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The Spice Girls reunite and reminisceIn 1996, when British girl group the Spice Girls released their debut single, “Wannabe,” in the U.K., I was 15 years old — and consequently just the wrong age to get the most out of them. I was too old to look up to them adoringly as my very own set of bright, color-coded, life-size dolls (which I think is how a lot of their youngest female fans viewed them). And I was too young to just enjoy their music for the cheesy pop that it was, without caring about the fact that they were never, ever going to be cool.
I was also just a bit too young, and a bit too closeted, to enjoy the lesbianish potential of five feisty women jumping around in their music videos and holding each other’s hands. Thankfully, with the passage of time, I’ve become totally unashamed about the fact that I like their music. Here's one of my favorites of theirs, "Who Do You Think You Are": I’ve also become what some people
might describe as excessively alert to the lesbianish potential in anything.
Having said that, I do think there
were times when the girls were throwing in a bit of subtext deliberately.
Check out the look that Geri gives Emma near the end of this video,
and tell me they’re not singing to each other: The big question about the Spice
Girls, of course, was always “Which one’s your favorite?” Even
when I was 15, and officially not interested in them, I had given
this subject a bit of thought. Ginger wore too much makeup and looked
too much like a drag queen (at that point, it hadn’t occurred to me
that this could be a good thing); I was missing the lesbian sports gene,
so that ruled out Sporty Spice; Scary was too loud and in-your-face.
I quite liked Baby, but she was a bit too cutesy; so that left Posh,
who I’ll admit I thought was pretty gorgeous, especially once she
cut her hair and stopped wearing heavy makeup.
If I’d known that she was going
to turn into a stick-thin, tanorexic, robotic-looking fashionista with
fake boobs, I might have reconsidered this choice:
But maybe I would have been in the
wrong. Because one of the most interesting things about Spice Girls:
Giving You Everything — an hour-long documentary on the group’s
reunion, aired last month in the U.K. — is that Victoria
probably comes across as the most likeable one of the lot. Here's a promo for the documentary: A combination of archive clips and
new interviews, the program basically provided a walkthrough history
of the Spice Girls, from the very beginning to the present day. It followed
the girls responding to an ad in an entertainment magazine, breaking
away from their early management team, achieving their first No.
1 with “Wannabe," speedy world domination (including meetings with
Prince Charles and Nelson Mandela), followed by Geri leaving the band
in 1998, and the eventual breakup in 2001.
Among the interesting facts to emerge
from the program was that Geri, unlike the other four, had never had
any stage-school training — and so she apparently struggled with the
more complicated dance moves (although she seemed to be doing pretty
well to me when they showed her in rehearsal for the reunion tour).
In interviews, most of the others
therefore took a practical approach to her early exit, saying that the
band carried on without her, and perhaps even was able to do fancier
things without her. But Victoria was adamant that that wasn’t all
that mattered: “It was never the same when she left. And other members
might say, ‘Oh, it was great, we could do more complicated dance moves,
we could sing more’, it’s like ... that’s not what we were about.
We were about a vibe, we were about five girls.” Shown in preparation for their first
live reunion concert (on Dec. 2, 2007 in Vancouver), Victoria said,
“I think out of all the girls it’s myself and Geri who probably
appreciate being in the group more than anybody. Not because of the
music, but literally just on a personal level, about having our friends
around us.” She added, “the fact that I’m back with the girls ...
I think I’m gonna cry through the whole thing. Cause I am genuinely
happy, to be back and have that support around me.” The word “support” reinforces
a suspicion I’ve always had — that it’s probably not altogether
easy being Posh Spice.
Personally, I’d be happy to give her all the support she needs — but what about the rest of you? Are you excited about the reunion, or did you not even like them that much the first time round? Who’s your favorite Spice Girl? Submitted by on January 17, 2008 - 2:41pm. |
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Hmmm...
I loved them
... And there is no shame in it at all. They have brilliant pop tunes.
My band slowgun - www.myspace.com/slowgun
No Favourite
No favourite though. It was all five that made the Spice Girls great. I love the fact that they were like normal girls you meet could the street. Loads of fun. I had posters and everything..... Embarrassing!
My band slowgun - www.myspace.com/slowgun
LOVE THE SPICIES!!!
I went to see them on Saturday and it was AWESOME!!! I LOVE them!! Have done since I was that little 11 year old seeing the Wannabe video for the first time!!
