Directed by Tim Pope, Soft Cell’s Sex Dwarf video, released to promote their debut album, created quite a scandal in 1981. Claiming it was pornographic, British police actually confiscated copies of the video. It was banned from MTV at the time and has been banned from YouTube…though it pops up now and then.
 
The Sex Dwarf clip reminds me of the films of Jack Smith and The Kuchar Brothers, mashed up with Texas Chainsaw Massacre: a Bacchanalian group grope full of writhing bodies, hot flesh and a chainsaw. Enjoy it in all its sleazy glory. 
 

 
Tim Pope and Marc Almond discuss the making of “Sex Dwarf.”
 

Well, that was pretty crazy.

very much in line w/coum transmission, psychic tv, kenneth anger etc. it’s nuts but pretty far out. also reminds me of hermann kitsch.

I had friends that weren’t allowed to listen to Soft Cell because of this song and video.

I liked Soft Cell when they came into the US scene, because they were, like Almond’s voice, just hard to figure out what was the intended pitch. This vid seems one-note and more cliche (no offense to Pope) than Brit Bondage, in an era where “spanking” themed magazines were common to find in the London newstands “topshelf”. Anyway, it seemed Soft Cell would soon adjust their image to accomodate the surprising success of their “Tainted Love”. And that fit them overall much better. Whatever was implied by this early direction was left to return later, more aesthetically and certainly more sensibly belonging in Marc’s solo work.

This song was my anthem during high school in the mid-80s, singing the lyrics in the hall walking from class to class.  Yes, the girls loved it.

Marc Almond is an icon, and not just a “gay icon.” 

He belongs with Reed, Iggy, and Bowie as one of the great decadent rock singers.

I missed this. What can you say? Pretty radical

Tits, chainsaws, and meat. Check.  This video has everything I need.

The song is a masterpiece; an incredible slab of danceable darkness.

The video on the other hand is a rather embarassing attempt to shock, which was Almond’s rather juvenile way at the time. Bondage! Meat! Sex! Oh my! It just looks incredibly silly, even amateurish; not shocking at all.

The song is a masterpiece; an incredible slab of danceable darkness.

The video on the other hand is an embarrassing attempt to shock, which was Almond’s rather juvenile way at the time. Bondage! Meat! Sex! Oh my! It just looks incredibly silly, even amateurish; not shocking at all.

As far as I know it, the song was dedicated/related to Gen P and his obsessions

Didn’t these guys do some kind of Tainted Love remix with Coil? I seem to remember a related video directed by Derek Jarman or something.

If the video is currently banned from Youtube, how come the link is from Youtube?

Will,

at the time that I originally posted this piece on Dangerous Minds, the video was banned from Youtube.
This new upload has been only up for a day. We’ll see if it stays up.

Hm.  Somehow, this video full of people humping raw meat is still less stomach-turning than Hardee’s ad featuring Kate Upton humping a burger.