Kiss This

Punk in the Present Tense

by Gina Arnold

Pan Books, Macmillan, 1998,  ISBN 033035258X, black and white photographs, paperback

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, no inscriptions, uncreased spine (See photographs)

“Kiss This is the words of author Gina Arnold, “a true crime story”.  The crime is the slow annihilation of an art form called punk, and Arnold is not shy about pointing out the murderers: Courtney Love, Green Day, Geffen Records, Airwalk shoes and even the Sex Pistols themselves are implicated.  What have we learnt in the last twenty years, and what does punk mean in the 90s?  Kiss This is a short history of the hip, the hard and the real, showing how the music industry money-men exploit every pop culture trend until it barely survives.  Arnold takes us through the post-Nirvana feeding frenzy which left behind a trail of waste and deception, completely perverting the terms “grunge” and “alternative” until they might as well have been trademarked.”