With its unflinching look at sex, drugs and toxic masculinity within a gang of New York teens, Kids became instantly notorious: New York Times’ critic Janet Maslin described the film as a “wake-up call to the modern world.” The way it reconfigures the AIDS crisis as something that could also impact white heterosexual teenagers shook middle America, making parents question exactly what their children were up to during the Clinton years – their worst fears manifested. “The film already had this legend around it so it felt like we were breaking the law just by watching it or something.” “You could instantly tell it was different,” the now 32-year-old remembers. The first time musician and rap producer Clams Casino (real name Michael Volpe) saw Kids, he was huddled around a TV set with a group of fellow teenagers in the backroom of a New Jersey skate shop.
