Talk ’90s to me
Diving deep into a wild decade of chaos, creativity and hedonism – from Oasis to ‘Friends’, from grunge to girl power, from Kate Moss to alcopops to ‘Trainspotting’ and beyond. Join award-winning Observer journalist and Smash Hits graduate Miranda Sawyer as she meets the people who were really there for the decade of Cool Britannia, Cantona and the Chemical Generation.
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Talk ’90s To Me – could a podcast BE any more brilliant?
Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production.
Epizode
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Cash, cocaine and chaos – The mad, bad ’90s music biz with author John Niven 01.06.2026 1h 1minDiving deep into all things ’90s. The music business’s last hurrah of excess, extravagance and super-colossal expense accounts came in the ’90s – and John Niven was in the front row as an A&R man* at era-defining label London Records. His experiences of trying to sign the next big thing in a cloud of money and “stimulants” became the cult book and movie Kill Your Friends (the British American Psycho). What was it all like? John joins Miranda to talk Goldie, lengthy expense accounts, All Saints, Jarvis at the Brits, the terror of not finding a hit, rubbing shoulders with Oasis, becoming James Dean Bradfield’s “Fun Bobby’, and how on earth they got away with it. [* A&R men are the people who find and schmooze the talent, and pay for the “fruit and flowers”] • Hear more on Hit That Perfect Beat – The London Records Story, out now. • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • All Saints and Goldie photos: Getty Images • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs (or John’s!) through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more. Written and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Showgirls – Worst film of the ’90s or misunderstood gem? 25.05.2026 1h 7minDiving deep into all things ’90s. Paul Verhoeven’s camp, deranged, Vegas-based “erotic drama” Showgirls was a $45 million Hollywood gamble that became one of the biggest box office flops of the decade. Nominated for 16 Razzies, it got its lead actress Elizabeth Berkeley effectively blacklisted for almost 20 years. But thirty years later, things look very different. Once dismissed as pure camp excess, Showgirls has since been critically re-evaluated as a vicious satire of the American dream, capitalism and the misogynist entertainment industry itself. Comedian Chantal Feduchin-Pate joins Miranda to ask: was Showgirls really the worst film of the 90s? Or perhaps a fierce, misunderstood, protofeminist cult classic? • Want early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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From Queen to Mogwai – John Robins on his ’90s music journey 18.05.2026 1h 3minDiving deep into all things ’90s. John Robins was a child at the start of the ’90s and eighteen by the end of it. He talks through his early obsession with Freddie Mercury and Queen’s ‘90s releases, his controversial non-uniform day outfits and how his music taste evolved to the likes of Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Plus, he discusses his new book Thirst, which is out now. Buy Thirst through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Talk ‘90s to me by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Want early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Prozac Nation! – How one grunge-era depression memoir changed everything 11.05.2026 59minDiving deep into all things ’90s… Elizabeth Wurtzel’s groundbreaking grunge-era memoir of depression, medication and alienation Prozac Nation divided opinion like few books ever have. How did it become the book of a generation? Does it stand up now? Did Wurtzel reinvent an old genre or start a new one? And would Lena Dunham’s Girls exist without it? Miranda Sawyer is joined by Sian Pattenden, culture writer, artist and musician, to discuss how Prozac Nation changed the game for young women writers. • Want early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist Listen to Sian’s band The Sha Sha Shanimals here. • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Alcopops! – Hooch, Metz, Breezers and the booze of the ’90s 04.05.2026 58minDiving deep into all things ’90s. Bright, sugary and brewed to go down far too easily, alcopops arrived in the ’90s with a bang. They blurred the line between soft drink and spirit, encouraged a new generation into the pubs and if you believed the tabloids sparked a youth drinking revolution. This week on Talk ’90s, Miranda is joined by drinks writer Pete Brown to revisit the sticky-sweet rise of Hooch, Bacardi Breezers and Blue WKDs. We take a look at the moral panic that followed and