Luscious Jackson Re-issues 1994's 'Natural Ingredients'

Summary

Podcast Summary: Luscious Jackson Re-issues 1994's Natural Ingredients

Podcast: All Of It with Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Episode Air Date: October 16, 2025
Guest: Jill Cunniff, founding member of Luscious Jackson
Topic: Revisiting and reissuing Luscious Jackson’s seminal 1994 debut album, Natural Ingredients, on vinyl for its 30th anniversary, with reflections on the band’s legacy, influences, and continuing community.

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Episode Overview

This lively episode explores the origins, sounds, and significance of Luscious Jackson’s Natural Ingredients. Host Alison Stewart welcomes Jill Cunniff to discuss the band’s formation, unique style, feminist undercurrents, and the continued resonance of 1990s women in music. The conversation also celebrates the new vinyl reissue of the album, featuring rare remixes and vault tracks, and highlights the band’s collaborative spirit, memories of tours and festivals, and new connections with fans through Substack.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins and Formation of Luscious Jackson

[03:30 – 04:41]

• The band formed out of teenage friendships in downtown 1980s New York.
  • Jill Cunniff: “We were friends from New York and sort of like teen punkers. So that's literally how we met. Which would be in like, 80s New York downtown kids. Yeah. So old, old friends, basically.” [03:47]
• The four members—Jill Cunniff, Kate Schellenbach, Gabby Glaser, and Vivian Trumbull—brought different influences but strove to blend hip-hop, punk, and indie rock for a truly original sound.

2. Early Break and Album Production

[04:41 – 06:16]

• Luscious Jackson’s first demo, recorded in their Greenwich Village neighborhood, was sent to friends the Beastie Boys, who signed them as Grand Royal’s first act.
  • Jill: “We made a demo in Greenwich Village... sent it to the Beastie Boys, who were our friends. So they started their label, Grand Royal, with our first demo.” [04:46]
• Natural Ingredients was mostly home-produced in Lower Manhattan, reflecting a DIY ethos and the reason behind the album’s title.
  • “We didn’t like separate rooms with, like a vocal booth. That was never a thing. So, yeah, it's all homemade. And that's kind of why we did Natural Ingredients as the title.” [05:37]

3. Musical and Cultural Influences

[06:16 – 06:56]

• Key inspirations included De La Soul’s Three Feet High and Rising, The Slits, post-punk bands like Wire, and New York hip-hop.
  • Jill: “It's like a collage style, happy music... All that English stuff from the 80s. Wire... post punk... and then like New York hip hop.” [06:19]

4. The Vinyl Reissue: Why Now?

[07:08 – 07:58]

• The 30th anniversary reissue features colored vinyl inspired by the album’s original artwork, plus a special 45 with “vault” tracks.
  • Jill: “It's orange and blue. Baby blue. ...based on the artwork of the record, which is like a melange of graffiti and orange and baby blue stuff.” [07:08]
• Vinyl made sense as a nostalgic and meaningful medium, especially given their song “LP Retreat” is about vinyl culture.
  • “We’re vinyl fans. We like record stores. Record stores gave us a big boost in the beginning because we played in stores all over the country.” [07:58]

5. Feminist Themes and Songs

[10:02 – 10:44]

• “Strongman”—played on air—is described as a “feminist Diddy,” rooted in ideas from the band’s women’s studies courses.
  • Jill: “It was just a concept of like, why does the woman have to be behind the man? ...I wrote it for like, a Patti LaBelle. I had it in my mind that someone would sing it like Patti LaBelle...” [10:18]

6. Reception and Touring in the 90s

[10:51 – 12:35]

• Early fans were largely college students and women’s studies enthusiasts, with the band building a grassroots following through college radio and campus shows.
• Luscious Jackson uniquely performed at both Lilith Fair and Lollapalooza.
  • Jill: “I didn't know that until we wrote the sub stack.” [12:15]
• The atmosphere at Lilith Fair is fondly recalled as supportive, communal, and filled with “good vibes.”
  • “Sarah McLachlan... greets each new band with a basket of Lush Bath products. That's how it was. So you can imagine from there it just got better.” [11:39]

7. Notable Collaborations and Live Moments

[13:08 – 14:12]

• Played a highlight acoustic version of “Ladyfingers” with Sarah McLachlan, emphasizing the supportive and collaborative community at Lilith Fair.
• Alison: “You sound so good. You sound like you were having a good time.”
  • Jill: “We were having a great time. Oh, my God. We were having a great time.” [14:12]

