A very different perspective than the reviews i've read here is that 'Junk Culture' is OMD's peak! This rls very succissfully blends the 'art' w/ the 'pop'. The previous rls, 'Dazzle Ships', doesn't have hooks to demand the listener play the album over and over, while the next rls, 'Crush', is contaminated by the peppering of crassly calculated careerist "hit singles" (souless Stephen Hague produced and banished all quirk factor, except the singer's distinctive(!) voice) that unapologetically marked OMD's short wade into mainstream impotentcy. In my mind, 'Junk Culture' is their final chapter, w/ a few of the more interesting tracks from 'Crush' as an addendum. DISCLAIMER of ADOLESCENT SUBJECTIVITY: this lp took over my turntable in 1985 when i was developmentally in "teenage sponge mode". Still, objectively speaking, it is the culmination of their intelligent quirky art-pop aesthetic. Beautiful arranging/production, and artwork too!

After the disappointing sales of OMD's 'Dazzle Ships,' they returned with the quirky 'Junk Culture.' There are a few scintillating moments here that hark back to old OMD, but quite a few silly tracks as well. 'Tesla Girls' and 'Locomotion' are two of the band's best singles, the first crashing pop, the second tinged with carribean flavor. 'Apollo' and 'White Trash' are the only stand-outs here, both with unusual arrangements and those 'only-from-OMD' weird effects. The rest of the tracks would be great from anybody else, but just music to clean house to from OMD. Still... try to get the chorus of 'Talking Loud & Clear' out of your head.

As another reviewer noted, this album marks OMD's departure from the more synthy/new-wavy/electronic sounds they embraced on earlier releases, especially Dazzle Ships.

Although Junk Culture doesn't fully embrace the pop culture as the follow up album, Crush, did, there was still a notable pop influence on this release. I don't say that as a bad thing, either. Good pop is still good music. It's just a shame that there's so much *bad* pop, but I digress.

Junk Culture took a little bit of time to sink in with me. I admit it. I love Crush. I suppose part of that is sentimental, as it was my girlfriend of the time (and wife now, so many years later) that exposed me to OMD via Crush. I had always liked Organisation and their other, older albums. Once I fell for Crush, though, I think the beauty of Junk Culture was finally exposed to me.

The great thing about Junk Culture is exactly its merging of the quirkiness of OMD's earlier material with the more pop-oriented melodies of the time. Those two elements came together in Junk Culture to create a genuinely unique work. You just can't go wrong with the eccentric Tesla Girls, the emotion of Love and Violence or the Latin flair of All Wrapped Up.

Any fan of the '80s owes it to themselves to own this album. It may not be my favorite OMD album, but it does a great job of displaying both sides of the OMD coin. It has also stood the test of time, in my opinion sounding as brilliant today as it did 20+ years ago.

After buying this I fell in love with OMD and the album spent a lot of time on my turntable(dating myself). I never cared for instrumentals and always skip them so I ignored the title track, but the rest of the album was great. The songs have aged pretty well and my favorites are ones most people ignore. "Love & Violence", and "Hard Day" are brilliant. "Love & Violence" captures the behavior of a couple going through difficulties in their relationship with chilling accuracy and "Hard Day", does the same for the working class. This is a great CD and is enjoyable on many levels.

Synthesizers got cheap in the late '70s. Go do something interesting with them. You don't have to show off like Maestro Rick Wakemen. You don't have to create ponderous Space Rock like Tangerine Dream. You can make a record like nobody's ever heard before. That's what OMD did on "Junk Culture." Processed horn sections, electronically filtered vocals, quirky percussive efects all never sounded so magnificent....and to think this was just a light pop music record. Critics? What did they know? They were too busy drooling over Van Halen's latest back then. OMD was not music for rock music critics; a primitive life form that could not possibly grasp an electroacoustic journey like "Junk Culture"!