Listen To Sassy: Life In The 90s

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December 1991: Muffin Heads, Nitzer Ebb & Henry Rollins’s Tattoos Oct 20, 2026

Show notes

The readers have some crazy ideas about the Pop Culture topics of their reader-produced issue. What Now in the middle of the issue, and on a white background? Listen Up and Read It fifty pages apart? Making Ones To Watch of a band that will break up moments after this issue is released? At least Henry Rollins is still sternly scolding us all for our terrible choices into our current day. All this AND a shoe design contest judged by Lady Miss Kier?! Stomp on in and join us!

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-SASSY-GO or record directly on our site
🦋 @ListenToSassy on Bluesky
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🧑‍💻 Visit our website ListenToSassy.com
🛍️ Shop the LTS Store

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TOPICS
🎧 It Is December 1991
🎧 What Now
🎧 Listen Up
🎧 Read It
🎧 Feature: Who The Heck Is Henry Rollins?
🎧 Goodbye For Now

NOTES
👞 Fluevog Creative
🎨 A Keith Haring-designed pamphlet for Refuse & Resist at Gallery 98
👊 The Refuse & Resist archives at NYU
📻 Henry Rollins at KCRW
☎️ “Henry Rollins On The Phone Call That Changed His Life Forever” on YouTube
😳 “Why Everyone Was Terrified Of Henry Rollins” on YouTube

December 1991 Teen Life: SHARPs, Sexism & Slumber Party Witchcraft Oct 06, 2026

Show notes

The readers have returned to produce the December 1991 issue, and they’ve got some big ideas. What He Said is out. WorldWatch and Crusaders are in. Bummer features? Forever. (Although this one is about the kind of skinheads who are cool and beat up Nazis, so it could definitely be worse.) We’ve got some editing notes and a lot of memories about Light As A Feather, Stiff As A Board and related attempts to mess with the laws of physics in our latest Teen Life episode!

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-SASSY-GO or record directly on our site
🦋 @ListenToSassy on Bluesky
🧑‍💻 Visit our website ListenToSassy.com
🛍️ Shop the LTS Store

TOPICS
🎧 It Is December 1991
🎧 Feature: These Skinheads Aren't Racist
🎧 Feature: How To Fight Sexism
🎧 Feature: Holiday Hell, Family Style
🎧 Fiction: Hindu Ketchup
🎧 Body Talk
🎧 Help
🎧 WorldWatch & Crusaders
🎧 Goodbye For Now
🎧 War & Poverty

NOTES
👔 “Who’s The Boss?” in the Chicago Tribune [subscription required]
👩🏻‍⚕️ Dr. Jodie A. Harris at US News And World Report
🛼 Whip It on Wikipedia
📖 Derby Girl on GoodReads
💁‍♀️ Caroline Kepnes on Wikipedia
📼 “Creating You With Caroline Kepnes” on YouTube
🌴 The Again With This podcast

November 1991 Slumber Party: Black History, Vocal Doppelgängers & Hernias Sep 22, 2026

Show notes

Callers are telling us about the advertisers that let them down, where to donate glasses, and much more!

November 1991 Fashion Etc.: Germans, Bras & Park Ave Cologne Sep 01, 2026

Show notes

It’s nearly the holidays as this issue reaches readers, so a few things are on their minds: how to dress for a festive party; what to wear UNDER those outfits; which fragrances will be most enticing; and, of course, which pieces to purchase if they’re going full Heidicore. Outside the features, we’ve got questions about the Designer Imposters business model, which lockers an “organizer” in a fractional ad will actually fit in, whether actual popular kids are taking time out of their busy social lives to write scolding letters to Sassy, and much much MUCH more.

TOPICS
🎧 It Is November 1991
🎧 Fashion Feature: Yodel
🎧 Fashion Feature: Show Offs
🎧 What Next: Blueness
🎧 Beauty Feature: How To Smell Real Good
🎧 About Face
🎧 Sassy Ads
🎧 Diary: Mutual Admiration Society
🎧 Say What
🎧 Inside Out: Neill, Neill, Neill, Neill, Neill*
🎧 Goodbye For Now
🎧 Matchbox Lights

NOTES
🔫 “Learn Gun Safety With Eddie Eagle (Hosted by Jason Priestley” on YouTube
👁️ “Vintage Perfection Matchbook Cosmetic Applicators 40 Ct Pastel Disposable” on eBay
🪘 BONGO Women’s Blue Jacket
🥛 @randlechris's post of Lynda Barry’s comic about dating Ira Glass
✍️ Maureen Callahan’s website
🎨 Neill McCutcheon’s website

