I became a fan immediately.
Dave Ball had that ability to create a mechanical sounding groove ready to be complemented nicely by human emotion.
There are days when I am of the considered opinion that Bedsitter by The Fabulous Soft Cell is the best UK pop single of the post war period.
RIP Dave
The run of singles following Tainted Love was extraordinary in terms of quality. Bedsitter, Say Hello Wave Goodbye, Torch and What! – the B side of What! is a lovely instrumental called “So”. It’s a lovely relaxed groove. One of those pieces that builds and builds and could possibly go on forever.
One of the best bands in history, IMO, and he of course had a massive part in that.
Although I confess I’m more emotionally invested in Marc Almond…today I’m sad, but when Marc goes I’ll cry.
It’s sad news. Soft Cell will endure as a great pop group (my young nieces have heard of them) and I loved The Grid’s “Flotation”: that moment around 1990 when music was getting weird and trippy around the edges as hallucinogens were back in fashion. Goodbye, Dave Ball.
In some ways it’s hard to believe these two are the same song – both sound amazing and capture my head, but such different tempos and feels: