Orchestral Manoeuvres in The Dark

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Synthpop group formed in the Wirral, UK, in the late 1970s.

Discography:
  • Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (1980)
  • Organisation (1980)
  • Architecture & Morality (1981)
  • Dazzle Ships (1983)
  • Junk Culture (1984)
  • Crush (1985)
  • The Pacific Age (1986)
  • Sugar Tax (1991)
  • Liberator (1993)
  • Universal (1996)
  • History of Modern (2010)
Orchestral Manoeuvres in The Dark provides examples of the following tropes:
  • Author Appeal: McCluskey definitely has more than a passing interest in Joan of Arc.
  • Break Up Song: The songs they're best known for in the USA, "So In Love" and "If You Leave" are both this.
  • Captain Ersatz: They couldn't get permission to use a real Edward Hopper work on the cover of Crush, so an in-the-style-of painting was commissioned instead.
  • Cover Version: Velvet Underground's "Waiting For The Man"
  • Doo Wop Progression: "Enola Gay"
  • Green Aesop: "Electricity"
  • I Am the Band: Andy McCluskey for Sugar Tax.
  • Lyrical Dissonance: "Enola Gay", an upbeat song about the bombing of Hiroshima.
  • New Sound Album: After the panning given to the dark and angsty Dazzle Ships, the band responded by making Junk Culture, an album of jolly pop songs.
  • Non-Appearing Title: Their two joint highest-charting UK hits (reaching number 3) both have non-appearing titles: "Souvenir" and "Pandora's Box". The latter was subtitled "(It's A Long, Long Way)" in the USA.
  • Not Christian Rock: Despite a lot of references to God, Joan of Arc, nuns, etc.
  • Precision F-Strike: "Garden City"
  • Rockstar Song: "Walking On The Milky Way"
  • Science Is Bad: Inverted in "Genetic Engineering". Although many listeners took it to be a Science Is Bad song, Word of God says it was actually celebrating the ability of science to improve our lives.
  • Self-Titled Album
  • Similarly Named Works: Architecture And Morality famously has "Joan Of Arc" and "Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans)". Both were released as singles, the latter being retitled "Maid Of Orleans (The Waltz Joan Of Arc)". Also "Apollo" from Junk Culture and "Apollo XI" from Sugar Tax are completely different songs.
  • Standard Snippet: Need an instantly recognisable riff to sum up the synthpop era? Then you need the intro to "Electricity"! Strangely, it was never actually a hit at the time.
  • Train Song: "Locomotion", obviously.
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