November 1991 Pop Culture: Shemp, Jason Priestley & Special Guest Sarah D. Bunting Aug 18, 2026

Show notes

The time has come to discuss cover boy Jason Priestley, then just a few months into Season 2 of Beverly Hills, 90210. And since we have access to an expert — Sarah D. Bunting, Tara’s co-host on the once-upon-a-time Beverly Hills, 90210 podcast Again With This (though we’ve since gone on to run out of those and move on to Melrose Place, Dawson’s Creek, and very soon Felicity) and co-writer of A Very Special 90210 Book. Before we get to Priestley REALLY straining to seem edgier to Christina than his squeaky-clean character Brandon Walsh, there is much to discuss: Gregorian chants, mood rings, Hard Courts, Barton Fink, and much much more. No need to exchange an egg: hop right in!

TOPICS
🎧 It Is November 1991
🎧 What Now
🎧 Read It
🎧 Watch It
🎧 Listen Up
🎧 One To Watch
🎧 Feature: Jason Priestley, Oh-So Corrupt
🎧 Goodbye For Now

NOTES
🎸 “Beggar Weeds Are Doing Their Own Thing In Their Own Time” at Paste
🚔 “Here’s What Happened When The World Learned Of Pee-wee Herman’s Arrest On This Day In 1991” at Yahoo! Entertainment
📬 Fan mail in the June 1990 Pop Culture episode of Listen To Sassy
🎞️ Barton Fink on Hoopla
💂🏻 “Bentley, Derek” at the Criminal Cases Review Commission
🛼 Prayer Of The Rollerboys on YouTube
📰 Sarah’s review of Adrienne at the Best Evidence newsletter
📸 Sophie Hunter on Instagram
☕️ Vancouver’s English Bay Café on Facebook
🎭 “Talking Shop With Skeet Ulrich” at Los Angeles magazine
📸 Peggy Sirota on Instagram
📺 “Why Can’t TV Finales Stick A Landing?” by Tara at GQ
📖 A Very Special 90210 Book
📚 Exhibit B. Books
🫆 Best Evidence at Reality Blurred
🌴 The Again With This podcast
🦋 Sarah on Bluesky
🎬 One Act Film

November 1991 Teen Life: Divorce, Seafood & The Possibility Of A Female President Aug 04, 2026

Show notes

The next U.S. presidential election is a year away, so why not start thinking about candidates outside typical power structures — maybe the first female president could be Lynda Barry! Or Queen Latifah! Or Cindy Crawford even! Then again, if this month’s What He Said is anything to go by, the (good) guys Sassy talks to would TOTALLY vote for a woman but don’t think other hypothetical (bad) guys would, so: better put a pin in this for the next 30 to 60 years. The issue also gets into real girls’ stories of their parents’ terrible divorces; how to get into college even if your SAT scores stink; Karen’s recently deceased friend Aaron; and why you should be at least a little scared of eating fish. You don’t need to be scared of our latest episode, though — come on in, the water’s fine!

TOPICS
🎧 It Is November 1991
🎧 Feature: Lynda Barry For President
🎧 Feature : Totally Hilarious Divorce Stories
🎧 Body Talk
🎧 What He Said: Could A Woman Be President?
🎧 Help
🎧 Stuff You Wrote
🎧 Goodbye For Now
🎧 They Set Me Up
🎧 Alfa Romeo

NOTES
✏️ Linda Barry’s Cruddy at Simon & Schuster
😫 “Hernias In Women: Risk Factors, Symptoms And Prevention” at Brown Health

October 1991 Slumber Party: Relationship Readiness, Sunburn Trauma & Model Privilege Jul 21, 2026

Show notes

You might think that the October 1991 quiz, "Are You Relationship-Ready?," would be a cinch for your three married co-hosts, two of whom are married to each other. ...Actually, if you've been listening for a while, you might not think that at all. After sharing our range of results, it's on to your latest calls about everything from how bad Neill sucks to whether Sheila Heti should count her days. Finally, we look back on "Probe," the reader survey from the preview issue of Dirt, and almost make it all the way down the first column of questions! More to come there, but for now, pour something tasty in your color-changing mug and join us!