8. 90s Women Musicians: Their Moment and Resonance Today

[14:41 – 15:32]

• The 90s saw a “crescendo” of women defining their space in rock and pop; that moment resonates now not merely as nostalgia, but as cultural significance.
  • Jill: “If you look at what was going on between Riot Grrrls and... like, I saw L7 play in San Francisco... there was just more openness to it.” [14:58]

9. Staying Connected: Substack, Memories, and Band Stories

[15:32 – 17:19]

• The new Luscious Jackson Substack uncovers forgotten anecdotes and deepens the band’s connections, even with each other.
  • Stories include card games with Iggy Pop on Pete & Pete and revelations about what band members didn’t know about each other’s lives on tour.
  • Jill: “We’re just finding out all these little back. We didn’t know that. So and so dated so and so ... you’d be surprised how little people know about what’s going on with each other in a band.” [17:19]

10. Remembering Vivian Trumbull

[17:26 – 17:52]

• Jill pays tribute to Vivian, the band’s late keyboardist, who pursued her artistic path with Dusty Trails before passing away from cancer.
  • Jill: “She just wanted to expand, I think, and no hard feelings. She had cancer. Yeah, she passed away. And, yeah, we love her to death. We still do.” [17:28]

11. The Remixes: Deep Shag “AquaMagic Remix”

[17:52–18:23]

• The featured remixes were chosen to give new life to tracks fans may have missed, with a highlight on producer George Draculius’ “AquaMagic Remix.”
  • Jill: “He took Deep Shag and really went with it and he loved it. And you know when somebody does a great remix and then no one ever hears of it again, we were like, let's just bring it back out.” [18:03]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Blending Genres and Pushing Boundaries:
  • “We tried really hard to make an original sound...the record industry likes to put you in a category...it was always trying to find our spot.” – Jill Cunniff, [04:12]
• On the Album’s DIY Spirit:
  • “We didn’t like separate rooms with a vocal booth. That was never a thing. So, yeah, it's all homemade. And that's kind of why we did Natural Ingredients as the title.” – Jill Cunniff, [05:37]
• On the “Strongman” Track:
  • “It takes a strong man to stand by a strong woman, yes it does.” – “Strongman” lyric [08:48]
• On Women in the 90s Scene:
  • “It was like a crescendo... there was just more openness to it.” – Jill Cunniff, [14:58]
• On Band Discoveries via Substack:
  • “You’d be surprised how little people know about what’s going on with each other in a band.” – Jill Cunniff, [17:19]
• On Remembering Vivian Trumbull:
  • “We love her to death. We still do.” – Jill Cunniff, [17:52]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Band Origins & Influences: [03:30 – 06:56]
• Vinyl Reissue and Artwork: [07:08 – 08:25]
• “Strongman” and Feminist Messages: [08:48 – 10:44]
• 90s Women in Music & Festivals: [10:51 – 14:41]
• Substack Stories & Band Reflections: [15:32 – 17:26]
• Remembering Vivian & Remixes: [17:26 – 18:23]

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Closing

Jill Cunniff’s visit to All Of It is both a deep-dive and a celebration of Luscious Jackson’s innovative, genre-colliding debut. Through reflections, unreleased tracks, and ongoing community building, the band embraces its legacy on its own terms—true to the album’s title and their original spirit. The episode is a must-listen for music fans, particularly of 1990s culture, feminist rock, and those craving behind-the-scenes stories from a pioneering all-women band.

Find more:

• Natural Ingredients Vinyl Reissue – Out now
• Luscious Jackson’s Substack – Stories, memories, and more
• Jill Cunniff’s art: jillcunniffstudio.com

Transcript

[A]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in soho. Thank you for spending part of your day with us. Coming up on the show today, author Lily King joins us to talk about her new novel, Heart the Lover. We'll learn about the new exhibit at the New York. Excuse me. The Newark Museum of Art that celebrates the legacy of three black women from the 19th century. And Nick Offerman, he'll be here to talk about his new book, Little Woodchucks. Offerman's Woodshop's Guide to Tools and Tomfoolery. That's the plan. So let's get started with something a little familiar. Okay, so maybe back in the 90s, you were sitting home on a Saturday night watching TV, and you heard this. Ladies and gentlemen, Luscious Jackson. That was Luscious Jackson from SNL playing a song from their debut album, natural ingredients, from 1994. Fast forward to the summer of 2018, and we were putting in the development for this show. A whole three weeks of development. I was asked about, what music do you want for the show? Immediately I said, luscious Jackson. And guess what happened? But City Song isn't just one song from the album. There are so many great tracks like this one. It's called Here.

