Pop Trash

It was the only album the band released under Hollywood Records. After the album's poor sales, Duran Duran's contract with the label was terminated, and they would not release an album until 2004's Astronaut."{{cite magazine |last=Grigoriadis |first=Vanessa |date=21 April 2005 |title=Still Pretty |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7266342/still_pretty |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=23 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108054708/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/7266342/still_pretty |archive-date=8 January 2007}} The album artwork, created by Andrew Day, features a rhinestone-encrusted car that belonged to Liberace.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

From July 2008, the album was made available for sale digitally through the iTunes Store in the United States and Europe, along with Medazzaland.{{cite web |date=16 July 2008 |title=Pop Trash and Medazzaland on iTunes! |url=https://duranduran.com/2008/pop-trash-and-medazzaland-on-itunes/ |website=duranduran.com |access-date=17 July 2008}} In 2021, the band signed a deal for the album with BMG (along with Medazzaland, Astronaut and Red Carpet Massacre) which saw it being re-issued in the UK on various digital platforms.{{cite web |last=Sinclair |first=Paul |date=19 March 2021 |title=Duran Duran's Medazzaland is officially available in the UK for the very first time |url=https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/duran-durans-medazzaland-is-officially-available-in-the-uk-for-the-very-first-time/ |website=SuperDeluxeEdition |access-date=24 March 2021}} A CD reissue was released on 17 August 2022.{{cite web |title=Duran Duran – Pop Trash |url=https://hmv.com/store/music/cd/pop-trash |website=hmv.com |publisher=HMV |access-date=1 October 2022}}

{{Music ratings

|MC = 52/100{{cite web |title=Pop Trash by Duran Duran |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/pop-trash/duran-duran |website=Metacritic |access-date=17 August 2024}}

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite web |last=Proefrock |first=Stacia |title=Pop Trash – Duran Duran |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/pop-trash-mw0000063120 |website=AllMusic |access-date=17 August 2024}}

| rev2 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev2score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |publisher=Omnibus Press |edition=5th concise |year=2011 |last=Larkin |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Larkin (writer) |isbn=978-0-85712-595-8 }}

| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev3score = C{{cite magazine |last=Willman |first=Chris |date=16 June 2000 |title=Pop Trash |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,276460,00.html |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=25 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427170459/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,276460,00.html |archive-date=27 April 2009}}

| rev4 = HOB

| rev4score = {{Rating|3|5}}https://web.archive.org/web/20000815065201/http://www.hob.com/cdreviews/july2000/000728duranduran/ {{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

| rev5 = MTV

| rev5score = {{Rating|1|5}}{{cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/mtv/music/reviews/archive/blather/duran_duran_00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000914191823/http://www.mtv.com/mtv/music/reviews/archive/blather/duran_duran_00.html |archive-date=14 September 2000 |title=MTV Online Review|website=MTV }}

| rev6 = Q

| rev6score = {{Rating|3|5}}

| rev7 = Release Magazine

| rev7score = 4/10{{cite web|url=https://releasemagazine.net/Onrecord/orduranduranpt.htm|title=DURAN DURAN - POP TRASH|website=Release Magazine|last=Forsberg|first=Niklas|date=June 8, 2000|access-date=April 22, 2025}}

| rev8 = Rolling Stone

| rev8score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite magazine |last=Sheffield |first=Rob |date=17 August 2000 |title=Duran Duran – Pop Trash |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/94569/pop_trash |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=17 August 2024 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070602095758/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/94569/pop_trash| archive-date=2 June 2007}}

| rev9 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev9score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite book |last=Sheffield |first=Rob |author-link=Rob Sheffield |chapter=Duran Duran |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 }}

| rev10 = Salon

| rev10score = {{Rating|1|5}}

}}

Critics were generally unexcited by the album, which received an average score of 52, indicating "mixed or average" based on nine reviews, from Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone said:

{{cquote|The well-named Pop Trash shows off their jaded hooks and nasty wit; it's for fans only, but those of us who still crumple at the opening hiccups of "Hungry Like the Wolf" will be glad for another fix.}}

Stacia Proefrock of AllMusic said:

