Beech Tree News Network

In the late ‘90’s, five wannabes become the best-selling girl group of all time.  But a brazen attitude about their own success has critics saying it’s too much.  The Spice Girls last take the stage together at the 2012 Olympics in London.  As they took their closing ceremony victory lap, they’re also closing out a career that began with a sprint to stardom in the late 1990’s.

Earlier in the decade, America’s grunge scene was threatening to take over the global music market.  In England, music magazines are heralding an anti-grunge movement called Brit-Pop, which is about to launch a new British Invasion (this would be the third, as you might recall a small British pop invasion in the ‘80’s).  Led by bands like Sone Roses and Blur, they provide the soundtrack for something called Cool Britania.  It was very male dominated, with Oasis being the biggest band.  There were no girl groups.  Not yet anyway.

Spice Girls founder and manager Chris Herbert says “in the early ‘90’s, I was really looking for a band that could get me some recognition.  Boy bands only appeal to a female and gay audience.  I thought if you could put a girl group together that was both inspiring to girls, appealing to boys and a bit camp, you could double that audience”.  21-year-old Chris successfully pitched the idea to his partners-his father Bob and financial backer Chick Murphy.  Chris began scouting London for female talent with a distinct type of girl in mind.  He put an ad in the newspaper.  After auditions, the emerging young ladies were moved into a house together to begin their transformation.  

Pepi Lemer, vocal coach to many other artists, was tasked as being the vocal coach for the group.  Lemer once performed behind The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Tina Turner just to name a few.  Much like several groups, The Spice Girls didn’t start out as The Spice Girls.  They were originally known as Touch.  The girls are continuously told they’re going to make it.  They tell their management team they want something in writing for when that day comes.

In 1994 in an Italian London rehearsal studio, the girls who would become Ginger, Posh, Sporty, Baby and Scary Spice would rehearse for taking over the Brit Awards (and soon the world).  In December of that year, Spice, the group Chris Herbert put together, and Pepi Lemer, spent months meticulously training, is ready for their first industry showcase.  The girls were very confident in front of the music executives for their showcase.  The girls were already of the “we don’t need your contract now” persuasion.  This was perhaps a sign of things to come.  

Chris set it up for the girls to work with songwriter Eliot Kennedy.  One problem: the girls had stopped returning his calls.  They would instead hire American Idol creator Simon Fuller as their manager and rebrand themselves The Spice Girls.  They’d soon secure a lucrative recording contract from Virgin Records.  On the day of the contract signing, they once again perform a disappearing act.  

A year later, they perform their first single, “Wannabe”, on the BBC.  It’s a bittersweet moment for their former manager, who helped them get there.  The song quickly climbs to #1 on the U.K. singles charts, selling 7 million copies, soon reaching #1 in 37 countries worldwide.  In March 1997, the British press prints 141 Spice Girls stories in one week.  That summer, the group rides their mantra, girl power, to the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

They got a movie deal and endorsement contract for over 100 products.  They could’ve sold anything anywhere to anyone.  The Spice Girls were a brand unto themselves.  When the press announced in 1997 that the Spice Girls would earn an estimated $500 million from sponsorship, the backlash is swift and stinging.  It was seen as a case of too much marketing and not enough music.

Soon, they do release a second album called Spice World.  Behind the scenes, the girls begin to rebel against manager Simon Fuller’s grueling schedule.  Once willing to pay any price for fame, the Spice Girls now seemed tired of the cost.  This was something they dramatized in their 1997 British musical comedy Spice World.  This issue came to a head when they went to Johannesburg to do a charity show for Nelson Mandella.  During the trip, they got fed up with hearing how much they owed to Simon Fuller.  The Spice Girls would fire Fuller, their manager.

With no Simon Fuller to protect them, the Spice Girls were more vulnerable.  Their spicey prima donna routine was beginning to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.  One time in Spain, fans got so fed up that the group were shouted off stage.  The 1997 Christmas season delivers a sobering blow to the five Spice Girls when they’re beaten on the U.K. singles charts by the four…. Teletubbies.  Their big hit. “Teletubbies say ay-oh” wins over the hearts and minds of children during the holiday rush.  Rumors of the Spice Girls’ demise are greatly exaggerated, however, as the group announces a 102 day tour that sells out in minutes.  All the Spice Girls were dating their backup dancers (which always goes well, right) except for member Victoria Adams, aka Posh Spice.  She was dating her future husband, soccer star David Beckham.

Paparazzi hound the two on the European leg of the Spice Girls’ tour.  The cruelty of the tabloids soon became hard to bear for all Spice Girls.  A missed television and concert appearance by member Geri Halliwell didn’t help matters.  After four days of speculation over her whereabouts, her manager reads a statement saying she’d left The Spice Girls because of “differences between us”.  In 2016, she revealed to Oprah that she was bulimic.  Members Victoria and Mel C detail their own struggles with eating disorders during that time.  Mel C recalled personal bouts of depression and eating disorders at the height of the group’s fame.  After Geris’ departure, the four remaining Spice Girls finish the world tour in America.  They record a third album called Forever.  Aside from their reunion tour in 2007, the Spice Girls haven’t performed as a group since the 2012 London Olympics.  The group only existed for four years but their legacy lives on in a new generation of female pop stars inspired by the group: Destiny’s Child (or Beyonce and the others, if you prefer), and Adele to name a few.  Like the other Dark Side of the ’90’s episodes, this came from AXS network.  Come back next week for episode 8 of 10 in this series.  Below is this week’s installment of my vlog: https://youtu.be/PYZrhz_ZhcQ?si=IdVSK8nAXeTG9dUo