[B]

Please Die for Me. Yeah, yeah Please Die for me yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Ow.

[A]

And now you can hear them all on vinyl. Today, October 16th, Luscious Jackson is re releasing a vinyl version of Natural Ingredients, plus two new remixes. Joining us now is Luscious Jackson's Jill Kniff.

[C]

Correct, correct pronunciation.

[A]

So glad to. It's so glad to see you, first of all.

[C]

Yeah, so glad to see you too.

[A]

So for folks who are. We get people in this, in the studio who sit in the studio, they hear the opening track, they dance, they recognize the band immediately. Some people are like, who is this? Some people are like, I don't know this band. Just for the uninitiated, how did Luscious Jackson start?

[C]

Well, we were friends from New York and sort of like teen punkers. So that's literally how we met. Which would be in like, 80s New York downtown kids. Yeah. So old, old friends, basically.

[A]

So there were four different women made up the band. Kate Schellenbach, Gabby Glaser, Vivian Trumbull. And you. What did you have that was the same? And then what did you have that.

[C]

Was different as a band? Yeah. I think that we tried really hard to make an original sound. So we loved, like, hip hop, we loved punk, we love indie, indie rock. I mean, so we really tried to blend it, and it was a challenge because the record industry likes to put you in a category, starting from the record store to the radio, blah, blah, blah. So it was always trying to find our spot. Yeah.

[A]

So could you describe for people how you got the deal for Natural Ingredients?

[C]

We made a demo in Greenwich Village, where we lived at the time. And basically sent it to the Beastie Boys, who were our friends. So they started their label, Grand Royal, with our first demo. And the record was called In Search of Manny, which is where a lot of people heard of us, which is an ep. So that's why we say Natural Ingredients is the first album.

[A]

And had a good picture of a guy named Manny.

[C]

Manny, yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

He's like a guy with a beer. Spread eagle, kind of in jeans. 70s jeans, grabbed a lot of eyeballs. Real guy.

[A]

What did you hope for as a band when you first started out?

[C]

I think we just wanted to make music and have fun, you know, we were in our 20s and we just loved making music and listening to music. That was our world.

[A]

Where and when did you make the Natural Ingredients?

[C]

Okay. We continued with Tony Mangurian, who was our co producer. Also written and recorded in Lower Manhattan. So a lot of home studios. That's kind of how we went. I think we were in maybe one or two professional studios for our whole career. That's like a room this big, which is about. What is this, 12 by 12? About? Yeah, this sort of. This type of setup really early on. Yeah, we started with this type of setup, which is like a computer, a sampler, that kind of stuff. A few instruments around. We didn't like separate rooms with, like a vocal booth. That was never a thing. So, yeah, it's all homemade. And that's kind of why we did Natural Ingredients as the title.

[A]

Who were your influences at the time?

[C]

I'd say I was just into De La Soul again, which is like that record, Three Feet High and Rising. I think that's a huge influence in terms of bringing in cultural things that you notice. Like Sesame street, bits and pieces, you know, it's like a collage style, happy music. The Slits, for people who know the Slits, which is sort of a punky, reggae, 70s, English band. All that English stuff from the 80s. Wire, you know that. I would call that our indie. Yeah, post punk, I'd say post punk. And then like New York hip hop.

[A]

We're getting all these texts to say Luscious Jackson for exclamation points. Luscious exclamation points. Give me some naked Eye.

[C]

Oh, yeah. People know Naked Eye because that was our hit song.

[A]

But we're talking about you.

[C]

We are talking about natural ingredients which we've worked on getting this vinyl re released. It's a reissue and it's been going. It's been in the works for a couple years. 30th anniversary. It's orange and blue. Baby blue.

[A]

Oh, nice swirl.

[C]

Which is based on the artwork of the record, which is like a melange of graffiti and orange and baby blue stuff. So, you know, I was just calling it stuff. But here's the picture. You see what it looks like?

[A]

It's pretty great looking.

[C]

It's just like a lot of colors. So we picked that and a baby blue 45 with two songs that are. We're calling from the Vault. So they're old songs that aren't really known.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And we're going to hear. What are we hearing? Deep Shag.

[A]

Yeah, we're saving it.

[C]

Okay. So we're going to hear a little something special that is not known.

[A]

Why did you decide vinyl?

[C]

It's something that people are back into, you know, so we're all. We're all about that. And we have record songs about vinyl. One's called LP Retreat, which is on this record. So we're vinyl fans. We like record stores. Record stores gave us a big boost in the beginning because we played in stores all over the country. Which means like before the show you show up and you play a whole other gig at these record stores. Does that make sense?