{{cquote|Some of the smooth, spacy ballads that were characteristic of their 1993 self-titled release show up here, but more often than not Le Bon is lost in a swamp of overproduction. Completely absent from this music was the aggressiveness and sexuality that made early Duran Duran great – kinder, gentler records could probably be expected from the band as they age, but this album feels careless and flabby instead of introspective.}}

Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly said:

{{cquote|Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say they didn't model Pop Trash after U2's Pop, but darn if Duran Duran aren't after a very similar juxtaposition of groove-based kitsch and super-sincerity. Not surprisingly, there are ephemeral confectionary delights [...] and a general witlessness, never more than when Simon LeBon keeps crooning "We'll all be famous for 15 minutes" as if he just thought of the idea.}}

A reviewer for Salon called Pop Trash "a mediocre Britpop album", while Q defended the album and said that "Pop Trash proves to be far from embarrassing". Another negative review came from MTV.com who said that "most of the album is, in fact, pop trash".

Ultimately, the album would become the band's lowest-selling album, and their last until 2004's Astronaut.

The lead single "Someone Else Not Me" peaked only at #53 in the UK, and did not chart at all in United States. However, it made the top 10 in Latvia. Le Bon also recorded versions of this song in Spanish ("Alguien Que No Soy Yo") and French ("Un Autre Que Moi"). The music video for the single was the first to be created entirely in Macromedia Flash digital animation.

The song "Playing with Uranium" was supposed to be released as a single in Italy only, but was available only as a radio promo.{{cite web | url=https://www.discogs.com/release/2158379-Duran-Duran-Playing-With-Uranium | title=Duran Duran - Playing with Uranium | website=Discogs }}

The song "Last Day on Earth" was released in Japan;{{cite web | url=https://www.discogs.com/master/1064584-Duran-Duran-Last-Day-On-Earth | title=Duran Duran - Last Day on Earth | website=Discogs }} it was also played during the opening of the Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka. Parts of the song was submitted for the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies soundtrack, but not chosen.{{cite web |last1=Harrison |first1=Mark |title=The many theme songs of Tomorrow Never Dies |url=https://filmstories.co.uk/features/the-many-theme-songs-of-tomorrow-never-dies/ |date=11 May 2023}}

All songs written by Duran Duran

1. "Someone Else Not Me" – 4:48
2. "Lava Lamp" – 3:54
3. "Playing with Uranium" – 3:51
4. "Hallucinating Elvis" – 5:26
5. "Starting to Remember" – 2:38
6. "Pop Trash Movie" – 4:54
7. "Fragment" – 0:49
8. "Mars Meets Venus" – 3:07
9. "Lady Xanax" – 4:53
10. "The Sun Doesn't Shine Forever" – 4:51
11. "Kiss Goodbye" – 0:41
12. "Last Day on Earth" – 4:27

Bonus tracks on various international releases:

1. "Un Autre Que Moi" (French version of "Someone Else Not Me") – 4:19
2. "Alguien Que No Soy Yo" (Spanish version of "Someone Else Not Me") – 4:16
3. "Prototypes" – 6:17

Duran Duran

• Simon Le Bon – vocals
• Warren Cuccurullo – guitar and bass
• Nick Rhodes – keyboards

Additional musicians

• David Campbell – arranger (strings)
• Sally Boyden – backing vocals
• Ariane Sherine – piano (tracks 6, 10){{cite news |last=Sherine |first=Ariane |date=2 October 2014 |title=Duran Duran's Ordinary World made me dream of meeting them. Then I did |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/oct/02/duran-duran-ordinary-world-dream-of-meeting-them-different-life |work=The Guardian |access-date=23 May 2021}}
• John Tonks – drums, electric percussion
• Olivier Vieser – guitar
• Greg Bissonette – drums
• Steve Alexander – drums
• Luis Conte – percussion

Artwork and photography

• Andrew Day

{{Reflist}}

• {{Discogs master|type=album|79318|name=Pop Trash}}

{{Duran Duran}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:2000 albums

Category:Duran Duran albums

Category:Hollywood Records albums

Category:Albums arranged by David Campbell (composer)