Kiss This

This is a true-crime story of the murder of an art form: punk rock. Gina Arnold has been witness to this gradual annihilation, and she's not shy about pointing out the perpetrators: Tipper Gore, Rolling Stone, Geffen Records, Miller beer, and even the progenitors of punk themselves, the Sex Pistols, are all implicated in the demise of independent music. In Route 666: On the Road to Nirvana, Gina Arnold gave us a road map to the defiant fury that shaped punk's harsh, musical bloodletting. But now Kurt Cobain is dead. And Courtney Love is playing shows sponsored by beer companies, MasterCard is financing the Monsters of Rock tour, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are sporting free Airwalk sneakers. Arnold knows something has gone terribly wrong. Bad Religion, Metallica, Rancid, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, Pearl Jam, the Fastbacks, Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails--find out who sold out, who stayed real, and what independent music must do now to regain its lost edge. In 1978 Sid Vicious mocked a Sinatra classic with his version of "My Way." Well, it's 1997, and punk has lost its way. In Kiss This Gina Arnold just may show it the way home.