My favourite is, and always has been, Mel C aka Sporty, and has been since I was that little 11 year old seeing the Wannabe video for the first time!!
I wanna go and see them again, I was hyper for months leading up to going, and am still buzzing nearly a week later!!!
LOVE THEM!!!
LOVE
I loved the Spice Girls back then as much as i still do now.. i'm extremely excited that they have gotten back together for this reunion tour.. and i'm still hoping that they will come to Brazil.... if they don't.. i'll make sure to go to Argentina to see their concert!!
Girl Power!!! I absolutely L-O-V-E them!!
"Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning"
2 become 1 video...
Sporty & sexy
"Hold on to your nickers girls!" I love Spice World and the Spice Girls. I've always loved their music, and I've never stopped listening to it. My fav would have to be sporty beacuse I was really into softball then, and she's the only one I could relate to.
I'm going to see them in
--
“In a letter to Dear Abby a reader complained that a gay couple was moving in across the street and wanted to know what he could do to improve the quality of the neighborhood. Her suggestion - 'You could move.'”
LMAO
See you there!
I'll be at that concert as well. I'm looking forward to seeing them live - I've heard it is an amazing, fun show!
Oh...and Sporty Spice is my favorite. I've followed Mel C's career post-Spice and I like her solo stuff.
Patient: There's like this longing ... this pull. I mean, does that make me, you know, like, some kind of...?
Maeby: Homosexual.
Tobias: Maeby, please. She's right, though, you probably are a homosexual.Cool! I scored some pretty
Solo gig & such
Sounds like you have excellent seats - enjoy the oggling. I scored tickets to Mel's solo performance. I'm looking forward to a little low key acoustic stuff before the non-stop campy fun on Sunday.
Cheers!
Patient: There's like this longing ... this pull. I mean, does that make me, you know, like, some kind of...?
Maeby: Homosexual.
Tobias: Maeby, please. She's right, though, you probably are a homosexual.LMAO!!!
....and still laughing:
"...stick-thin, tanorexic, robotic-looking fashionista with fake boobs... "
priceless!!!
Loved them then and love them now!
I too was 15 when they appeared and I didn't care that they weren't cool. It meant I could have posters of hot girls on my wall without raising any suspicions!! Especially in comparison to the fact that my sisters bedroom walls were covered with boy band posters.
I went to see them last week in London and it was so amazing. I may not choose to listen to their type of music now but it was still great.
As for favourites, it was always between Geri and Mel C for me but I have to say, as I live in the UK I have seen plenty of interviews with Victoria and I have always thought she came across as a really genuine person who wasn't afraid to take the piss out of herself!
When life hands you lemons, ask for Tequilla and salt
same story here
I was younger when they got big in austria, but I hated all the boybands that my 4-years-older sister loved and it was the same thing as with you, my sister and I shared a room and her wall was full of backstreet boys, n'sync... and my wall was covered with spice girls posters!! I didn't know that I was into girls yet (I guess I must have been something like 8-10), but I was madly in love with mel c!!
the funny thing is that now, listening to the song, I realise what some of them were actually about. back then, I didn't speak english very well, I had just started learning basics, but I knew all the lyrics. I just didn't know what they meant. I still have most of the lyrics in my head, I listened to them so much...
I would have loved to see their only concert in germany, but the tickets were kinda expensive and I would have had to go there a day early and stay in a hotel and I couldn't really afford that :( plus, nobody wanted to go with me, so I decided that I wouldn't want to go alone.
"Normal is not something to aspire to, it's something to get away from." ~ Jodie Foster
concert
sorry you didn't get to go. I was so intent on going that I would have went alone but luckily my best friend agreed to come along without too much begging on my part!!
When life hands you lemons, ask for Tequilla and salt
In interviews, most of the
In interviews, most of the others therefore took a practical approach to her early exit, saying that the band carried on without her, and perhaps even was able to do fancier things without her. But Victoria was adamant that that wasn’t all that mattered: “It was never the same when she left. And other members might say, ‘Oh, it was great, we could do more complicated dance moves, we could sing more’, it’s like ... that’s not what we were about.
