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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!

Copyright: © 2021 Tara Ariano, Pamela Ribon and David T. Cole

Latest Episodes:

Special: TV Commercials Of May 1989 Mar 15, 2022

Show notes

As poorly qualified as I am to uplift individuals and communities on a global scale to prescribe a course of action, I hope you will bear with me while I begin this sincere and earnest attempt. And please don’t get mad with me if, in doing so, I must rail against the pseudoscience that attempts—and continually fails—to prove that it is Major American Corporate Conglomerates’s moral imperative to sell us into a lifetime of servitude. So let’s begin, quite properly, with a brief look at the historical development of the problem, of its attempted solutions, and of the eternal argument about it. The overweening blathering of a furciferous, warped undesirable is more like it. In fact, as far as Major American Corporate Conglomerates is concerned, facts and evidence are subordinate to, and mediated by, a discourse. There are no right or wrong answers, just competitive discourses. If that’s the case, then perhaps Major American Corporate Conglomerates would like to explain why it disbelieves that if I try really, really hard, I can almost see why it would want to snuff out the last embers of courageousness burning within us.

QUICK LINKS

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on ListenToSassy.com

JOIN THE LTS CLUB AND GET THE GOODIES

📖 Full cover-to-cover magazine PDFs

💬 Chat with us and your fellow listeners on Discord

🐣 Get episodes earlier than the general public

👀 Monthly watch-alongs of Sassy-era movies and TV specials

🚫 Ad free episodes with chapter markers

👚 Merch discounts and free stickers

🤩 Join the Listen To Sassy Club today!

TOPICS

🎧 It Is May 1989

🎧 Beauty Ads

🎧 Fashion Ads

🎧 Food And Drink

🎧 Things And The Such

🎧 PSAs

🎧 TV and Movies

🎧 Goodbye For Now

NOTES

⚠️ Inline notes below may be truncated due to podcast feed character limits. Full notes are always on the episode page.

🍄 Airwick Magic Mushroom ad on History's Dumpster.

🟡 Little. Yellow. Different.

April 1989 Slumber Party: Nerds, Brainers & Epilady Disappointment Mar 08, 2022

Show notes

Declining to submit ourselves to the literal vocabulary quiz in the April 1989 issue of Seventeen, we launch straight into your calls. What is it like indoctrinating your kids into They Might Be Giants fandom? What were the smart kids called at your school? How does Dave make flavored powder stick to his popcorn? And what call prompts a deep dive on colored toilet paper? Listen to our latest Slumber Party episode, where all these questions (and more) will be answered!

QUICK LINKS

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on ListenToSassy.com

JOIN THE LTS CLUB AND GET THE GOODIES

📖 Full cover-to-cover magazine PDFs

💬 Chat with us and your fellow listeners on Discord

🐣 Get episodes earlier than the general public

👀 Monthly watch-alongs of Sassy-era movies and TV specials

🚫 Ad free episodes with chapter markers

👚 Merch discounts and free stickers

🤩 Join the Listen To Sassy Club today!

TOPICS

🎧 It Is April 1989

🎧 From The Hotline

🎧 Goodbye For Now

NOTES

⚠️ Inline notes below may be truncated due to podcast feed character limits. Full notes are always on the episode page.

🍇 Malt Vinegar Powder on Amazon

🍞 Frontier Co-op Dill & Vinegar Nutritional Yeast

🧻 "What Ever Happened To Colored Toilet Paper?" at ApartmentTherapy.com

🙋‍♀️ SXSW Festival Online Registration

🍆 My Year Of Dicks at SWSW

April 1989 Fashion Etc.: Hats, Blurs & Swamp Swimsuits Mar 01, 2022

Show notes

It's a slimmed-down Fashion (etc.) issue this month, but we still find plenty to yell about in the features. Why aren't any of the photos in "Going Fast" in focus? What is aspirational about a swimsuit shoot in a swamp? Who are they trying to kid with this friggin' hat story? All this plus a bunch of new ads, a deep dive on Sassy Club and much much more in our latest episode!

