Nostalgia Nook: The Spice Girls

If you were a girl in the late 90s, chances were you owned a Spice Girls CD. If you were a boy in the late 90s, chances were you owned a magazine with the Spice Girls in it. So, why were the Spice Girls so popular? Let’s take look shall we?


And try to figure out what the heck “zig-a-zig-a” was.


In the late 90s, pop princesses like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson and Mandy Moore ruled the charts. Battling with them were boy bands Backstreet Boys, N*SYNC and 98 Degrees. So someone over in the United Kingdom created the girl band. They sang the same meaningless pop songs that lodged themselves in your brain and became a hit.


And there was a Spice for everyone! I personally was drawn to Emma “Baby Spice” Bunton. Maybe it was the blonde hair (like mine) or maybe it was the innocent persona…I don’t know, I just liked her. My friends tended to like either Melanie “Scary Spice” Brown or Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell. Don’t recall if anyone really liked Melanie “Sporty Spice” Chisholm or Victoria “Posh Spice” Adams.


Let’s break this down, though. Emma was the sweet and cute one. Mel B was the wild outrageous one. Geri was the sexy one. Mel C was the tomboy. And Victoria was the fashionable one who was never allowed to smile, apparently. But I think Mel C was the smart one in choosing a moniker that allowed her to dress comfy most of the time. Because those women squeezed into some tight dresses. I don’t get how they kept yelling “Girl Power” while spilling out of their dresses but it worked. Maybe we were all dazzled or something…


Now, let’s discuss their first big hit “Wannabe.” The first time I heard it, some girls were trying to incorporate it into our spring show at school. Keep in mind our theme that year was “baseball.” It was interesting to watch them try to adapt it to fit but in the end, the teachers nixed it.


But I went to find the song. It took some time. This was before iTunes. Want to hear a song? You had to wait for it to play on the radio. And I don’t know if it was just me, but it always seemed they never played the song I really wanted to hear. And I was still too young to watch MTV. The internet took forever and a day to load so I couldn’t try to find a sample there. My last hope was to find a friend with their CD to listen to the song.


At last I was able to hear “Wannabe.” It wasn’t that bad. Catchy tune, danceable. When you’re 11 or 12, that’s all you want from your songs. So the Spice Girls worked. And became a full on craze! The Spice Girls were everywhere! Remember their lollipops? Because I had those. My sister and my friends had Spice Girl dolls. Posters, lunch boxes, backpacks, folders, etc.


Then there was the movie. Oh yes, the movie. I like to think that even my younger self thought it nonsensical. But I probably liked it. And I can just imagine my face years later when I realized their friend Nicola was played by the same actress who went on to play Tosh on “Doctor Who” and “Torchwood.” Meatloaf was pretty good in it as well. But what was up with the aliens?


And then the rumors started—that they were going to break up. By this point, I think most of my friends and I were over the Spice Girls. So when Geri left the group, it wasn’t life shattering. Once Geri left, the group just fell apart. None have been successful in a solo singing career with maybe the exception of Mel C. I have some of her singles, mostly from the soundtrack of “Bend it Like Beckham.” She’s also been in a few West End shows. I saw her as a guest mentor on “Over the Rainbow,” a British reality show to cast Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” And then she was one of the judges on Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Superstar," to cast Jesus in a touring production of "Jesus Christ Superstar." She's also slated to play Mary Magdalene. So good for her.


David Beckham also brought luck to Posh Spice. She married the famous footballer (soccer player to us Americans) and has had four kids with him: Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz, and Harper. Beckham has also branched out into fashion. The other Spice Girls have had children as well, Mel B famously with Eddie Murphy. She also competed on Dancing With the Stars, becoming a fan favorite. Maybe she’ll come back next month for the All Star season…


The Spice Girls briefly reunited a few years ago, releasing a single and going on tour. While people flocked to see them, the reunion didn’t last and they disappeared again until this past June. The girls reunited to announce a musical, Viva Forever, being made from their songs. Not another jukebox musical! Anyway, good luck, girls. May it stay far away from Broadway.


And we always have their songs to remember them by. Sing it with me now: “If you want to be my lover, you gotta get with my friends…”


Next month: “Recess”