You've got to be kidding me. I mean I've only seen a few of their music videos and Spice World but there didn't seem to be a great deal of super technical dancing ... or is that just my impression?
stick-thin, tanorexic, robotic-looking fashionista
fantasyfavourite. but now i think that Posh spice is the hottest...even if she is a stick-thin, tanorexic, robotic-looking fashionista with fake boobs. I wouldn't kick her out of my bed for eating crackers!Crackers?
I was five when they came
Tre Naturale
Always loved them
Even though my friends gave
Even though my friends gave me a hard time I liked them back then....I thought that a girl group was good for a change!!! I always like Baby(emma) then Posh because hello she was just gorgeous but I think I liked all of them....who doesn't like a bunch of women who at the time seemed really strong- good on them- I hope they do well!!!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nLluPRAm7Ys
http://youtube.com/watch?v=v3YkRVBy6mg
Sporty is miiiine...
I was 16 when the Spice first hit our airwaves.. which seems so bloody long ago now, I'm so old lol but I secretly loved them then and I still love them now.
I was very much in my denial teenage stage when they were around, but I had a crush on Sporty and still do today.. I think she's the most beautiful one out of all of them and wish one day she'll come out.. lol
I'm going to see the girls on Sunday at the O2 and I can't f**king wait, lol
*nods*
spice spice spice
oh god I <3 spice girls. although the lets-be-half-naked last video clip wasnt what it used to be. I always thought it was about girl power and stuff, and that is totally gone in that video clip.
But I was 9 or something so maybe I just missed out on that whole sex-sells-vibe back than...
sporty spice was my idol my role model my everything. looking back I think that geri was the inventor of that whole girl power vibe that I loved so much so now I think she awesome too.
girl, 19, charming but insane...
Good Old Days
I was a massive Spice Girls fan. I loved the music and it was all about having fun. I also had the dolls (both kinds), the books, the stickers, the purse, the watch, the lollipops and even the yo yo. I was such a fan in fact that I cried when they broke up. Yes. I cried. Oh, and it wasn't one of those cries with just a few sniffles. No. I bawled when I found out Geri left the group. No lie. (My geekiest and most nerd moment of my life... so far) I had tickets for their show in San Jose and finding out that Geri wouldn't be there crushed me. I would love to say that I was 8 or 9 years old at that time but... alas, I was 19. Anyway! I loved them... I still love them (just not as much) and I know I'm not the only one. They'll always be like old friends in my eyes. I'll always want to know what they're up to and root for them.
The Spice Girls ARE AMAZING!!
I've always loved them. I think I was 11 at the time and they were EVERYTHING to me. When Geri left my heart broke into a thousand pieces and life could never be the same. I also never got to see them pre-break-up. So I GOT TICKETS TO THE NYC show!! Gahahaha I'm going to be the one holding the sign that says "I LOVE YOU MELANIE C!!"
But I truly understand how kids can be cruel about the whole "cool" thing. I guess when you get older pretty much everything you like is "cool" cos you just don't care what other people think. ^_^ Ahh I've always lived like this, tho, and when other people hated on the Spice Girls oooooh i got mad!! ^_^
I always wanted Melanie C and Emma to get together. I think they make a cute couple and there's lots of cute pictures with just the two of them. ^_^ and Kisses too!!
Girl Power!
Don't we all have a Spice Girls history one way or another?
I was nine years old when I first saw "Wannabe" on tv and soon my room was plastered with posters of all five of em. And it's funny, because Wannabe is really not that great of a song, but it just "popped" and happened at the right time and gave this young female generation really some sense of identity and empowerment (ie: Girl Power!) which we hadn't had before. And for that alone I think we should praise The Spice Girls concept!
I think my favorite was Baby Spice, because I frequently dreamed naughtily about her (ehm, yes, I was sexually aware at a young age and blondes have since then always been my preference :D) and always secretly kissed her poster, which was tacked on my door when I walked past it and I didn't think it weird at all!! (I was twelve when I really admitted to myself I was gay... so, thanks Emma Bunton!)
And oh wouldn't I wish the song "2 become 1" to have some lesbianish innuendo in it (hella hot hot vid!), but 'unfortunately' they're really singing about having safe sex with a guy, okay so I should give them credit about the safe sex thing, but the guy? Eh, nah :P.
Grrr, I wish I hadn't sold all of my old posters! (Damn you Queensday!) Sigh. Good thing I still have my old SG scrapbook... ah, good times! GIRL POWER!