QUICK LINKS

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on ListenToSassy.com

🖼️ View select scans from this issue in this episode's Visual Aids

☎️ Call The Hotline! Leave your questions, comments and Sassy stories on the hotline at 720-SASSY-GO or record directly on our site

🐦 @ListenToSassy on Twitter

📷 @ListenToSassy on Instagram

🧑‍💻 Visit our website ListenToSassy.com

JOIN THE LTS CLUB AND GET THE GOODIES

📖 Full cover-to-cover magazine PDFs

💬 Chat with us and your fellow listeners on Discord

🐣 Get episodes earlier than the general public

👀 Monthly watch-alongs of Sassy-era movies and TV specials

🚫 Ad free episodes with chapter markers

👚 Merch discounts and free stickers

🤩 Join the Listen To Sassy Club today!

TOPICS

🎧 It Is April 1989

🎧 In Our Lives

🎧 Fashion Feature: Going Fast

🎧 Fashion Feature: Suit Yourself

🎧 Making It

🎧 Beauty Feature: Hot Heads

🎧 About Face

🎧 Then And Now

🎧 Sassy Ads

🎧 Sassy Club

🎧 Say What

🎧 Goodbye For Now

🎧 Magnet Pole Position

NOTES

⚠️ Inline notes below may be truncated due to podcast feed character limits. Full notes are always on the episode page.

🍽 The Hunger Project

😖 The "public criticism" tab on The Hunger Project's Wikipedia page

🦷 "Vintage 1985 Plax Dental Rinse Mouthwash Plastic bottle with old contents htf" on eBay

🎙 Tara's interview with Adam Scott on GQ.com

🍆 MyYearOfDicks.com

April 1989 Pop Culture: Debbie Gibson, Tiffany & Peter DeLuise Feb 22, 2022

Show notes

Pop culture offerings are slimmed down this month -- everyone was tired after the big anniversary issue, perhaps! -- but there's still lots of What Now to discuss, from the death of Acid House to the Brady ladies to Axl Rose's tresses, and...everything in between? A remarkably effusive Watch It delivers four-star reviews to the likes of Criminal Law, The Return Of Swamp Thing, and Big Man On Campus, but no love for Earth Girls Are Easy. Opinions are divided on Listen Up's Hit (They Might Be Giants) and Bomb (Tiffany's sophomore album). And Pam tries to keep it together through our lone pop culture profile, of her one-time crush Peter DeLuise. Pause Electric Youth (just for now) and join us!

QUICK LINKS

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on ListenToSassy.com

🖼️ View select scans from this issue in this episode's Visual Aids

☎️ Call The Hotline! Leave your questions, comments and Sassy stories on the hotline at 720-SASSY-GO or record directly on our site

🐦 @ListenToSassy on Twitter

📷 @ListenToSassy on Instagram

🧑‍💻 Visit our website ListenToSassy.com

JOIN THE LTS CLUB AND GET THE GOODIES

📖 Full cover-to-cover magazine PDFs

💬 Chat with us and your fellow listeners on Discord

🐣 Get episodes earlier than the general public

👀 Monthly watch-alongs of Sassy-era movies and TV specials

🚫 Ad free episodes with chapter markers

👚 Merch discounts and free stickers

🤩 Join the Listen To Sassy Club today!

TOPICS

🎧 It Is April 1989

🎧 What Now

🎧 Watch It

🎧 Listen Up

🎧 Feature: What A Sensitive Guy

🎧 Goodbye For Now

NOTES

⚠️ Inline notes below may be truncated due to podcast feed character limits. Full notes are always on the episode page.

