A little bit about State Of Pop...

State Of Pop started at the end of October 2000. Originally, the Spelunky & Nesbit cartoons (Spelunky is the round monkey, Nesbit the skinny piece of scaffolding) were just part of the weekly page. There were also 'hilarious' spoof adverts, along with lyrics for and links to various mp3s (see below), which just happened to be whatever indie or pop we were listening to at the time.

After just a few months, at the beginning of April 2001, State Of Pop took a break... for five years. It came back in October 2006, with Spelunky & Nesbit in their rightful place as stars of the whole shebang. The new strips (#26 onwards) are of a slightly higher quality, due to a team of six full-time writers and artists, slaving away sixteen hours a day here in our Paris headquarters. (N.B.: some of those words may not be strictly true.)

But don't fret, the old strips are still freely available to see in all their primal, gut-wrenching glory... click here to start from the beginning.

Boring but important note: we've decided to not link to any sites that might contain swearing or adult themes, plus we'll continue to keep all the cartoons U or PG-rated: well, no swearing or rudity, that's what we mean. Spelunky is technically nude, but we're pretty sure Curious George, say, isn't considered offensive. Nesbit is a piece of metal scaffolding - can barenaked metal cause offence? Please let us know if you think so.

Tracks publicised by the original site:

• Ween - Roses Are Free (18/10/2000)
• The 6ths - Night Falls Like A Grand Piano (25/10/2000)
• Bis - Dead Wrestlers (01/11/2000)
• Hefner - The Greedy Ugly People (08/11/2000)
• Dubstar - I'm Conscious Of Myself (15/11/2000)
• Jason Falkner - Holiday (29/11/2000)
• Hawksley Workman - Sad House Daddy (06/12/2000)
• The Associates - White Car In Germany (13/12/2000)
• Grandaddy - Alan Parsons In A Winter Wonderland (20/12/2000)
• The Dukes Of Stratosphear - The Mole From The Ministry (27/12/2000)

• Mos Def - Rock & Roll (03/01/2001)
• Built To Spill - Carry The Zero (10/01/2001)
• Vic Godard & The Subway Sect - Parallel Lines (17/01/2001)
• Corduroy - Mini (24/01/2001)
• Swervedriver - A Change Is Gonna Come (31/01/2001)
• Lambchop - The Saturday Option (07/02/2001)
• Gnac - Annonay For The Second Time (14/02/2001)
• The Paradise Motel - Watch Illuminum (21/02/2001)
• Jay-Jay Johanson - It Hurts Me So (28/02/2001)
• theaudience - Keep In Touch (07/03/2001)
• The Bitter Springs - It's Business (14/03/2001)
• Cornelius - Count Five Or Six (21/03/2001)
• Broadcast - Come On Let's Go (28/03/2001)