how their legacy impacts how we drink today. • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Ash! – Tim Wheeler on the Northern Irish kids who crashed the Britpop party 27.04.2026 1h 13minDiving deep into all things ’90s. It’s 1994, three schoolkids from Downpatrick get permission from their headteacher to go on tour with Elastica… and the rest is history. Ash arrive with the bombastic Girl From Mars and pure teenage nerve, somehow landing a record deal before they’ve finished their exams, then opening their A-level results live on BBC Radio 1! Frontman Tim Wheeler joins Miranda to revisit the madness, their complicated place in Britpop, and the 30th anniversary tour of their debut album, 1977. • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Goldie – The drum’n’bass bad boy who defined ’90s Jungle 20.04.2026 1h 16minDiving deep into all things ’90s. Nothing captures the raw excitement of ’90s clubbing like the speaker-shattering sound of jungle and drum’n’bass – a collision of real time breakbeats and chest-rattling sub-bass that created a culture that still lives on today. And the undisputed don of the scene is Goldie, the Metalheadz mastermind whose unstoppable ambition brings drum’n’bass out of the underground and into the mainstream. Thirty years later and slightly mellowed, Goldie joins Miranda Sawyer to look back on the craft and the chaos, from pirate radio to primetime TV and the lasting impact of jungle in the UK. • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Sky Magazine! – Sex, sin and six-packs with the Bible of the ’90s 13.04.2026 50minDiving deep into all things ’90s. Stuffed with high-glam, sex-soaked shots featuring the likes of Kylie, Johnny Depp, Madonna, Ewan McGregor and Uma Thurman, Sky Magazine was the glossiest badge of adulthood you could possibly leave on the coffee table. In an age when satellite TV was booming and the remote was king, it catapulted suburban Britain to the heart of Hollywood. Sky Magazine’s editor Simon Mills joins Miranda to revisit the glory days of the mag that turned TV listings into a lifestyle. From megastar interviews with Prince, Matt Dillon, Jason Priestley and Madonna to immaculate photoshoots to the mysteries of what was on at 6am on Sky One, it’s a flashback to a time when mags ruled the world… • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Judge Jules – The original superstar DJ on decks, drugs and rock’n’roll 06.04.2026 1hDiving deep into all things ’90s. “The Judge won’t budge!” DJ Julius O'Riordan AKA Judge Jules was at the centre of the ’90s dance music boom that took the scene from pirate radio and illegal raves to Radio 1, superclubs and Ibiza at its most ’avin it. The law student turned DJ became one of the defining figures of the decade. Miranda sits down with Jules to talk about how dance music changed across the ’90s, what Ibiza was really like before it went mainstream, and the tracks that defined the era. It turned out that his law degree helped Jules put on raves and led to a career as a music lawyer. So how does he balance that with life as a touring DJ, playing more than 100 gigs a year? • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. To listen to Judge Jules’s radio show or see him live, visit his website: https://www.judgejules.net/ • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more Written and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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This Life – The definitive guide to being young in the ’90s 30.03.2026 51minDiving deep into all things ’90s. Cigs for breakfast! Oral sex in the kitchen! Wobbly cameras! E binges! Egg! Milly! Miles! Anna! Warren! And “the punch”. It’s 30 years since the groundbreaking houseshare drama This Life exploded onto our screens and gave us a candid look into the lives of young lawyers living together in London. What made this ramshackle saga work? And what made the characters so believable? Miranda talks over the tears, the tantrums and the fridge arguments with entertainment journalist, podcast host and Sir! Magazine writer Boyd Hilton. • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more Written and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Eastenders icon Natalie Cassidy! – On being Sonia, barmy soap stories and Britpop! 