🥀 (W.) Axl Rose's first Rolling Stone cover, in August 1989

🌹 Rose's 1992 Rolling Stone cover

🥤 "Pepsi Cancels Madonna Ad" at NYTimes.com

🏃‍♀️ Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway on YouTube

🌉 The Night The Bridge Fell Down on YouTube

🕺 "Supreme Court Lets Stand a Missouri Town's Ban on School Dances" at NYTimes.com

🎸 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure on HBO Max

👨🏻‍⚖️ Criminal Law on Tubi

🥗 The Return Of Swamp Thing on Tubi

🏫 Big Man On Campus at IMDbTV

🎞 "Bob Maloogaloogaloogaloogalooga" scene from Big Man On Campus, on YouTube

🪙 Chris Rock's I'm Gonna Git You Sucka scene on YouTube

🛸 Earth Girls Are Easy on Tubi

April 1989 Teen Life: Spring Break, Cliques & Bra Sizes Feb 15, 2022

Show notes

The April 1989 issue is a little stripped-down -- no fiction, no quiz -- but still gives us lots to chew on. Catherine's profile of Andi, a teen addict, left us with a lot of questions. Laura Norton heads to a Yonkers high school to get close to its cliques. Christina and Jane's trip to spring break in Daytona Beach might not have gone into enough detail on a vacation that sounds like our worst nightmare. Body Talk leads us to our new favorite Las Vegas journalist. And there's also much to learn in Help, What He Said about dating a buddy's girlfriend, and a full page of Stuff You Wrote magic. We're not Cools, but we hope you hang out with us anyway.

QUICK LINKS

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on ListenToSassy.com

🖼️ View select scans from this issue in this episode's Visual Aids

☎️ Call The Hotline! Leave your questions, comments and Sassy stories on the hotline at 720-SASSY-GO or record directly on our site

🐦 @ListenToSassy on Twitter

📷 @ListenToSassy on Instagram

🧑‍💻 Visit our website ListenToSassy.com

JOIN THE LTS CLUB AND GET THE GOODIES

📖 Full cover-to-cover magazine PDFs

💬 Chat with us and your fellow listeners on Discord

🐣 Get episodes earlier than the general public

👀 Monthly watch-alongs of Sassy-era movies and TV specials

🚫 Ad free episodes with chapter markers

👚 Merch discounts and free stickers

🤩 Join the Listen To Sassy Club today!

TOPICS

🎧 It Is April 1989

🎧 Feature: Andi Is An Addict

🎧 Feature: Cliques

🎧 Feature: Spring Break (Or Where The Jerks Are)

🎧 Body Talk

🎧 Help

🎧 What He Said

🎧 Stuff You Wrote

🎧 Goodbye For Now

🎧 The Good Baby

🎧 Bigger Breasts

🎧 Pamr

NOTES

⚠️ Inline notes below may be truncated due to podcast feed character limits. Full notes are always on the episode page.

🐶 "The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Spuds MacKenzie, The Original Party Animal" at MentalFloss.com

🪦 "Spuds MacKenzie is dead" at UPI.com

👙 "Up Close With Jack Penrod As He Expands His Famed Nikki Beach Clubs And Resorts Worldwide" at Forbes.com

🚗 "Driving on the Beach" at DaytonaBeach.com

🏜 "Memories of spring break, circa 1980s" at DesertSun.com

😵 "The Death of Spring Break" at PalmSpringsLife.com

🔍 "Solving the Mystery of Dyslexia" at Living-Las-Vegas.com

🎰 Diane Taylor's Living Las Vegas author page

🎈 "Hey, I Just Had a Birthday!" by Diane Taylor at Living-Las-Vegas.com

😻 Dr. Regina DeLorenzo at Mays Landing Veterinary Hospital

🗓 My Year Of Dicks at the South By Southwest Festival

📖 Pam's book Notes To Boys at Bookshop.org

🐦 @MYYEAROFDICKS on Twitter

📷 @myyearofdicks on Instagram

March 1989 Slumber Party: Accutane, Epilady & Popsicle Bras Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

The March 1989 issue's quiz invited us to Rate [Our] Social Style, so we did -- and we were all a bit dismayed by the results that came back. Then we get to your latest calls, which run the usual gamut from adding on to previous callers' remarks, sharing hilarious high school memories, and uninhibited musings (thanks, NyQuil)! We love all of you, and we hope you love our latest roundup!

