Spice Girls

• 1. Formation And Early Years

  ›

  In February 1994, a trade paper called The Stage carried an advertisement seeking singers for an all-female pop band. Four hundred women showed up to London's Danceworks studios on the 4th of March 1994 to audition for Heart Management. They danced a routine to "Stay" by Eternal before performing solo songs of their choice. Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown, Melanie Coloma and Michelle Stephenson advanced to a second round in April. Melanie Chisholm missed that session due to tonsillitis but replaced Coloma after Geri Halliwell persuaded the managers to let her try again. Five women were selected for a group initially named Touch and moved into a three-bedroom house in Maidenhead, Berkshire. They spent most of 1994 practicing songs written by John Thirkell and Erwin Keiles while working with producer Michael Sparkes at South Hill Park Recording Studios in Bracknell. Choreography was developed at Trinity Studios in Knaphill near Woking, Surrey. Stephenson left after a few months for perceived lack of commitment and was replaced by Emma Bunton following recommendations from vocal coach Pepi Lemer. The group added a rap section to one song during a showcase, which made songwriter Keiles furious and forced them to learn proper composition. They wrote "Sugar and Spice" with Hawes and changed their name to Spice because a rapper already used the original title.

• 2. Global Breakthrough And Spicemania

  ›

  On the 8th of July 1996, the Spice Girls released their debut single "Wannabe" in the United Kingdom. A trial airing on music channel the Box played the video up to seventy times weekly at its peak. The song entered the UK Singles Chart at number three before spending seven weeks at number one. It hit number one in thirty-seven countries including four consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. The track became the best-selling debut single by an all-female group and remains the best-selling single by an all-female group of all time. In November 1996, they released their debut album Spice which sold 1.8 million copies in Britain within seven weeks. The record went on to sell more than 23 million copies worldwide making it the best-selling album by a female group in history. Their next singles included "Say You'll Be There" topping charts for two weeks and "2 Become 1" selling 462,000 copies in its first week as the fastest-selling single of 1996. By January 1997, "Wannabe" debuted on the Hot 100 Chart at number eleven setting a highest-ever debut record for a non-American act. The album Spice reached number one in the US and was certified seven-times platinum by the RIAA for sales exceeding 7.4 million copies. At the 1997 Brit Awards, Geri Halliwell wore a Union Jack mini-dress that became one of pop history's most famous outfits while the group won Best British Video and Best British Single.

• 3. Touring History And Member Departures

  ›

  The Spiceworld Tour began on the 24th of February 1998 starting in Dublin before moving across Europe and North America. The tour ended with two performances at Wembley Stadium attended by an estimated 2.1 million people over ninety-seven shows. It grossed between $220 million and $250 million making it the highest-grossing concert tour by a female group. On the 31st of May 1998, Halliwell announced her departure through her solicitor after missing concerts in Norway and appearing absent from a performance on The National Lottery Draws. She cited creative differences and exhaustion as reasons for leaving though rumors of a power struggle with Melanie Brown circulated widely. The four remaining members continued the North American leg which started in West Palm Beach, Florida on the 15th of June and grossed $93.6 million over forty sold-out performances. They released "Goodbye" before Christmas 1998 as a tribute to Halliwell which became their third consecutive Christmas number-one equalling the Beatles' record. In December 1999, they embarked on a UK tour called Christmas in Spiceworld that drew more than 153,000 people and grossed $5.7 million in ticket sales. The group returned fully reunited on the 28th of June 2007 for The Return of the Spice Girls Tour where each member received £10 million ($20 million) for participation. That tour opened in Vancouver on the 2nd of December 2007 performing twenty songs while changing outfits eight times. It concluded in Toronto on the 26th of February 2008 generating $107.2 million in ticket sales and merchandising.

