Listen To Sassy: Life In The 90s

Whose voice is described in this month's Listen Up as "vomity"? It's sure not Sting because Catherine CANNOT be objective about him. It's also not Debbie Gibson protégé Chris Cuevas, though we do have a lot of opinions about the little photo of him we get in What Now. We also discuss whether L.A. Story is still worth seeing and whether it includes a baby in a basket on the side of the freeway; rat...

The April 1991 issue lulls you into a false sense of complacency by burying its biggest bummer feature in the middle of the island, but then there it is: "They're Shooting Horses." DAMN, KAREN! (Spoiler: this is a problem the U.S. government still hasn't solved -- hope you were sitting down to read this.) Around it, we get Christina's embedded report from a Black debutante ball in Georgia; Margie'...

Are you a techno head? In 1991, that meant "Do you know how a computer works?" but also possibly "Can you drive stick?" This quiz is trouble and we've got objections. We've got NO objections to your latest calls about The Grateful Dead, looking like Ben Seaver, The Bridge On The River Kwai, and (of course) cuticles. March on in and listen! QUICK LINKS 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this epis...

It's March, and that means it's time to start morbidly obsessing on prom, up to and including having a dress rehearsal five days out. All the frippery that fills the special pull-out prom insert feels very un-Sassy, so we hope sponsor Tampax at least paid a truckload of money for both that and a half-reassuring, half-fear mongering insert about periods. (No, your tampon can't get lost inside you.....

Pam came to the taping with less than one hour to spare before she had to leave to see a movie, so we had NO time to waste getting through this episode's many pop culture topics. Perry Farrell cutting a bathroom line! How much of The Godfather Part III we've seen and/or is worth seeing! Neill's latest crappy review! Who The Replacements are and also who they are not! HURRY UP AND LISTEN, PAM'S GOT...

Sassy launched with the March 1988 issue and here we are in 1991, watching our friend turn 3! And if we were reading the issue in order, this would probably be a cool, fun party, but since we're starting with the Teen Life topics...the first feature is about a rape on campus at the University of Rhode Island that, spoiler, did not have a happy ending for the survivor. After that piece, things ligh...

The February 1991 quiz -- How Good Are You In A Pinch? -- has us all doing a little introspection and a lot of complaining about the "d" options that aren't available. (As for Pam's husband Jason's score...well, listen and find out.) Then we're playing some of your latest calls on such topics as at-home highlight kits, turning into the Target lady upon injury, how much we miss catalogs and pleasan...

Pam is still out on assignment, so it's just Dave and Tara this week to talk about all the style contained in the February 1991 issue. Dress in florals, or straight out of a mall store! Dye your hair, for a while or forever! Annoy everyone you know by going overboard with a heart motif! DON'T buy the sketchy products advertised at the back of the issue -- let Karen tell you precisely why! And abov...

Our very special guest Daniel Blau Rogge is back for another episode that really runs the gamut: from Evan Dando to Roky Erickson; from Edward Scissorhands to Hannibal Lecter; to a punk skateboarder who couldn't return a damn phone call; and to a dance lesson conveyed through printed words and still photographs, which is how we had to learn things before online video came along to improve our live...

Pam is out on assignment, so we lined up a wonderful substitute third chair who was, in fact, also a teenager in the 90s: Daniel Blau Rogge! This turns out to be a surprisingly male-skewing collection of articles: Catherine tries hunting, Kim reports on girls who gave their guys aesthetic or personality makeovers, and Christina tries to understand what "Saddamums" (yes, really) has done to bring O...

We skipped a Slumber Party for the December 1990 issue, so this time we've got two quizzes to take. How wasteful are we, and how high is our self-esteem? Find out who landed in the happy middle, and who ended up in the freak extremes. Then we move on to playing your calls on topics ranging from who got scammed by the How To Get The Guy You Want system, which early 90s movies have a surprising link...

To kick off the new year, Sassy wants you to wear pastels, catalog fashions, jean jackets, white t-shirts, and an alice band you made yourself. It also wants you to shave your legs, fix your skin, and buy the right bra. If you're in L.A.? You're doing everything right. As for the Etc., we've got a sneaky claim about mono (but whose?), a whole new computer program to design the magazine in (so many...

How many offspring can cockroaches produce? Why should you keep sending postcards? Why were weird hats having a moment in 1991? Believe it or not, these are all questions that get explored in our January 1991 POP CULTURE episode -- but we do cover more expected topics -- shocking omissions from Karen's reviews of Mermaids and Listen Without Prejudice; not-so-shocking half-assery from Neill in his...

