Definitely older than the 90's. In print as early as 1953, and a similar phrase can be found in Twain ("I don't give a dead rat."). I'm basically just repeating what I read at this link (which has more, including a theory about WWII origins. More likely it came from the Illuminati as channeled by circus people and Heinz products.)
http://english.stackexchange.com/que...-ass-come-from