QUICK LINKS

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on ListenToSassy.com

JOIN THE LTS CLUB AND GET THE GOODIES

📖 Full cover-to-cover magazine PDFs

💬 Chat with us and your fellow listeners on Discord

🐣 Get episodes earlier than the general public

👀 Monthly watch-alongs of Sassy-era movies and TV specials

🚫 Ad free episodes with chapter markers

👚 Merch discounts and free stickers

🤩 Join the Listen To Sassy Club today!

TOPICS

🎧 It Is March 1989

🎧 Big Stickers Update

🎧 Quiz: What's Your Social Style?

🎧 From The Hotline

🎧 Goodbye For Now

🎧 Moment Of Silence For Your Ankle

NOTES

⚠️ Inline notes below may be truncated due to podcast feed character limits. Full notes are always on the episode page.

🔥 Extra Hot Great 392: Taking Out The Trash With Pam & Tommy

🥁 Tara's Pam & Tommy recaps at her author page on Decider.com

March 1989 Fashion Etc.: Prom, Pool & Big, Beautiful Eyes Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

Your prom is going to be here before you know it, so the March issues of every magazine marketed to teen girls is going to be full of dress inspiration, and Sassy is no exception. But how effective is "Photo Finish" at making its looks seem aspirational? We've got critiques! The issue also tells you how to dress for pool (as in snooker), which blouses will look best with your underwear (???), how to protect your eyes, how a model spends her day, what you should sew on your perfectly good clothes NOW, and so much more!

QUICK LINKS

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on ListenToSassy.com

🖼️ View select scans from this issue in this episode's Visual Aids

☎️ Call The Hotline! Leave your questions, comments and Sassy stories on the hotline at 720-SASSY-GO or record directly on our site

🐦 @ListenToSassy on Twitter

📷 @ListenToSassy on Instagram

🧑‍💻 Visit our website ListenToSassy.com

JOIN THE LTS CLUB AND GET THE GOODIES

📖 Full cover-to-cover magazine PDFs

💬 Chat with us and your fellow listeners on Discord

🐣 Get episodes earlier than the general public

👀 Monthly watch-alongs of Sassy-era movies and TV specials

🚫 Ad free episodes with chapter markers

👚 Merch discounts and free stickers

🤩 Join the Listen To Sassy Club today!

TOPICS

🎧 It Is March 1989

🎧 Cover

🎧 Fashion Feature: Photo Finish

🎧 Fashion Feature: On Cue

🎧 Fashion Feature: Wear ’Em On Top

🎧 Making It: Cheap Frills

🎧 What Next: Rings On Your Fingers

🎧 Beauty Feature: Big Beautiful Eyes

🎧 Beauty Feature: Model Behavior

🎧 We Try It: Weird Stuff

🎧 About Face

🎧 Sassy Ads

🎧 Sassy Club

🎧 Diary: Kidding Around

🎧 Say What

🎧 Goodbye For Now

🎧 A Visit From The Epilady

NOTES

⚠️ Inline notes below may be truncated due to podcast feed character limits. Full notes are always on the episode page.

🥣 Travel Pet Bowl on Etsy

🦵 Epilady at Macys.com

👃 Paint SCENTsations at Sherwin-Williams.com

🐫 Camelview Plaza at DeadMalls.com

🤷‍♀️ "Chief Resigns From Matilda" at NYTimes.com

📉 "CEO Resigns From Company That Publishes Ms., Sassy Magazines" at APNews.com

🙋‍♀️ "Profile: Sandra Yates" at The Sydney Morning Herald

🚨 Sandra Yates at ClaxtonSpeakers.com

💸 "Private Schools In City To Increase Tuition 10%" at NYTimes.com

🤑 Tuition And Financial Aid at Dalton

🎉 Tara's interview with Anthony King, writer on The Afterparty, at Decider.com

March 1989 Pop Culture: Surfing, Beaches & Unprepared Interviewers Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