The tale of "Eat Through Austin," the domestic follow-up vacation to Dave, Pam and Tara's trip to the Big Island of Hawai'i as told on the old podcast Overwhelming Positivity. We'll back next time with more actual Listen To Sassy stuff. QUICK LINKS 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our website 🖼️ Check out this episode's Visual Aids ☎️ Call The Hotline! Leave your questio...

Back in 2009 Tara, Pam and Dave went to the Big Island of Hawai'i. It was a time. We recorded an episode of the Overwhelming Positivity podcast while we were there. A lot happened. QUICK LINKS 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on our website 🖼️ Check out this episode's Visual Aids ☎️ Call The Hotline! Leave your questions, comments and Sassy stories on the hotline at 720-SAS...

It's a new year in the Sassy timeline, and you know what that means: time to crown a new Sassiest Girl In America! The latest crop of hopefuls descend on New York (thanks to Clairol and L.A. Gear), and apparently don't slow down for photos because other than the winner on the cover, all you get are silver dollar-sized, super-processed photos of them. (If this is what we have to look forward to fro...

Some of the readers in charge of fashion freak it, like stylist Daisy von Furth's fun and quirky denim looks. Others, like Shelly Franklin, went to a Gap and grabbed the first seven garments she saw. The two co-exist uneasily over 12 pages in the December 1990 issue's one and only fashion feature. (Which stylist did you prefer? Tell us at 720-SASSY-GO!) Beyond that, we get a makeup enthusiast gett...

Our second episode on Sassy's first reader-produced issue covers its pop culture topics. Whose mom surprisingly liked Das Damen? Is "gnard" going to catch on as a slang term? And is Nathan Limbaugh...okay? There's also movie reviews, a One To Watch who may or may not be, a profile of Faith No More's Mike Patton, and a bushel AND a peck of a Mystic, CT scribe named Eva Peck. Put down your Factsheet...

The staff at Sassy had impeccable instincts for building its community -- and in the days when doing so required going to the post office to put actual paper goods in the actual mail, too -- and there's no better proof of their success than its first-ever reader-produced issue. The proof that some 80+ real readers made the issue happen is that...you know, the photos are kind of dark. Also that a l...

How spacy are we? According to Sassy's November 1990 quiz, the answer is "possibly a lot spacier than some of us would care to admit" or "just about as spacy as we thought." Then, because we spaced on our last combined Slumber Party episode, we go back in time to take the September quiz and Rate [Our] Boy-Obsessiveness. (If you predicted that Pam's score would require a whole different scale, good...

The weather's getting chillier, and the fashion (etc.) of the November 1990 knows it. Hence a whole story about brown coats, and a spread to help you source all the goth-y looks your black heart desires. Mary brings us a report on her time auditing classes at the Vidal Sassoon Academy and actually getting to cut real (mannequin) hair. Jane tells a confusing story about getting mugged, a pet store...

Did Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry approach their "Well, Did You Evah?" cover for Red Hot + Blue with the appropriate level of professionalism? Which downtown shopping and dining spots Christina visited with Sonic Youth still exist today? Was Shawn Wayans One To Watch? What does "gerbiling" really mean? And how did Winona Ryder EVER agree to play a character named Dinky Bossetti? We can't promise we an...

Let's all open up a new issue together! Yes, the first feature is a dispiriting profile of Bill, who only recently left foster care to reunite with his family. But there's also dating, sleeping, a primer on becoming a vegetarian, and a truly classic fiction story. What He Said is all about your potty mouth; Body Talk is telling you about a new-fangled piece of exercise gear known as a step; Help F...

After skipping the September 1990 Slumber Party, we're resuming with our results from the October 1990 quiz -- What Kind Of Sister Are You? -- then launching into a bumper crop of your latest voicemails. Why are driver's ed films so horrifying? Can you still get Mad magazine? What's lymph? We figure out SOME of this in this all-new episode! QUICK LINKS 🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this epi...

This month's fashion stories run the gamut more than most issues. Do you want to dress like everyone on Twin Peaks? It's 1990 -- of course you do, and so does everyone else! Do you want to wear velvet? Mmmm, depends if you like everyone to see sweat stains on your catsuit. This month we're also learning why we should exercise with weights, how gardening clogs could be worn in everyday life, what b...