Don't we all have a Spice Girls history one way or another?
SAW THEM AND IT WAS AMAZING
i loved them in late elementary school and i admit to crying when ginger left them. even at that young age i was completely aware of the potential the blogger mentioned - they danced together in skimpy outfits, held hands and giggled, toured together in what at least seamed like very close quarters (that's right, i'm thinking of their movie spice world).
i got to see them this december in las vegas and it was like ten years of pent up spice energy (spicergy). it was a great show, i enjoyed it immensely and shrieked a lot. baby came off as the nicest. the all seemed genuinely glad to be there doing their thing, except for posh who i don't remember really doing anything during teh concert-so i was suprised by her comments that were mentioned above.
re-listening to their cds before the concert, i was surprised by their songs' positivity - all about trying to see the good in things, the importance of friendship, and (of course) girl power
oh, oh, and the SUBTEXT
they even made a great joke at the concert where ginger just fell to the ground, complaining she was tired. scary threw herself on top of her followed by sporty, and ginger said "what happens in vegas stays in vegas". they were definitely aware of our (lez) audience and played into it magnificently. i'm curious to know if they did anything like that in other concerts without the vegas line?
and it totally did look like ginger and baby were singing to each other at the end of that video, despite the fact that they're singing about safe breeder sex. hey - they continued holding hands during a dance routine after the others stopped at one point at the concert
Need I say anything? :P
Spice Girls
Oh my gosh, I still love the Spice Girls. Geri was my first celebrity crush when I was 10. Actually, I take that back. My first crush was Zac Hanson, but probably mainly because he looked like a girl.
Anyway, I was excited about the reunion tour, but was unable to score tickets. Lame.
new appreciation
I was in 6th grade when the Spice Girls hit it big. I had their first cassette and really liked them. But by the time their second album was released it wasn't "cool" to like them and sadly I didn't really pay much to attention to their music afterwards. A couple summers ago I was a counselor at a camp and we decided our bunk theme should be the Spice Girls" and dances to a mix of some of their songs ("Wannabe", "Stop", and "Spice Up Your Life")for the talent show. My campers were 8 & 9 and had no idea who the spice girls even were, which was kinda sad, but by the end of camp they loved the songs and I listened to more. Now with the reunion, I'm obsessed over them, and wish I could go to the concert.
Anyways, Baby spice was always my fav and I like some of her solo stuff as well. Yay for Girl Power!
new appreciation
I was in 6th grade when the Spice Girls hit it big. I had their first cassette and really liked them. But by the time their second album was released it wasn't "cool" to like them and sadly I didn't really pay much to attention to their music afterwards. A couple summers ago I was a counselor at a camp and we decided our bunk theme should be the Spice Girls" and dances to a mix of some of their songs ("Wannabe", "Stop", and "Spice Up Your Life")for the talent show. My campers were 8 & 9 and had no idea who the spice girls even were, which was kinda sad, but by the end of camp they loved the songs and I listened to more. Now with the reunion, I'm obsessed over them, and wish I could go to the concert.
Anyways, Baby spice was always my fav and I like some of her solo stuff as well. Yay for Girl Power!
I LOOOOOVVVVEEEEEEE The
I LOOOOOVVVVEEEEEEE The Spice Girls, I always have (Since I was five...) and I always will.
How could you not? I am soo amped to see them escpecially since I never got to when they were together....
And in all seriousness..... I am of the strong conviction that Melanie C is a lesbian... and I'm in love with her.
~becky~
I was a REAL fan
I loved the Spice Girls... and I still do, I have to admit it. I have (at my parents house) a lot of merchandice: like 12 singles *most of them from UK*, calendars, magazines, photos, a watch, stickers, videos, a t-shirt... I was part of the official fan club! I even had a webpage about them that I used to update daily with Spice Girls news. I still have Yahoo Group about them!
My favorite Spice Girl --> Melanic C (sporty).
p.s. I may want a t-shirt to show off their come back. :P
Love 'em
School Days
Spice Girls vs. Hanson
Spice Girls vs. Hanson. Oh those were the days. And I chose the Spice Girls, of course. I was 12 and totally in love with one Geraldine Estelle Halliwell (to the point that I watched Charmed becuase of their last name) and still remember quite a lot of facts about her and the other girls (like their full names and stuff like that). I had a major cut out album and all the posters avaliable in any mag. during those two years. I'd have my favourites on the wall because I had too many to have them all up.
