Listen To Sassy: Life In The 90s – June 1991 Pop Culture: River, Noni & Munchkin Cats

Episode Date: November 11, 2025
Hosts: Tara Ariano (“Christina”), Pamela Ribon (“Pam”), David T. Cole (“Dave”)

Episode Overview

This episode is a lively and humorous deep dive into the June 1991 issue of Sassy magazine. The hosts reunite to reminisce and analyze key pop culture moments, quirky magazine tidbits, and the offbeat energy of early ‘90s Gen-X teen life. Major focal points include River Phoenix’s side hustle in music, the arrival of the Munchkin cat, eco-angst over McDonald’s packaging, underground zines, and a cascade of music and movie reviews, all filtered through the hosts' combination of nostalgia, snark, and affection for vintage Sassy.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: June 1991 Weirdness

• [01:16] Christina’s whimsical intro runs through time-capsule news: Dana Plato’s sentencing, Comedy Central’s debut, and Susan Lucci’s Emmy loss, but proclaims the era is more about “hiding a fat snake under your bed.”
• Snake-based ‘meet cute’: "So what she's predicting is a snake based meat cute." (Pam, [02:12])
  • The hosts riff on the oddball scenario, joking about “good kissing” being “jaws completely unhinged.” (Christina, [02:22])

2. Magazine Rituals & Zine Culture

• Side copy struggles: The crew jokes about struggling to read Sassy’s notorious sideways and upside-down text.
  • "Everyone has a system at this point." (Christina, [03:02])
  • Pam brags: “I’m the second place efficiency expert. Pam, you're lost.” ([03:18])
• Zine of the Month: Girl Germs is spotlighted as a feminist zine for “girls who are in charge of things, like bands.” Dave mock-wonders if Sassy’s staff were “just trying to fuck this guy or if they were actually, and I’m not even joking anymore.” ([03:27])
• Archiving the 90s: Christina found two issues of Girl Germs online and confirms its creators are “still just in Portland being Portland.” ([04:31])

3. Sassy Lexicon: “Rotted”

• [04:46] 'Rotted'—adjective for feeling gross or bad.
  • "I'm feeling really rotted today because I was up all night writing songs for my band, Mood Ring. I think it’s great." (Christina, [04:46])
  • Pam dislikes near-miss coinages: “I don’t like ones where it’s just one letter off what you should be saying. It just feels like somebody made a mistake and everybody was too lazy to correct them." ([05:00])
  • New variants: “If you’re feeling extremely rotted, you are rotissimo … If you’re in an extremely unpleasant situation … Rotterdam.” ([05:11]–[05:29])
• Modern parallels: Dave draws connections to today’s “bedrot” and “couch rot.” ([05:39])

4. Ecological Angst: McDonald’s Packaging

• Plastic foam woes:
  • The switch from foam to “plastic coated paper packaging that is most definitely not recyclable.” ([05:56])
  • Pam rants about the fragile nature of Styrofoam cups, “so breakable, you know, with my giant man strength.” ([06:32])
  • "Richard Dreyfus from Jaws … he's just got a Styrofoam cup … I feel like I can do that at any moment while I'm drinking one." (Pam, [06:35])
• Nostalgia and Grease-Proofing:
  • Pam speculates the plastic coating was “so you don’t see the grease stains all over your product to remind you how bad this is for you.” ([08:35])
  • The McDLT’s environmental excess: "I remember the McDLT being a moment when even normal people were like, this is excessive." (Dave, [09:54])
• Arranged Packaging: Pam gushes over artistic photos of neat Styrofoam containers: “When they’re all together, they’re beautiful.” ([09:13])

5. Sassiest Girl in America Update

• Neglected compared to 'sassiest boy':
  • Dave had to check archives “to remind myself what this girl even looked like.” ([10:26])
  • She’s thriving, donated her prize money, was invited to a child rights group’s board, but “no one at her school was that impressed … which in itself is pretty sassy.” ([11:04])

6. Band Alerts: 90s Indie Soundtrack

• Trash Can Sinatras:
  • A band with a name so ‘90s that Christina jokes “I thought I made up.” ([11:23])
  • Pam: “What a 90s name … Squirrel Nut Zippers. Trash Can Sinatras.” ([11:47])
• Kicking Giant:
  • Noted for a DIY T-shirt made for Karen Catchpole—“which I’m not even sure she wears.” (Dave, [12:11])

7. Rob and Noni Watch

• Misremembered casting: Dave notes Sassy’s report that Winona Ryder was in Chaplin: “She’s not in that movie.” ([13:06])
• Robert Downey Jr.’s album: Christina notes, “I had completely forgotten about his album from 2004,” and mocks the track ‘Broken’: “The bridge is the serenity prayer … it never stops being funny.” ([13:19]–[14:37])
  • “Did Sting drop this and you picked it up?” (Christina, [14:38])
  • Pam: “I like how it slowly morphed into a Michael McDonald song over the course of this.” ([15:00])

8. Genetic Mutations

• Munchkin Cats:
  • "Stumpy legged cat … originated from a spontaneous mutation … first found under a pickup truck in Louisiana back in 1983." (Dave, [15:15])
  • Pam: “I think if it was found under a pickup truck in Louisiana, the cat should be called the F150.” ([15:43])
• Billy Corgan:
  • Noted as “a carbon copy of Edie Brickell, at least physically. … ‘I know I look like a lady, Billy has been known to say,’ which is not the same as a quote exactly, but … a line I have remembered for the rest of my life.” (Dave, [16:33])
  • Discussion of Corgan’s penchant for appearing on Paws (cat) magazines. ([16:52])