If there's one thread that runs through nearly all the pop cultural coverage of the March 1989 issue, it's writers acting like preparation is for nerds. Christina admits in a What Now item that she assumed U2 was an inspiration for The Go-Betweens when it was actually the other way around. Neill reviews Rain Man without knowing anything about it. Christina jumps in on the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise with its fourth installment. And Neill ends up with so little material for his Christina Applegate Q&A that he has to leave in "How are you?" -- yes, really. At least Eric Stoltz mixes things up by acting totally unprepared for the experience of getting interviewed, and comes off like a real turd. We discuss all of this in our latest podcast, for which -- if anything -- we might have OVERprepared.

QUICK LINKS

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on ListenToSassy.com

🖼️ View select scans from this issue in this episode's Visual Aids

☎️ Call The Hotline! Leave your questions, comments and Sassy stories on the hotline at 720-SASSY-GO or record directly on our site

🐦 @ListenToSassy on Twitter

📷 @ListenToSassy on Instagram

🧑‍💻 Visit our website ListenToSassy.com

JOIN THE LTS CLUB AND GET THE GOODIES

📖 Full cover-to-cover magazine PDFs

💬 Chat with us and your fellow listeners on Discord

🐣 Get episodes earlier than the general public

👀 Monthly watch-alongs of Sassy-era movies and TV specials

🚫 Ad free episodes with chapter markers

👚 Merch discounts and free stickers

🤩 Join the Listen To Sassy Club today!

TOPICS

🎧 It Is March 1989

🎧 In Our Lives

🎧 What Now

🎧 Watch It

🎧 Listen Up

🎧 One To Watch

🎧 Feature: Eric Stoltz Is Very Scary

🎧 Feature: This Is Christina Applegate

🎧 Goodbye For Now

NOTES

⚠️ Inline notes below may be truncated due to podcast feed character limits. Full notes are always on the episode page.

📷 Elizabeth Mosier on Instagram

☔️ Rain Man on Netflix

🎧 The March 1989 mixtape on Spotify

📺 "TV Review; Eudora Welty's 'Wide Net'" at NYTimes.com

😇 Naked Angels theatre company

🎉 "For Naked Angels, the Party's Over. Time to Get Serious Again." at NYTimes.com

💁🏻‍♂️ Tim Ransom's page at his agency, Clear Talent Group

🎞 Some Kind Of Wonderful on Hulu

👻 Haunted Summer on YouTube

💥 Manifesto trailer (NSFW) on YouTube

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Married...With Children on Hulu

🐦 Christina Applegate on Twitter

😵 Dead To Me on Netflix

🙋‍♀️ Samantha Who? on Hulu

🐶 Samantha Who? S02.E11: "The Dog" on Hulu

🎥 Introducing, Selma Blair on Amazon Prime Video

✍️ Tara's Christina Ricci profile at GQ.com

🔭 The Lost Daughter on Netflix

March 1989 Teen Life: Shyness, New Orleans & Period Myths Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

We spend a lot of time talking about what Tara was doing in March 1989 -- at band camp for what would be the last time -- and then it's another jokefest about REGINA, perhaps because none of us is that excited about discussing a very long and journalistically very questionable article about "Young White Racists." But Karen's advice about "How To Ask The Time Without Hyperventilating" is nearly as contentious! Is it too casual about the struggles of social anxiety, or were (are?) two of your co-hosts maybe too self-conscious for their own good? We do our best to skip over John "Toe Story" Elder's latest piece of short fiction before getting into a surprisingly inaccurate Body Talk. Then we go On The Road to New Orleans; discuss why He Said He prefers older girls; debate whether It actually Happened To Me (seems like nah); dip a toe in Help (who or what is "Sore" THIS month?); and wrap it up with a past submitter repeating in Stuff You Wrote. And hey, did we mention that as of this issue Sassy is ONE YEAR OLD? This episode is our birthday gift...to you!