[A]

Absolutely. I went to many of them.

[C]

Okay. Yeah, yeah. So it was like a mini concert at the local record store.

[A]

Our guest is Luscious Jackson's Jill Kniff. Today we're talking about the re release, the vinyl edition of their debut album, Natural Ingredients. So people can hear other songs from the album. Because I hear a little bit on our show, we're going to play Strongman. Let's talk about it on the other side.

[B]

This is Strongman Sahand. And wash his hand Hands up his scams Watch his women stand on a free eater in our fight to get be Help her get our medicines Me Let us step on out of the street I will call him super solid I will call him super solid it takes a strong man to stand by a strong woman yes it does it takes a strong man to stand by a strong woman it takes a strong man.

[A]

Yes it does all three of us Gen Xers in here are having a good time as this is going on. Our engineer and our senior producer, everybody's having a great Time. What was that song about? Do you remember?

[C]

Well, you can get the vibe from the lyric.

[A]

Yes, you can.

[C]

It was a little feminist Diddy. And both. A lot of us studied women's studies in college. So at that time would be like early 90s, late 80s. And it was just a concept of like, why does the woman have to be behind the man? Obviously. Right. So that's what it's about. I wrote it for like, a Patti LaBelle. I had it in my mind that someone would sing it like Patti LaBelle, which. Wouldn't that be great?

[A]

That would be great.

[C]

So let's get this song to someone like Patti LaBelle or Beyonce. All y' all get it out to her.

[A]

When you started out, what was the reaction to an all female band in.

[C]

The early 90s, you know, after all those women's studies courses, we had a huge following. I think a lot of people in college, you know, literally had the same type of classes. So we played a lot of colleges. And I think our fan base came to us through college radio initially. So I think we had a great experience. Not to say we didn't, you know, hit our heads on many walls as we got out there, but overall we had a pretty smooth kind of takeoff, I guess. You know, we got. We felt like our fans were great from the beginning.

[A]

It was really interesting because there's this Lilith Fair documentary that's out now. You played Lilith Fair? You're in the documentary. What do you remember about Lilith Fair?

[C]

Good vibes. You know, it's. It was, as I mentioned, I don't know. We have a substack now, which is kind of also a 30th anniversary thing, where we go back and talk about how stuff happened, and it's been really interesting. But we did a Lilith Fair substack where Sarah McLachlan, who started the festival, greets each new band with a basket of Lush Bath products. That's how it was. So you can imagine from there it just got better.

[A]

And you played. I think you were the only band to play Lollapalooza and Lilitha.

[C]

Yes. I didn't know that until we wrote the sub stack.

[A]

You played both of them, and they're.

[C]

Opposites in a sense. Although there were female bands on Lollapalooza, like on our year, we had it a couple years, but Breeders were on there. L7 was on there. You know, there were women bands on there. But it's. It's a pretty masculine setup.

[A]

Overall, it was a different set. It's totally different.

[C]

Totally different.

[A]

This text says you're taught you're taking me back to the 90s college days. Oh, how I miss Luscious Jackson. That's Cindy from the West Village texting.

[C]

Cindy from the West Village.

[A]

This one says we're all dancing, right?

[C]

Oh, gosh, yes. Especially the ladies here, definitely.

[A]

And people who are texting us in as well.

[C]

Please be dancing.

[A]

Please be dancing. I found this acoustic version of Luscious Jackson singing with Sarah McLachlan. Found it on Reddit. It's from CNN. Have you seen this?

[C]

Oh, yeah. I love that thing.

[A]

Let's play it.

[B]

I got lady fingers, baby? I got kid gloves, baby, I got. If you need me to be sweet? Then I can give you what you need? Cause I know you never came first, Baby, I'm so tired of my gun in my vanity? I like to trade them in for some sanity? And I know it didn't come too easy? Baby, I got kid gloves, baby? I got heart? I got heart? I got lady fingers, baby? I got kid gloves, baby, I got.

[A]

You sound so good. You sound like you were having a good time.

[C]

We were having a great time. Oh, my God. We were having a great time.

[A]

Who did you like seeing on Lilith Fair when you weren't playing? Because you got to see a lot of.

[C]

I mean, Sheryl Crow's show was unbelievable pretty much every night. Sarah McLachlan's show was unbelievable. I mean, the thing that was amazing was everyone played on each other's set, so Sarah was out there every day singing with us and probably a bunch of other people, you know. So it was like this really great communal vibe.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

It's sort of interesting. In the past year, year and a half, I've noticed there's a real interest in women from the 90s and not nostalgia, but something else. People are interested in women musicians from the 90s. What do you think it is?