9. Hair and School Dress Codes

• State rules allow schools to ban certain hairstyles. Christina recalls being forced to change her hair and mocked as "the beaver." ([18:22]–[19:03])
  • Pam: “Got Davy Crockett energy for sure.” ([19:18])

10. Movie & Music Reviews

• Trust ([21:04]): Hal Hartley indie flick gets four dots, praised for circle-of-life TV philosophy: “TV makes these daily sacrifices possible” ([22:09])
• Toy Soldiers & True Colors ([22:19]–[23:57]): Cheesy 90s action.
• A Tale of Springtime ([24:07]): Panned for being “subtitled … so you must be willing to read your way through it.”
• If Looks Could Kill ([24:19]): “Extremely off brand” for Darren Starr.
• Kill Uncle – Morrissey ([25:49]–[27:10]): Review is bittersweet, hosts lamenting Morrissey’s musical brilliance vs. “terrible person” status.
• Beat Happening – Dreamy ([27:23]–[28:22]): Tara likes “jangly guitars,” but “too bad this guy can’t sing at all.”
  • Pam: “Makes Crash Test Dummies seem like the opera.” ([27:42])

11. One to Watch: Alec Keshishian

• Fresh off directing Madonna’s Truth or Dare, Keshishian is profiled. Dave is skeptical: “He did not fulfill his early promise.”
• Christina lists his many music video credits; jury’s out on whether he truly lived up to the hype. ([28:27]–[29:32])

12. Main Feature: I Saw River Phoenix Brush His Teeth

• The show’s centerpiece is Christina’s report on a Sassy encounter with River Phoenix and his band Aleka’s Attic.
  • Interview focuses on River’s earnest activism and music, but includes backhanded digs: “Rain … has features that are pretty and ugly at the same time.” ([31:14])
  • Revelations about River and Rain’s traumatic past in the Children of God cult, which the article glosses over.
  • “I just hope she made the most of this time interviewing him because if he ever read this, I don’t think he’s gonna let you interview him again. This is a one and done.” (Dave, [31:25])
• Christina finds that Rain’s middle name is Joan of Arc—“the middle name episode.” ([32:45])

Memorable Quotes

• “I was waiting in the quiet.” – Christina on missing Dave’s signature sound interludes ([05:52])
• “This feels modern to me because of bedrot being a thing in the 20s. Yeah. Couch rot.” – Dave drawing a line from Sassy slang to Gen Z ([05:39])
• "You can't do that with rotten. ... It needs a little more decay." – Christina on the linguistic merits of 'rotted' over 'rotten' ([05:29])
• “Even normal people were like, this is excessive. This makes me feel bad looking at this packaging.” – Dave on McDLT ([09:54])
• “I don’t even have to add that Billy’s a carbon copy of Edie Brickell…‘I know I look like a lady, Billy has been known to say.’” – Dave ([16:33])
• “TV makes these daily sacrifices possible.” – Hal Hartley’s character Matthew, cited approvingly by Christina ([22:09])
• “Makes Crash Test Dummies seem like the opera.” – Pam, on Beat Happening’s singing ([27:42])
• “[Rain] has features that are pretty and ugly at the same time.” – Christina quoting (with regret) the original Sassy article ([31:14])

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:16 – Whimsical June 1991 intro
• 03:23 – Girl Germs zine & side copy systems
• 04:46 – “Rotted” and its modern evolutions
• 05:56 – McDonald’s packaging & Styrofoam nostalgia
• 09:54 – The McDLT as 90s eco-villain
• 10:26 – Sassiest Girl in America update
• 11:23 – Band alert: Trash Can Sinatras & Kicking Giant
• 13:06 – Winona Ryder, Rob Ems, and disastrous actor albums
• 15:15 – Cat mutation: Munchkin origins
• 16:33 – Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan, and feline celebrity
• 18:22 – State hair codes, and Christina’s “beaver” era
• 21:04 – Movie reviews: Trust, Toy Soldiers, more
• 25:49 – Morrissey and Beat Happening album reviews
• 28:27 – Alec Keshishian: one to watch?
• 29:59 – Main feature: “I Saw River Phoenix Brush His Teeth”
• 33:37 – Next episode preview

Tone & Style

The hosts’ banter mixes genuine affection for their 90s teen past with dry wit and meta-commentary about both the magazine’s quirks and their own podcasting rituals. Their personalities—Pam’s sharp sarcasm, Christina's elaborate side-stories, Dave's deadpan digressions—shine through, making the episode both informative and full of comedic self-awareness.

For Next Time

The hosts tease a review of June 1991’s Sassy fashion (“culturally appropriate, some vaguely Latin American styles”), hints at more swimsuit content, and promise further adventures in early-90s nostalgia.

Summary by [Your Assistant Name]
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For Gen-Xers, nostalgia lovers, and Sassy magazine enthusiasts, this episode is an energetic, detail-rich flashback that gives equal weight to the mundane, the momentous, and the magnificently weird.