Listen To Sassy: Life In The 90s

Listen To Sassy: Life In The 90s

From 1988-1994, Sassy was the coolest magazine going for Gen-X teens. Celebrate that golden time by joining Tara Ariano, Pamela Ribon and David T. Cole for a deep dive into every one of its 80 glorious issues and remember what it was like hanging out with Jane, Christina, Catherine, Karen, and the whole crew, learning What Now, What Next, and so much more!

Episodes

April 1991 Slumber Party: Landlines, Rompers & Wild Yam Cream

August 12, 2025 • 31 mins
With Pam out handling a family emergency (everything's okay now!), Dave and Tara bravely handle the Slumber Party on their own. After sharing their results from the "Are You Parent-Tolerant?" quiz, it's on to your calls: one serious one about Pam's massage story, then a lot of silly ones about: other places spooge has unexpectedly appeared; what to try if your nails are weak; that vulnerable feeling when you're wearing a rompe...
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April 1991 Fashion Etc.: Tights, Sun-In & Bloomers, Again?!

July 29, 2025 • 54 mins
It's spring...but summer is just around the corner. Start dressing for summer in holiday-ready gingham and all white eyelet everything! We get a moment-by-moment report on the process of shooting a Sassy cover, starting with the model's birth. (No: seriously.) The staff is trying tights, ruining a scarf, moving offices, and so much more. Pull up your bloomers and listen!

QUICK LINKS
🗒 Full episode notes can be fo...
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April 1991 Pop Culture: Susanna Hoffs, A Baby In A Basket (?) & Musicians Perving On Underage Girls

July 15, 2025 • 30 mins
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; rate the tracks on R.E.M.'s Out O...
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April 1991 Teen Life: Sneezes, Horses & A Saggy Old Mom

July 1, 2025 • 56 mins
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's mini-profiles of 5 people in...
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March 1991 Slumber Party: Technology, Cuticles & Calls About Calls

June 17, 2025 • 45 mins
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 episode's page on ou...
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March 1991 Fashion Etc.: Prom, Rompers & Cuticles

June 3, 2025 • 68 mins
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...but then again why would they...
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March 1991 Pop Culture: Hair, Gossip & The Replacements

May 20, 2025 • 39 mins
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 GOTTA GO

QUICK LINKS
...
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March 1991 Teen Life: Men, Bread & Trains

May 6, 2025 • 50 mins
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 lighten up: Jessica revisits her o...
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February 1991 Slumber Party: Highlights, Woody's & Dinks

April 22, 2025 • 42 mins
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 pleasant department store bathrooms -...
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February 1991 Fashion Etc.: Flowers, Hearts & The Candyman

April 8, 2025 • 57 mins
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 above all, when you're applying ma...
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February 1991 Pop Culture: Spam, Zines & The Worst Way To Learn A Dance

March 25, 2025 • 42 mins
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 lives (...sometimes). Fry yourself...
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February 1991 Teen Life: Hunting, Warfare & Print Design That Gives You A Migraine

March 11, 2025 • 66 mins
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 Operation Desert Storm down on ...
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January 1991 Slumber Party: Waste, Self-Esteem & The Dox Ox

February 25, 2025 • 49 mins
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, and which mascot should righ...
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January 1991 Fashion Etc.: Pastels, Jean Jackets & Apple Cider Vinegar

February 11, 2025 • 81 mins
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 fonts!), and a staff retreat ...
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January 1991 Pop Culture: Hats, Mermaids & Johnsons

January 28, 2025 • 40 mins
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 INXS album review; a One To Wa...
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Special: Three Types Of Cookies

January 7, 2025 • 69 mins
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...
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Special: Tandoori Lady

December 24, 2024 • 109 mins
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...
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January 1991 Teen Life: Depression, Douching & The New Sassiest Girls In America

December 10, 2024 • 42 mins
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 from the magazine's new redesign,...
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December 1990 Fashion Etc.: Denim, Body Image & The World's First Bath Puffs

November 26, 2024 • 41 mins
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 getting mentored by an expert; an ...
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December 1990 Pop Culture: Judas Priest, Darkman & Gnards

November 12, 2024 • 39 mins
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 Five for just a second and li...
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