QUICK LINKS

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on ListenToSassy.com

🖼️ View select scans from this issue in this episode's Visual Aids

☎️ Call The Hotline! Leave your questions, comments and Sassy stories on the hotline at 720-SASSY-GO or record directly on our site

🐦 @ListenToSassy on Twitter

📷 @ListenToSassy on Instagram

🧑‍💻 Visit our website ListenToSassy.com

JOIN THE LTS CLUB AND GET THE GOODIES

📖 Full cover-to-cover magazine PDFs

💬 Chat with us and your fellow listeners on Discord

🐣 Get episodes earlier than the general public

👀 Monthly watch-alongs of Sassy-era movies and TV specials

🚫 Ad free episodes with chapter markers

👚 Merch discounts and free stickers

🤩 Join the Listen To Sassy Club today!

TOPICS

🎧 It Is March 1989

🎧 LTS Club + In Our Lives

🎧 Feature: Young White Racists

🎧 Feature: How To Ask The Time Without Hyperventilating

🎧 Fiction: Life At The Side Of The Road

🎧 Body Talk

🎧 On The Road: New Orleans

🎧 What He Said: Do You Prefer Older Girls?

🎧 It Happened To Me: Katie Had A Bad Time As A Cheerleader

🎧 Stuff You Wrote

🎧 Goodbye For Now

🎧 The Red Tent

NOTES

⚠️ Inline notes below may be truncated due to podcast feed character limits. Full notes are always on the episode page.

👃 "Geraldo Rivera's Nose Broken In Scuffle on His Talk Show" at NYTimes.com

🦷 1986 Efferdent Ad on YouTube

🩸 "Does Your Period Really Sync With Close Friends'?" at ClevelandClinic.org

📖 Veronica Chambers on GoodReads

🤢 Yuck! It's Tiffany on Star Search

February 1989 Slumber Party: Alice, Change Rooms & Retainers Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

After we take the confounding February 1989 quiz -- How Romantic Are You? -- and share our results, we dive into your latest calls, and they are doozies. Your fellow listeners tell us their experiences with: the scary "real" "memoir" Go Ask Alice; innovations in cursing by the children of Somerville, Massachusetts; and the antisocial uses of retail fitting rooms. But by far the most calls we've received this time -- and maybe in the whole life of the podcast -- revolve around Pam's admission that she made her own fake retainers as a kid, because lots and lots and LOTS of you did so too. Make yourself a s'more and listen!

QUICK LINKS

🗒 Full episode notes can be found on this episode's page on ListenToSassy.com

🖼️ View select scans from this issue in this episode's Visual Aids

☎️ Call The Hotline! Leave your questions, comments and Sassy stories on the hotline at 720-SASSY-GO or record directly on our site

🐦 @ListenToSassy on Twitter

📷 @ListenToSassy on Instagram

🧑‍💻 Visit our website ListenToSassy.com

JOIN THE LTS CLUB AND GET THE GOODIES

📖 Full cover-to-cover magazine PDFs

💬 Chat with us and your fellow listeners on Discord

🐣 Get episodes earlier than the general public

👀 Monthly watch-alongs of Sassy-era movies and TV specials

🚫 Ad free episodes with chapter markers

👚 Merch discounts and free stickers

🤩 Join the Listen To Sassy Club today!

TOPICS

🎧 It Is February 1989

🎧 Quiz: How Romantic Are You?

🎧 From The Hotline

🎧 Goodbye For Now

NOTES

⚠️ Inline notes below may be truncated due to podcast feed character limits. Full notes are always on the episode page.

💘 Quiz: How Romantic Are You?

🏋️ "The Power Team Was the Bloody, Evangelical Freakshow That Ruled the 80s" at Vice.com

🍬 Wax Bottles Candy

🦷 Bionator 1 (to Open)" at AccuteOrtho.com

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