23.03.2026 54minDiving deep into all things ’90s. What happens when you grow up on the most famous square in Britain? Natalie Cassidy was barely a teenager when she became Sonia Fowler and suddenly the nation was watching her first kisses, first heartbreaks and, yes, her many trumpet solos. In this episode of Talk ’90s To Me, Natalie looks back on life as a child star at the heart of EastEnders at its peak: the pressure, the pace, and the peculiar reality of growing up in public. From her love of Britpop to some of the most gloriously barmy storylines of the decade, it’s a journey that turned her into a bona fide national treasure. Listen to Natalie’s ‘Life with Nat’ podcast here. • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Leonardo DiCaprio – The Rise of the 90s’ Ultimate Heartthrob 16.03.2026 1hDiving deep into all things ’90s. In 1994, a 19-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio received his first Academy Award nomination for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. It proved he was the real deal and set him on course to become more than just an actor. Within a few short years he’d become the ultimate poster boy, with bedroom walls across the globe filling up with Leo pictures carefully snipped from teen mags. This week on Talk 90s To Me, Miranda is joined by journalist and author of the upcoming newsletter Celebrity Intelligence , Dan Wakeford to revisit the hysteria the tabloids dubbed “Leomania”. From teen magazines and paparazzi economics to Leo’s infamous ‘Pussy Posse’ and the boom years of celebrity gossip, they unpack how the 90s media machine built the cult of Leo. • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Jeff Buckley – Inside a Beautiful Tragedy 09.03.2026 1h 4minDiving deep into all things ’90s. Jeff Buckley died in 1997 at just 30 years old, leaving behind only a handful of recordings but a huge impression on his fans. In the decades since, the mythology of the singer-songwriter hasn’t really faded. Buckley didn’t leave a long catalogue behind, but what he did leave was enough to make him a legend. This week, Miranda sits down with music Journalist Jude Rogers to talk about Buckley’s legacy, the lasting impact of his only full album Grace, and his haunting version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, which brought a new audience to the song. Jude also reflects on her own complicated history with Buckley, including an infamous article she wrote for The Guardian in 2007. • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more Written and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Connor Newson. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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How The Fast Show and Cold Feet defined ’90s Telly with John Thomson 02.03.2026 1h 5minDiving deep into all things ’90s. British comedy got faster, stranger and more gleefully quotable in the ’90s than ever before. At the centre of it all was John Thomson, the everyman who helped turn The Fast Show into a cultural phenomenon, popped up everywhere from I’m Alan Partridge to Men Behaving Badly, and then pivoted to the Sunday night, must-watch dramedy Cold Feet. This week, Miranda sits down with Thomson to discuss the dizzying speed of ’90s fame, the catchphrases he still can’t escape, and the darker side of sudden success – phone hacking, tabloid harassment, and learning the hard way that fame in that decade came with very few boundaries. • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Simon Williams. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Lads' Mags – From Loaded to GQ, how the ’90s changed media 23.02.2026 1h 4minDiving deep into all things ’90s. 1994, Loaded lands on newsstands and suddenly the tone of British magazines shifts overnight. Louder, cheekier, more irreverent than anything before. At the centre of it all is James Brown, the unlikely magazine wunderkind who rocked the world of ’90s publishing. This week, Miranda Sawyer sits down with James, author of new fanzine Zine Age Kicks to discuss his beginnings, the swaggering influence of the NME-era music press, and how a DIY, fan-first focus shook things up across the publishing world in the ’90s. But did these lads’ mags simply wink at modern masculinity, or help market a new era of sexism dressed up as irony? • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs [[ https://uk.bookshop.org/a/13277/9781399816915 ]] through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Björk! – The National Elf Service… and how she shaped the ’90s 16.02.2026 1h 12minDiving deep into all things ’90s. Pop was trying very hard to look polished, predictable and a little bit American in the early ’90s… then Björk arrived, barefoot, uncompromising, and sounding like the future of music. She didn’t just release hit records. She blew open the idea of what a pop star could be: experimental but chart-friendly, weird but deeply human. In this episode of Talk ’90s to Me, journalist and author of Bjork’s Hegemonic, Emily Mackay joins Miranda to look back on Björk’s astonishing decade. The creative highs, the tabloid lows, the boundary-pushing videos and ask how one Icelandic artist quietly reshaped the entire sound and