• 4. Musical Style And Songwriting Process

  ›

  The Spice Girls used dance-pop as a musical base but infused it with a fiercely independent feminist stance described by AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine as equal parts Madonna and post-riot grrrl alternative rock feminism. Their songs incorporated various genres while keeping mainstream pop conventions according to Halliwell who called it a "melding" of eclectic tastes. A regular collaborator on their first two albums was the production duo Absolute made up of Paul Wilson and Andy Watkins. They initially found it difficult to work with the group since they were heavily into R&B music while the Spice Girls remained very poptastic. The group shared vocals rather than having one lead singer supported by others so each song divided lines among five voices before harmonizing in the chorus. This approach faced criticism because no single voice could stand out yet biographer Sean Smith noted it ensured maximum impact from their all-in-it-together girl-gang image. Vocal coach Pepi Lemer described Bunton's lightness and Brown's soulful sound as distinct features. Chisholm was identified as the vocalist the group could not do without though her ad libs appeared equally across tracks. Musicologist Nicola Dibben found an interesting inequality where declamatory styles came from Brown and Chisholm while lyrical sections went to Beckham. The members co-wrote all songs despite not playing instruments using traditional piano sessions for ballads or tapping mad energy for tracks like "Wannabe." Songwriter Eliot Kennedy recalled how ten minutes later after throwing lines at him, the song was written and refined during recording.

• 5. Girl Power And Cultural Impact

  ›

  "Girl power" became a label for the particular facet of feminist empowerment embraced by the band emphasizing female confidence individuality and sisterhood. The phrase was originally coined by US punk band Bikini Kill in 1991 but exploded onto mainstream consciousness only with the emergence of the Spice Girls in 1996. Halliwell served as the author of the group's manifesto while she once spoke of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher as being the pioneer of their ideology. Industry insiders credited Halliwell with creating this focused consistent presentation that formed the centrepiece of their appeal. Virgin's director of press Robert Sandall explained there had never been a group addressing themselves specifically to a female audience before. John Harlow of The Sunday Times believed loyalty to their sex set them apart enabling them to win over young female fans. The concept appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary and changed British culture enough for Girl Power to now seem completely unremarkable according to author Ryan Dawson. Billboard magazine said their lyrics demonstrated real noncompetitive female friendship which held up well compared to later groups like the Pussycat Dolls. In 2016 the United Nations launched their #WhatIReallyReallyWant Global Goals campaign featuring a remake of the "Wannabe" music video highlighting gender inequality issues faced by women across the world.

• 6. Fashion Trends And Iconic Imagery

  ›

  The Spice Girls deliberately aimed their image at young girls using five distinct personalities and styles to encourage fan identification with one member or another. This rejection of homogeneous identity departed starkly from previous groups such as the Beatles and the Supremes. Peter Loraine editor of Top of the Pops magazine devised nicknames based on personalities after a lunch following "Wannabe" release. Victoria became Posh Spice wearing Gucci-style mini dresses while Emma was Baby Spice with pigtails and lollipops. Mel C earned Sporty Spice status leaping around in tracksuits and Mel B became Scary Spice due to her loud shouting style. Geri Halliwell received Ginger Spice simply because of her hair though she was originally dubbed Sexy Spice before changing it for younger audiences. Each adopted over-the-top trademark styles extending public personas including Buffalo platform shoes and double bun hairstyles credited with setting 1990s fashion trends. Halliwell's Union Jack dress sold at charity auction to Las Vegas Hard Rock Cafe for £41,320 giving her Guinness World Record for most expensive pop star clothing ever sold. Their looks inspired celebrities like Katy Perry Charli XCX and Bollywood actress Anushka Ranjan while Lady Gaga performed as Baby Spice in high school talent shows.

• 7. Commercialization And Brand Strategy

  ›

  At the height of Spicemania the Spice Girls were involved in prolific marketing phenomena advertising for an unprecedented number of brands under manager Simon Fuller. They became the most merchandised group in music history and featured frequently in global press coverage. Biographer David Sinclair noted daily bombardment of Spice images quickly became oppressive even to well-disposed people. The North American leg of their 1998 Spiceworld Tour introduced a new concert revenue stream when advertising appeared inside pop concerts for the first time. Global gross income reached $500 million to $800 million by May 1998 putting earnings on par with medium-sized corporations thanks largely to marketing endeavors. Christopher Barrett and Ben Cardew of Music Week credited Fuller's groundbreaking strategy of marketing the Spice Girls as a brand with revolutionizing the pop music industry. The Guardians Sylvia Patterson wrote that they were original pioneers of the band as brand and pop as ruthless marketing ruse dominating commercial pop since then. Paul Gorman of Music Week stated they inaugurated the era of cheesy celebrity obsession pertaining today with lineage from them to Kardashianisation of wider culture. Tanya Sweeney of Irish Independent agreed vapidity of paparazzi culture could be traced back to naked ambitions while Mckie predicted scale unlikely repeated by any music act.