Spice Girls

The Spice Girls were a British (English) Girl Group who played a huge role in forming the 1990s for young girls across the globe. With songs mostly written and produced by Richard Stannard, Max Martin and Matt Rowe, their sound was created to appeal to preteens and teenagers alike, using familiar riffs and somewhat suggestive lyrics. As a result, not only were they able to easily break through to the American market, but the group can also be credited as a major factor in shifting the tide in The Nineties from alternative rock to teen pop music (later solidified by boy bands and Britney Spears).

The quite intentionally tailored Five Man Band consisted of Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell, Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown, Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton, Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm and Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham (née Adams). Despite most European pop bands finding it difficult to break into American mainstream, The Spice Girls' very first single, "Wannabe", shot straight to number one in more than 30 countries, including the United States.

After their overnight success, a movie, Spice World was released in 1997.

Seventy-five million records later, the Spice Girls became the best-selling girl group of all time. They performed at the launch of Channel Five in 1997. They suffered a setback in 1998 after a relatively short run considering their phenomenal success when Geri Halliwell (aka Ginger Spice) had a bit of a Creator Breakdown and fled the scene just days before they were due on stage to perform a sold-out concert at Wembley Stadium. Still, the show went on, and the remaining four released a third album without Halliwell, Forever. After numerous denials that they were going to split, they did.

That wasn't the end of the Spice Girls, however. In 2007, they confirmed that all five would return for a reunion concert, which sold out in every single country they visited. The tour grossed over US$100 million.

Discography

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

This girl group provides examples of:

 * Always Camp
 * Ambiguously Gay: Melanie C, although it was just for publicity -- she's not actually gay.
 * Break Up Song: "Goodbye", the first single released after Geri's departure.
 * Break the Cutie: Geri had one hell of a time before and during her time as a Spice Girl.
 * Briefer Than They Think: 3 albums, 2 with the original group, 5 years releasing, 3 tours, yet spearheaded the whole Girl Power! movement and opened the door for many artist late 90's early 00's.
 * Big Beautiful Woman: Geri, some of the time.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: All of them play up to this in Spice World. Geri tends to come across as a mild version in her interviews.
 * Closer to Earth: Melanie C. appears to be this, or at least plays the role during their interviews.
 * Cultural Rebel: That was the plan, anyway
 * Cute Bruiser: Melanie C. Emma counts too-believe it or not, she's a master of Goju.
 * Daddys Girl: Geri. Partially Gender Flipped by Emma, who's very close to her mother.
 * Dojikko: Geri.
 * Emotionless Girl: Victoria.
 * Embarrassing Nickname: Geri alluded to this in one interview, saying that Emma got, "aww, it's Baby Spice" while she more often heard, "Oy, Ginger!"
 * Failed Audition Plot: Completely subverted and averted by Geri. She showed up to the auditions for the band after the first round had already been screened and decisions were being made. She wasn't prepared and had very little idea what she was even auditioning for, yet she managed to get a spot as one of the five anyway, much to the chagrin of many of the other hopefuls.
 * The Fashionista: Victoria
 * Fiery Redhead: Geri.
 * Flanderization: All of them.
 * Forgot Flanders Could Do That: Especially egregious with Victoria, who seemed to turn into the one that was just meant to stand there and look pretty. She never got a lead role in any of the songs, and eventually seemed to stop singing altogether. She even parodied herself during the reunion tour when she walked the runway as a fashion model instead of singing a solo like the others. Thing is, the girl can actually sing. Check out her audition tape.
 * Four Element Ensemble: Holler (Fire - Melanie B, Earth - Melanie C, Water - Emma, and Wind - Victoria) and Let Love Lead The Way (first two roles swapped with the latter two)
 * Five-Girl Band
 * The Heroine: Geri
 * The Lancer: Melanie B.
 * The Big Girl: Melanie C.
 * The Smart Girl: Victoria
 * The Chick: Emma
 * Genki Girl: Geri and Melanie B. were very, very loud.
 * The Gimmick
 * Greatest Hits Album
 * Hair of Gold: Emma
 * Headbutting Heroes: According to the girls themselves, there was a lot of tension between Geri and Melanie B.
 * Horned Hairdo- Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown occassionally had that kind of hairdo in a somewhat Rule of Cool manner.
 * Important Haircut: Victoria chopped all of her hair off just before getting married and Geri dyed her signature fire-engine-red hair a much more muted strawberry blonde after she left the group.
 * Intercourse With You / Getting Crap Past the Radar: What sounds like a silly arse kicking song in childhood sounds like a sex song in adulthood. 2 Become 1, Holler, If U Can't Dance..and More!
 * Les Yay: The girls did a lot of hugging and kissing of each other when they were in front of the cameras. Behind them, probably not so much. Also, they admitting to catfighting on occasion.
 * Meganekko: Melanie B.
 * Personality Powers
 * Power of Friendship: Theme of Headlines (Friendship never Ends) and one of their major messages.
 * Red Oni Blue Oni: Geri/Mel.B. VS Mel.C./Emma/Victoria
 * Not So Stoic: Victoria very rarely smiled during her run with the band. In fact, she smiled so little, that any time she was caught grinning, it was almost shocking to anyone seeing it for the first time. Particularly because she has an absolutely adorable smile.
 * One Steve Limit: Averted with the two Melanies.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Since she was "Sporty Spice" Mel C was always dressed in a very simple and tomboyish style. She was so well known for it, it's always a little strange to see her more dressed up.
 * Shorttank: Justified with Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisolm.
 * Signature Song: "Wannabe" and "Stop"
 * Took a Level In Badass: Melanie C. went from being a cute, sporty chick who wore very little makeup comparatively to sporting a Gold Tooth, dyeing red streaks in her hair and doing backflips and karate moves on stage.
 * The Movie: Spice World.
 * The Three Faces of Eve
 * Childlike/Innocent/Virginal: Emma, considering the fact that she was the youngest of the group, with "Baby Spice" as her group alias.
 * Calm/Sensible/Capable: Victoria, as she is known for being married to David Beckham and has four kids.
 * Sexy/Feisty/Seductress: Geri and the two Melanies
 * Wearing a Flag On Your Head: Geri and her famed Union Jack dress from the Brit Awards.
 * With Friends Like These