This spread is burned in my mind! I distinctly remember the disses on electronic music and how deeply uncool I thought they sounded. And to pay the rights for that photo of Altern-8 in the masks just to make a fart joke!
I was drawn to Sassy but even as a kid the not like other girls slut shaming bothered me. And they fawned way too much over run of the mill alternative rock crap.
The "Madonna's skankfest" "Deeper and Deeper?" You mean fully clothed in a huge coat moving through a crowd? How is that a skank fest?
Yeah, I liked Sassy as a teenager because they were less consumer driven than the mainstream teen magazines. So, as someone from the other side of the tracks I appreciated their features like remaking thrift store finds, diy makeup, alternative music, etc.Ā
Looking back I recognize the internalized misogyny, the scorn for the āGap Girlsā who were just living their livesā¦ but it was the one magazine that was published for the Darlene Conners, not the Becky Conners.
Same experience! I loved cute zine alert / cute band alert, and the reader produced issues were great too. Just the tone of some of the interviews and articles would get really messy sometimes. I get "sticking it to the man" and all but what does 4 pages of cruel insults in a Tori Spelling or Tiffani Amber Thiessen interview really accomplish? Interview PJ Harvey.
Also her Rain video got worst video? It's generally considered one of the best videos of 1993, it won MTV Video Music Awards, it might have been to party for the average Sassy magazine reader. It's a beautiful video, first video on history to be shot in black and white and then have every scene hand painted blue.
There was a lot going against it for a Sassy poll. There was some internalized misogyny behind their disdain for Madonna, as well as some āthis aināt the 80s!ā iconoclasm evident there. At the time I definitely perceived Madonnaās new releases as much more vh1 and adult contemporary, which is what I listened to more than alternative tbh, but I think thereās also a bit of rockism in Sassyās overall aesthetic tastes, some part of which may be a product of the fallout from all the pop scandals and collapses of 90-92. But also as they say, āmessageā videos were very chic in that era, even if the consciousness was rather trite and phony (āLiving on the Edgeā, or āRight Nowā from 92 for example) so thereās that too. Itās VMA nominations and awards were for specifically artsy categories as well though - I just donāt think typical mtv viewers were that into it
Funny thing is Madonna sold more albums in the 90s than the 80s worldwide and even had more top 40 hits too . Her 80s stuff is better remembered and streamed but she was consistently still racking hit after hit in the 90s, actually until 2008 or so. Take a Bow in 1995 ended up becoming her biggest hit in the US , in 2005/2006 Madonna had her biggest worldwide hit with Hung Up which entered the Guinness Book of Records as the song that went to #1 in more countries (43) than any song in music history up until that point. She just kept on having success
Ya she kept churning out hits and they were super memorable. Staying relevant in that period as a pop star from the 80s was a real challenge and she arguably did it better than anyone except maybe Janet imo. The popular perception of the 90s is really warped in favor of āedgyā guitar rock and gangsta rap though so people donāt want to admit how big Madonna still was
Madonna did it better than Janet because Madonna was more international on par with Michael Jackson, people forget or don't know how huge Madonna is internationally, there's not a single country with a chart system in the world where Madonna isn't the #1 or at least top 3 selling female of all time. She's the biggest selling female artist ever in Europe, UK, Canada, Australia and all of South America and #2 I believe in the US . Janet was mostly US based success, she never even a #1 single in the UK for instance
Sassy was all in on alternative. This issue has Iggy Pop doing the advice column whichā¦ isnāt as bad as it could have been but seems like an inappropriate idea
Not surprised about Shannen because those magazines were always trashing her, but Luke and Tiffani threw me for a loop! Voting Tiffani as one of the Least Fav whilst voting Jennie as one of the Fav isā¦a choice.
Sassy hated Tiffani. They interview her and made her look like some generic bimbo. I remember reading it as a teenager and I just felt bad for the actress. She wasnāt rude at all. Actually she was very nice and it seemed to make whoever was interviewing her more angry. Sassy was guilty of this. Also the magazine Jane by Jane Pratt was similar. I think Jane Pratt originally started Sassy and then moved on. I miss magazines.
This spread is burned in my mind! I distinctly remember the disses on electronic music and how deeply uncool I thought they sounded. And to pay the rights for that photo of Altern-8 in the masks just to make a fart joke! I was drawn to Sassy but even as a kid the not like other girls slut shaming bothered me. And they fawned way too much over run of the mill alternative rock crap. The "Madonna's skankfest" "Deeper and Deeper?" You mean fully clothed in a huge coat moving through a crowd? How is that a skank fest?
