Spice Girls

The Spice Girls will be on tour this year (2019) in the UK (without Posh Spice), and we are going to see them in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.  I have a lot of respect and affection for "Wannabe", plus the accompanying video, which saw them burst onto the public with a lot of energy, confidence, positivity, and sheer iconoclastic bravado. But I've never really got on with their other singles, and I don't think I have ever listened to one of their albums. So, here goes....

Spice (1996)

"Wannabe" is a breathless piece of young working class female energy - it's like 10 happy, slightly drunk hen parties rolled up into three minutes of fun. Cheeky, colourful, sexy, irresistible, and ultimately quite empty. But what a statement, what a gasp of freshness, what a brilliant moment. With that song the Spice Girls established exactly what they were - hard working girls out for a good time who weren't going to be pushed over. It established them as stars and as icons for young working class women and girls in the late Nineties. There was nothing arty, intellectual, or political about them. They had a simple everyday outlook, and were proud of their feisty independence. Including "Wannabe", there were four hit singles released from the album, and they are the best of the material. The rest is just filler. The singles were all competent dance-pop and contemporary R&B songs, softer and more pop orientated than their contemporaries such as Whitney Houston (My Love Is Your Love, The Bodyguard),  Janet Jackson (Design Of A Decade, The Velvet  Rope), Mariah Carey (Daydream, Butterfly), but for a time as successful, if not quite as respected.  Not a great album, but it sold well.

Wikipedia
AllMusic: 9
Score: 3

Spiceworld (1997)

Opens strongly with "Spice Up Your Life".  A well crafted and energetic pop song. In among the handful of good songs there's a lot of  substandard dance-pop filler, such as "Never Give Up On The Good Times". You can listen to it, and even jig along to the grooves, but it's casual stuff, forgotten as soon as each track ends. On the whole, leaving "Wannabe" out of it, it's as good an album as the first.

Wikipedia
AllMusic: 9
Score: 3

Forever (2000)

Wikipedia
AllMusic:  4
Score:

Greatest Hits (2007)

Wikipedia
AllMusic: 9
Score:

Links

* Wikipedia
* SpiceGirls  Official
* SpiceGirls  Fan site
* SpiceGirlsCollection

Discography

Spice (1996)
Spiceworld (1997)
Forever (2000)
Greatest Hits (2007)

Voice/Musicianship (15), Image (5), Lyrics (10), Music (10), Impact/Influence (10), Popularity (5), Star quality (5), Emotional appeal (5), Authenticity (25), and Legacy (10).

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