TOPICS
🎧 It Is October 1991
🎧 Quiz: Are You Relationship-Ready?
🎧 From The Hotline
🎧 Probe

October 1991 Fashion Etc.: Model Height, Coat Choice & 99¢ Treasures Jul 07, 2026

Show notes

The one thing everyone knows about modeling is that they want you to be tall. Nancy Brensson, one of the cover models for December's reader-produced issue, thinks she should still give it a shot at 5'6". How does it go? Spoiler: pretty much how you'd expect. (Sorry!) Height does keep coming up, though, from 5'11" Janet in an all-Sassy fashion/beauty staff editorial spread to a 5'1" Zits And Stuff letter writer/aspiring basketball player who wants to increase her vertical jump. Milla Jovovich presumably feels safe talking shit about Christina since at 5'9" Milla probably towers over her. All that plus coats, lipstick, and what we'd buy from a back-of-the-issue Teen Sale awaits you in our latest episode!

TOPICS
🎧 It Is September 1991
🎧 Fashion Feature: Watch This Girl Become A Model
🎧 Fashion Feature: Choose
🎧 Fashion Feature: I Would Totally Wear That
🎧 About Face
🎧 Zits And Stuff
🎧 Sassy Ads
🎧 Diary: Kimmum Is Feeling Neglected
🎧 Say What
🎧 Inside Out: Your Idea Here
🎧 Goodbye For Now

NOTES
💄 Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Toast Of New York
🛳️ "I Really Didn't Want To Go" at Harper's
1️⃣ "Robbie Nevil - Just Like You" on YouTube
👧🏻 Girls Of A Certain Age, Kim France's newsletter
🍗 "What Are Chicken Nuggets Made Of?" at WebMD
📺 My So-Called Life recaps at Again With Again With This
🎭 One Act

October 1991 Pop Culture: Escalators, Mudhoney & Bulgarian Wedding Music Jun 23, 2026

Show notes

After being so excited in the October 1991 Teen Life episode that the Ian Svenonius era was over, HERE HE IS AGAIN in What Now, along with stories on Wig Out, Brad Pitt, and Bulgarian wedding music. Your co-hosts are bitterly divided on the films of Mike Leigh, but come back together on Mary's Danish. Did One To Watch live up to his designation? Was Mike's report on his time as an extra in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare scooped up after getting cut from Dirt? We discuss this and much more in our latest episode!

TOPICS
🎧 It Is October 1991
🎧 What Now
🎧 Watch It
🎧 Listen Up
🎧 Feature: I Killed Freddy Krueger
🎧 Goodbye For Now

NOTES
👩🏽‍🦳 Wig Out online
👤 In The Shadow Of Love: A Teen AIDS Story on YouTube
🍽️ The Famine Within
🍭 Life Is Sweet on The Criterion Channel
👮🏻‍♂️ "I Fought The Law" by Mary's Danish on YouTube
🧾 Tara's review of Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed at GQ

October 1991 Teen Life: Best Friendship, Sweat Glands & The Sassiest Boy They Could Find Jun 09, 2026

Show notes

Can you maintain a close relationship with your best friends from high school? What's it like to have a port wine birthmark? How many guys say they've been cheated on? And…what's up with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process? One of these things is obviously not like the others, which is why we leave it to you to discover rather than wading into the quagmire ourselves. But! We also tell you about Mike Clark, the adorable new Sassiest Boy In America; an enjoyably offbeat fiction story; and what we think of abbreviating the word "tampons" to just "'pons." Light some incense -- ASSUMING YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DONE THAT A BUNCH THIS WEEK -- and join us!

TOPICS
🎧 It Is October 1991
🎧 Feature: Best Friends: Can They Last Or What?
🎧 Feature: Israeli And Palestinian Kids Tell You Why They Can’t Live In Peace
🎧 Feature: Mike: The Sassiest Boy We Could Find
🎧 Fiction: Friends & Rivals
🎧 Body Talk
🎧 What He Said: Have You Ever Been Cheated On?
🎧 Help For Him
🎧 On The Road: Portland, OR
🎧 It Happened To Me: Port Wine Birthmark
🎧 Stuff You Wrote
🎧 Goodbye For Now

NOTES
🍔 Jamie's Hamburgers commercial on YouTube
🦌 "That One Time Portland Was In 'Sassy' In 1991" in PDX Monthly
📖 Sheila Heti on Wikipedia
🔮 Liz Wermcrantz on TikTok
🥴 The Drunk Dave episode of Extra Extra Hot Great
🎬 The One Act Film website

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