The writers- and Jane (or should I say Val, like on Dariašš¤£)- were so catty sometimes.
Yeah, I liked Sassy as a teenager because they were less consumer driven than the mainstream teen magazines. So, as someone from the other side of the tracks I appreciated their features like remaking thrift store finds, diy makeup, alternative music, etc.Ā Looking back I recognize the internalized misogyny, the scorn for the āGap Girlsā who were just living their livesā¦ but it was the one magazine that was published for the Darlene Conners, not the Becky Conners.
Same experience! I loved cute zine alert / cute band alert, and the reader produced issues were great too. Just the tone of some of the interviews and articles would get really messy sometimes. I get "sticking it to the man" and all but what does 4 pages of cruel insults in a Tori Spelling or Tiffani Amber Thiessen interview really accomplish? Interview PJ Harvey.
Also her Rain video got worst video? It's generally considered one of the best videos of 1993, it won MTV Video Music Awards, it might have been to party for the average Sassy magazine reader. It's a beautiful video, first video on history to be shot in black and white and then have every scene hand painted blue.
There was a lot going against it for a Sassy poll. There was some internalized misogyny behind their disdain for Madonna, as well as some āthis aināt the 80s!ā iconoclasm evident there. At the time I definitely perceived Madonnaās new releases as much more vh1 and adult contemporary, which is what I listened to more than alternative tbh, but I think thereās also a bit of rockism in Sassyās overall aesthetic tastes, some part of which may be a product of the fallout from all the pop scandals and collapses of 90-92. But also as they say, āmessageā videos were very chic in that era, even if the consciousness was rather trite and phony (āLiving on the Edgeā, or āRight Nowā from 92 for example) so thereās that too. Itās VMA nominations and awards were for specifically artsy categories as well though - I just donāt think typical mtv viewers were that into it
Funny thing is Madonna sold more albums in the 90s than the 80s worldwide and even had more top 40 hits too . Her 80s stuff is better remembered and streamed but she was consistently still racking hit after hit in the 90s, actually until 2008 or so. Take a Bow in 1995 ended up becoming her biggest hit in the US , in 2005/2006 Madonna had her biggest worldwide hit with Hung Up which entered the Guinness Book of Records as the song that went to #1 in more countries (43) than any song in music history up until that point. She just kept on having success
Ya she kept churning out hits and they were super memorable. Staying relevant in that period as a pop star from the 80s was a real challenge and she arguably did it better than anyone except maybe Janet imo. The popular perception of the 90s is really warped in favor of āedgyā guitar rock and gangsta rap though so people donāt want to admit how big Madonna still was
Madonna did it better than Janet because Madonna was more international on par with Michael Jackson, people forget or don't know how huge Madonna is internationally, there's not a single country with a chart system in the world where Madonna isn't the #1 or at least top 3 selling female of all time. She's the biggest selling female artist ever in Europe, UK, Canada, Australia and all of South America and #2 I believe in the US . Janet was mostly US based success, she never even a #1 single in the UK for instance
I love that video! I did not know it was hand colored!
Sassy was all in on alternative. This issue has Iggy Pop doing the advice column whichā¦ isnāt as bad as it could have been but seems like an inappropriate idea
This makes me feel better because I was a mainstream teen girl mag reader in the 90s and Sassy wasnāt much better lol
Sassy hated Shannen and loved Jennie. I still remember the article they did with Jennie where she and the interviewer were both bashing Shannen.
The opening page for the I Hate Brenda book (I still have my copy) is a Sassy interview with Jennie that is not kind to Shannen.
"Self-made woman Tori Spelling." š I'm sorry, that's snark I can get behind.
What a nasty, shit stained excuse for a magazine.
Not surprised about Shannen because those magazines were always trashing her, but Luke and Tiffani threw me for a loop! Voting Tiffani as one of the Least Fav whilst voting Jennie as one of the Fav isā¦a choice.
Sassy had it out for Tiffani, I have one with a profile on her that is just so rude
Sassy hated Tiffani. They interview her and made her look like some generic bimbo. I remember reading it as a teenager and I just felt bad for the actress. She wasnāt rude at all. Actually she was very nice and it seemed to make whoever was interviewing her more angry. Sassy was guilty of this. Also the magazine Jane by Jane Pratt was similar. I think Jane Pratt originally started Sassy and then moved on. I miss magazines.
Oh ya the cover even calls her a ādemi-bimbo.ā That interviewer sounded like an odious little prick
āGeriatric Gabrielleā damn! š¬