Kiss This: Punk In The Present Tense

by Gina Arnold

From the irrational death of Kurt Cobain to the 1996 Sex Pistols tour, we're back on the music road with Gina Arnold. Kiss This is a short history of the hip, the hard, and the real--and how the accounting elements of the music industry exploit every pop culture trend until it doesn't have a breath left. 10 photos.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Punk

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1997

Reviews

[Jack Duff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A complex view of punk as concept in the late 90s, through many lenses. By treating so many different pieces of the puzzle (commercialization, idealization, generational change, subcategorization), the author approaches not an easy thesis but what seems like a pretty accurate snapshot of that era and subculture.

[Mike Stolfi · Rating 4 out of 5]

You should be elitist about the music you love and what's happened to the scene that gave it birth, ( I say to the previous claim) and the path it's headed on now, I'm with her most of the way.
It's amusing!

[Matt Alston · Rating 2 out of 5]

In about 10 years time I'm going to explain to my kid that 'selling out' was a huge deal in the 90s and he's going to look at me while the world burns around him and wonder what kind of magical time this was when this could possibly seem important.

[Lorraine · Rating 1 out of 5]

smarmiest book I have ever read.

[Alec · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much of a rant & rather pointless.

[Kelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Finally reading this book after owning it for 20+ years. I’m left wondering if Gina Arnold finally got to suck Green Day’s dick that she so desperately craves.