IN THIS ISSUE OF COSMIK DEBRIS: Cosmik POPS! That's right, we foresake diversity for an issue and focus on good old pop music, beginning with Gary Pig Gold's interview with David Bash, organizer of the International Pop Overthrow festival in NYC; Shaun Dale has the lowdown on and some discussion with the French pop band Fugu; DJ Johnson takes a look back on the careers of Blondie and The Jackson 5... but not at the same time... cuz that'd just be nuts; Eric Steiner notices hints that power pop is still alive and well on top 40 radio. Then there are all those columns and reviews, plus a special pop & power pop edition of Cosmik Radio. So come on in!

COSMIK RADIO!: In honor of the theme of this issue of Cosmik Debris Magazine, we've created another special edition of Cosmik Radio, this time consisting entirely of pop and power pop. You just need a RealAudio Player to listen. If you don't have one, go pick one up. Cosmik Radio is just the kind of Net-Only audio that radio station program directors don't want you getting hooked on. So go ahead. Inhale!

INTERNATIONAL POP OVERTHROW - Gary Pig Gold's Pigshit column is expanded into this month's featured interview because the theme of the month is pop music and the subject of his interview is David Bash, promotor of upcoming the IPO (International Pop Overthrow) festival in New York City.

FUGU?? WHAT THE HELL IS FUGU?? - A factory of Fine and fancy French pop confections, that's what. Their album has reached the States and so have they as they tour with Stereolab and create a lot of new fans along the way. Shaun Dale caught up with them at their Seattle concert.

THE JACKSON 5 REVISITED - On the occasion of Motown's 24-bit remastering of the ten original J5 albums, released on five 2-Fer CDs, DJ Johnson gives a quick overview of their career and points out the good ones that probably sailed under your radar screen if you just knew the radio hits.

BACK TO TOP 40 RADIO - Eric Steiner discovers there still is some spike in the punch being served on top 40 radio after all, as he takes a look at a pair of tunes by Sugar Ray and Blink 182 that brought him back to the dial.

IAN HUNTER: ROCK OF AGES - Retirement's for pussies. Ian Hunter still rocks hard and plans to keep on doing so. The former Mott The Hoople front man and solo star mixes it up in Rochester, New York, and Bill Holmes is there to catch the action.

24-BIT BLONDIE - Since the Jackson Five were getting the 24-bit remastering treatment, Blondie demanded equal time. Okay, we made that up, but never the less there are six Blondie CDs loaded with hot sound and rare bonus tracks to talk about, so DJ Johnson does.



CD & RECORD REVIEWS - This month's stack o' stuff covers the spectrum, as usual.

EVERYTHING ELSE IN REVIEW - This month we have some DVDs, CD ROMs, books and whatever else we had lying around.



GARY PIG GOLD - You can click here if you want, but it'll just load up the International Pop Overthrow interview from the features section that you probably already read,

CLOSET PHILOSOPHY - With Rusty Pipes. Guy Fawkes and his significance today, and that's just for starters.

COSMIK BLUES - Eric Steiner has a cure for those holiday blues, and oddly enough, the cure is the blues.



CREDITS - The names and e-mail addresses of the people responsible for this thing.

COSMIK RADIO - Want an hour of music that fits the personality of Cosmik Debris Magazine? That's right, Sinatra segues into Megadeth into Peter Tosh into Man Or Astro-Man into... well, you get the picture. It's a little something we like to call Genre Whiplash. Or maybe you're in the mood for a trip into The Fog Machine, our mix of music of the ethereal variety. All you need is a RealAudio player. Come on in.

INTERNET RADIO STATIONS - Great radio is alive and well on the Net! Cosmik Debris presents links to take you where the good ones are hiding, from St. Louis to Dublin. You're no longer stuck with just the "classic rock," "young country" and "24-hour talk" that has your town held hostage.

OUR OWN WEBSITES - Many of the Cosmik Debris writers have websites of their own. We have some links right here.



Welcome to our third special edition of the year. Normally we'd only have the Halloween issue with it's obvious theme, but so far we've had that and a classic rock issue. This month we're zeroing in on another aspect of music: pop and power pop. With the International Pop Overthrow festival coming up in NYC we just couldn't resist. We'll be back to our diverse format next month, but this month we invite you to indulge in the joys of pop. We're not talking Brit-n-sync here. We're talking rock with pop structure, harmonies, power chords here and there... The good stuff! So come on in and enjoy.

DJ Johnson
Editor

Did you miss an issue? We now have many of our back issues online, including sound clips and extras. Check out interviews with Julian Lennon, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Transglobal Underground, reggae legends Steel Pulse, country hitmaker Phil Vassar, legendary jazz producer Joel Dorn, Former Zappa guitarist and current guitar god Mike Keneally, Curve, publisher of The Skeptic and debunker of frauds Michael Shermer, bass wizard Jeff Berlin, voice of The Archies Ron Dante, the one and only Dr. Demento, the other one and only Stan Freberg, The throroughly amazing Firesign Theatre, juju guru King Sunny Ade, Chris Shinn of Unified Theory, privates preserver Cynthia Plastercaster, The Witches, Electric Frankenstein, the Vampire Beach Babes, The Southern Rock All-Stars, Ottmar Liebert, Big Ass Truck, Richard Cheese, Paul Krassner... The list just goes on and on, and this is only the tip of the burg. You can get lost for days on end in here. Don't worry, we'll send the Cosmik St. Bernard with the brandy. You'll be fine. Go on. Enjoy.