attitude of the ’90s. Photo: Mick Hutson RIP/Getty. • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs or Emily’s book Bjork’s Hegemonic through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Calvin Klein! The brand that made Kate Moss into the ’90s It Girl 09.02.2026 52minDiving deep into all things ’90s. CK’s iconic black-and-white underwear ads didn’t just sell underwear – they practically defined the style of the ’90s. Slip dresses that looked like you’d forgotten the rest of your outfit, billboards full of brooding half-dressed teenagers, and a minimalist aesthetic all reshaped fashion forever. Sali Hughes, The Guardian’s beauty columnist and host of the Beyond the Bathroom podcast, joins Miranda Sawyer to look back at the man, the myth and the legend of Calvin Klein. They revisit the campaign that turned Kate Moss into the defining model of the decade, the unisex scent phenomenon CK One, Calvin’s famously salacious personal life, and why CK has stood the test of time when other brands have fallen into obscurity. • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Disney Villains! – How queer baddies helped save Disney in the ’90s 02.02.2026 1h 1minDiving deep into all things ’90s. The Disney Renaissance is usually remembered for its big tunes and Broadway bombast, but one of its most long-lasting impacts is the strength of its villains. From a sea witch inspired by the most transgressive drag queen of the ’80s to a Shakespearean lion schemer voiced by Jeremy Irons, these characters defined the era. Louder, stranger and far more interesting than the nice, beige heroes they were supposed to lose to. This week on Talk ’90s To Me, we’re diving into the gay Disney villains of the ’90s with comedian and host of Welcome to Hell Dan Foxx. We explore why Disney’s baddies were allowed all the flamboyance its heroes weren’t, how queerness became shorthand for glamour, danger and excess, and why these characters have grown in popularity in the decades since. • Go to https://surfshark.com/t9tm or use code T9TM at checkout to get 4extra months of Surfshark VPN! • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to merch? Support us on Patreon Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs or Dan’s book Bedtime Stories for Privileged Children through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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When Posh married Becks – The original Beckham wedding that dazzled Britain 26.01.2026 1h 1minDiving deep into all things ’90s. Brooklyn and Nicola? Pffft. In 1999 David Beckham and Victoria Adams were the two most stratospherically famous people in Britain – and their wedding blew the nation’s collective mind. How did the Posh’n’Becks nuptials change celebrity culture, the media and the minds of everyday people? Diehard Posh’n’Becks fangirl, Guardian columnist and Mirror veteran Polly Hudson joins Miranda to look at the purple outfits, the bespoke thrones, that (ahem) unusual “VD” monogram and the “private wedding alcoves” that made the People’s Royal Wedding. • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to some mint merch? Support us on Patreon • Go to https://surfshark.com/t9tm or use code T9TM at checkout to get 4extra months of Surfshark VPN! Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more Written and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Britney Spears – the world’s most powerful teenager 19.01.2026 1h 4minDiving deep into all things ’90s. In 1999, Britney Spears exploded into pop superstardom. One song, one video, and suddenly she was everywhere with barely any build-up and no room to breathe. Was Britney’s debut a pop miracle, or the start of a life lived on other people’s terms? This week, Miranda Sawyer is joined by Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, author Being Britney, to look back at culture that made her, adored her, and then watched as the consequences played out in public? • Want an extra mini-pod every two weeks, early ad free episodes and access to some mint merch? Support us on Patreon • Go to https://surfshark.com/t9tm or use code T9TM at checkout to get 4extra months of Surfshark VPN! Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Buy Miranda’s book Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs and Jennifer’s book Being Britney Pieces of a Modern Icon through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out moreWritten and presented by Miranda Sawyer. Produced by Liam Tait. Audio and video production by Tom Taylor. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Soniq Branding from Artlist. Talk ’90s To Me is a Podmasters production. www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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