Critical Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 52/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Entertainment Weekly | C |
| Rolling Stone | |
Critics were generally unexcited by the album, as Metacritic gave it a 52 out of 100. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone said:
| “ | 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:
| “ | 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:
| “ | 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. | ” |
Ultimately, the album would become the band's lowest-selling album, and their last until 2004's Astronaut.
Read more about this topic: Pop Trash
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