Rock and Souls

This is not a K-tel grunge record," Jessica Kowal says about the AlDS-benefit album No Alternative, due out this fall from Arista. The former executive editor of In Fashion magazine and member of the AIDS Music Project says that "people will buy this record for the music," with the proceeds providing hot meals, companionship, and hospice care for people with AIDS. No Alternative is a perfect alternative for those socially conscious but economically bankrupt slackers who can't afford to attend swank $100-aplate benefits. It contains new tunes from such MTV regulars as Bob Mould, the Beastie Boys, and Soundgarden, as well as underground darlings like Sonic

Youth and Pavement. Plus, in the fashionable recycling spirit of the 90s, there are the requisite covers: the Goo Goo Dolls do a blistering rendition of the Rolling Stones' "Bitch," and for the first time Soul Asylum commits to vinyl its crowd-pleasing version of Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing."

Paul Heck, Rolling Stone senior writer Chris Mundy, and Kowal recruited the bands and got the backing of the Red Hot Organization, which has produced two successful AlDS-benefit projects (Red Hot & Blue and Red Hot & Dance). The reality of No Alternative is a heady one for Heck, who dreamed up the idea. "It won't feel real until I go buy one. I'll probably go and buy one a day for two weeks until I be-

ELISSA SCHAPPELL