Yes, I cried when Geri left. It was just the worst thing that could ever happen (like most things are in that age) and I refused to listen to the songs and watch the videos after that. The ones she wasn't in of course. I hated the song Viva Forever because it was the leaving song and now that one is my 2nd favourite. I also heard Goodbye some years later and couldn't understand how I could dislike that song. It's great!
I threw away all the cut outs when I moved away from my parent's, and it hurt. Then, just this summer I found a sercret little box where I obviously had kept things I didn't want my family to see (go figure) and one of them was a little blurb from some foreign mag. where it said something about Geri and Emma making out on a kid's programme(!) and their comment on the gay Q was "It's like, if you've never had chocolate or strawberries, you don't know if you like it." That kept my flame up 'til I was old enough to know better.
And 2become1; Don't worry. I was 12 and I picked up on it ...and it's still my favourite song by them. Oh Geri. Be still my beating heart. Still.
I know exactly what you mean
I was about the same age when I started to fall in love with the Spice Girls and of course they also had Nsync and the Backstreet Boys as their competition. When I got older and came to the realization of my sexual preferences, well let's just say they are part of my route. ^_^
Thanks Spice Girls!
Obsessed
Wow, I was SOOOOO obsessed with the spice girls when I was younger. The neighbor girls and I used to make music videos and dance around in the driveway and sing to their songs while dressed in silly costumes. We even went so far as to tell a little neighbor boy that we were the spice girls and every time we talked to him we used fake british accents. I was always Ginger because "I had the biggest boobs" this was because I was the oldest.
My walls were covered in Spice Girls pictures cut out from magazines, and posters. I had Spice Girls rings, lollypops, necklaces, I even bought a redish wig. And I could spend hours staring at their posters and thinking about how pretty I thought they were.....how I didn't realize I was gay earlier, I have no clue.
When the Spice Girls were
When the Spice Girls were popular, I was going through a stage where I hated anything that was trendy and anything that my sister liked. The Spice Girls committed the double-sin of being super trendy and being my sister's favourite band, so I claimed to loathe them and stuck by my favourite musical genres: "opera, reggae and the Beatles" (yes, I thought the Beatles were an entire genre all by themselves). This didn't stop me from developing a mad, subconscious crush on Mel B, which has since morphed into a conscious one. :P
spice up your life...
was my favorite song of theirs, i totally owned spice world, and my favorite 2 were and are sporty and scary,but then i got upset when i saw scary's hair wasn't crinkled anymore, i'm over it now but when she was wearin' baggy pants back in the day and a pair of boots, ssssss,yeah. sporty caught my eye moreso after the fact cuz she made a dance track "i turn to you" i was 16 when they came out and now im wishing just these 2 would come out in a different way.. and who could resist those British accents anyway? i still can't.
i'm not sure if that's my gaydar or my fire alarm ringing but,its hot as hades in here......."ladyj"
Age perfect, everything else wrong
I was 8 or 9 when Wannabe was released, perfect age for manufactured pop right? My parents certainly thought so and for Christmas I got the Spice Girls album while my brother got Oasis. By Stephen's Day we'd swapped and our parents haven't stopped worrying since...especially when I started to scowl in an attempt to create the Liam Gallagher monobrow and he stuffed toilet paper down his shirts to create the Ginger Spice effect. Now he's grown up and i'm still scowling...
Still there can't have been many mothers across the British Isles who weren't subjected to a rendition of Mama on Mothers Day 1997.
(Don't ask and Marlene won't tell, she'll bloody show ya)
i was so happy when i heard
i was so happy when i heard they were getting back together i have always been a fan, my favoret spice girl was sporty when i was yonger because i was a very sporty kid but now if you just go a looks its baby all the way.
spices
I always loved the spice girls. they were so happy and oddly empowering for a little kid. I loved scary because she was different and unafraid. and i also loved sporty cause she was a tomboy like me. posh never seemed to smile enough tho...
best thing ever though, is turning on the tv and finding spiceworld on. so terribly wonderful
spice up your life
Spice!
I loved the Spice Girls! I even had a spice girl birthday party when i was 10..lol I can't wait to see them in Feb.!! Has anyone ever seen this interview???? its very funny!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8g5-hW4Sh1I&feature=related
sporty spice