[C]

I mean, there was a lot of us, and we actually didn't feel too constrained. I think if you look at what was going on between Riot Grrrl Gurls, Riot Grrrls and just, you know, even in the late 80s, like, I saw L7 play in San Francisco when I went to college, and they were going in the 80s, mid-80s, so it was like a crescendo, I think, in the 90s of people who'd been going at it for a while, and there was just more openness to it. And I don't know if it's different now, but people are interested in it.

[A]

You mentioned that you have a Substack. What can people read on your sub stack?

[C]

Okay, so far, we started in July, and it's been, like, so much fun because we're all learning stuff we didn't know about the band.

[A]

Oh, from fans?

[C]

No, from the three of us.

[A]

Oh, really? Like what?

[C]

Well, here's one. Gabby played a really long card game with Iggy Pop on Pete and Pete, this TV show. And, like, she has the scores on a paper. She kept it. So if you look, you'll see the scorecard. And Kate is a big card player. She's like, I had no idea. What was I doing? That you were playing with Iggy Pop for, like, hours. And he beat her. And he likes to talk about it. He liked to tell her about it later on.

[A]

It's so funny. You all have such interesting careers. Kate's a TV producer. Yes. You're an amazing artist.

[C]

Oh, thank you.

[A]

I bought a piece of your art.

[C]

I appreciate that.

[A]

So I look at it all the.

[C]

Time and it says it's all right on it. Which is funny because you're like. It makes me relax. It did.

[A]

I bought it when the show first started. It's all right.

[C]

It's gonna be all right.

[A]

It's gonna be all right. It's gonna be all right. Do you have any more art shows coming up?

[C]

I have a website, and it's constantly going, okay. Jillcaniffstudio.com and Gabby's doing what? Gabby's writing.

[A]

Oh, excellent.

[C]

So she's got books that she's writing, I would say. That's what I also learned, is that both of them write really well. Kate and Gabby. Yeah. So, like, we each put in. We do it like oral history. We each put in stories on the sub stack, and then the other one adds on, you know, another one adds on. So we're just finding out all these little back. We didn't know that. So and so dated so and so, you know, I'm not gonna say any names, and a lot of that's been cut out. But, like, we didn't know what everybody else was doing, you know, like, you're on the road with people for 10 years and you go to your hotel room, you don't know what's going on.

[A]

We. You do now.

[C]

No more. We know more. You'd be surprised how little people know about what's going on with each other in a band.

[A]

And sadly, we lost Vivian Trumbull.

[C]

Yes. Vivian was our beloved keyboardist. She left the band before our last album, and due to her own artistic desires, she started another project called Dusty Trails with Josephine Wiggs from the Breeders. So she just wanted to expand, I think, and no hard feelings. She had cancer. Yeah, she passed away. And, yeah, we love her to death. We still do.

[A]

All right, we've come to the remix that's on this reissue of Natural Ingredients, Deep Shag Aqua Remix. Why did you pick this one to remix?

[C]

Oh, what this is is George Draculius, who is a producer that, you know, does soundtrack stuff now, music supervision. But he took Deep Shag and really went with it and he loved it. And you know when somebody does a great remix and then no one ever hears of it again, we were like, let's just bring it back out. It's called Aquamagic Remix.

[A]

Luscious Jackson is reissuing its debut album, Natural Ingredients. It's out today with two extra tracks. We have been so happy to have Jill Knish in studio. Knif. Knish. Kniff.

[C]

I told you to say Knish.

[A]

But you did tell me to say knish.

[C]

You just said. I said to remind yourself of the pronunciation. Our state has changed a lot in the last 140 years. We know because MultiCare has been here guided by a single making our communities healthier. That comes from making courageous decisions, partnering with local communities to grow programs and services, and expanding healthcare access to those who need it most. Together, we're building a healthier future.

[D]

Learn [e-mail] this is Ira Flato, host of Science Friday. For over 30 years, the science Friday team has been reporting high quality science and technology news, making science fun for curious people by covering everything from the outer reaches of space to the rapidly changing world of AI to the tiniest microbes in our bodies. Audiences trust our show because they know we're driven by a mission to inform and serve listeners first and foremost with important news they won't get anywhere else. And our sponsors benefit from that halo effect. For more information on becoming a sponsor, visit sponsorship wnyc. Org.