Monday, October 15, 2007

Some interesting appearances and quotes

Album 2

Mel C has said that the Spice Girls intend to start writing they're 2nd Album in June and that they are planning a massive tour for next year.
- Tuesday, February 25th 1997

Geri's Union Jack

The British newspapers have gone Spice Girls crazy, or more accurately Geri crazy. The feisty young strumpet adorned the front page of most papers wearing the tight, figure hugging, skimpy Union Jack dress she wore while performing at the BRIT's yesterday. The dress is getting very much attention and everyone seems to love it.
- Monday, February 24th 1997

Brit Awards

The Spice Girls won 2 of the 5 BRIT awards they were nominated for. They won Best Single for Wannabe and Best Video for Say You'll Be There. The Girls kicked off the awards ceremony with "Who Do You Think You Are", one of the tracks off their next single (see below). The performance was very energetic and was the highlight of the awards! When they picked up their awards the girls had changed their outfits. Geri's dress however needed more support as her breast fell out of it! Mel C when accepting an award said to Liam Gallagher - "Liam, come and have a go if you think your hard enough!" and the crowd went crazy. This was a response to anti-Spice comments Liam had made recently such as that he would like to knock them out.
- Friday, February 14th 1997

McLaren Spice Girls

The Girls performed live at the launch of the new MP4-12 Formula One Car that was officially launched at Alexandra Palace in London yesterday (13th February). Pictures of them are now available at the McLaren site.
- Friday, February 14th 1997

Next Single Confusion Over

Thanks to the Spice Shack the confusion over the next single is over. The A-side will be "Mama" and the B-side will be "Who Do You Think You Are".
- Monday, February 10th 1997

Comic Relief Single

The Girls next single is to be the new Comic Relief single in the UK, supposedly the single will be "Who do You Think You Are". OK I'm as confused as you, one moment the single is Mama now this.
- Monday, February 3rd 1997

Victoria On Men

On GMTV (28/1/96) the girls were were interviewed in New York and Victoria was quoted as saying that while American men are nice English guys are better.

rince's Trust

The Spice Girls have agreed to take part in a Prince's trust Charity concert on May 9th at the Manchester Opera House.
- Sunday, March 9th 1997

Another #1 - A Record!

The Spice Girls made the record books by becoming the first band to have their first 4 singles all go to #1 after the latest single (Mama/Who Do You Think You Are) entered the UK charts at #1.
- Sunday, March 9th 1997

Hairy Legs

The Girls appeared live on the Clive James Show, Mel B revealed to the world that Geri has hairy legs!
- Saturday, March 8th 1997

Geri Asked Out

Geri was asked out on live Kids TV this morning by Jamie Theakston of BBC1 Live & Kicking fame. Jamie was set up by the crew and after probably the most embarrassing 30 seconds of his life asked (feebly) "Geri would you like to go to to dinner with me next week?" After Geri and the rest of the Girls had stopped falling about laughing she replied "I'll think about it", then added "If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends." Poor Jamie was, how shall we say, deflated.
- Monday, March 3rd 1997

U2 & Ice-T

Rapper Ice-T has said he's besotted with the Girls, after much thought he reckons Emma is his favorite. U2 were disappointed not to have met up with the Girls during a recent visit they made to Dublin, better luck next time guys!

taken from http://www.spicenews.com/html/archives.html

some of the spice girls t.v. appeances

V Appearances, Live Performances, and Interviews during the early time of the Spice Girls on one excellent DVD.


o "Wannabe" live via satellite from Japan - TOTP - First week at No. 1 performance

o "Wannabe" performed on TOTP - Second week at No. 1

o "Wannabe" performed on TOTP - Fifth week at No. 1

o "Wannabe" performed on TOTP -Sixth week at No. 1

o "Wannabe" performed on TOTP - Seventh week at No. 1 Performance(same as sixth with some different shots)

o Spice girls in L.A. for "Say you'll be there" videoshoot from "The Noise"

o Spice Girls on Live and Kicking helping out with a prize draw

o "Say You'll be there" performed on Live and Kicking

o Brief Interview on Live and Kicking

o Each Spice girl helps out Trev and Simon to paint on Live and Kicking

o Mel C joins Trev and Simon to review new release singles on Live and Kicking

o "Say You'll be there" performed on TOTP - Promotional appearance

o Newsround item on Spice girls featuring interview

o "Say you'll be there" performed on The Noise

o Emma B, Mel B and Mel c THe chart show Interview and video of "Say You'll be there"

o "Say You'll be there" performed on TOTP - Second week at No.2 performance

o Spice girls on WOW playing "Fly in your soup", picking competition winners, playing "Bland Date"

o "Say you'll be there" performed on WOW

o "Say you'll be there" performed at Charity Fashion show on a catwalk with models

o "Wannabe" performed at Smash Hits Poll winners Party as the girls receive an award

o "Say you'll be there" performed at Smash Hits Poll winners Party as they get another award

o Spice Girls full interview segment from The Des O' Connor Show as well as a performance of "Two Become One"

o "2 Become 1" performed on The Noise

o The girls are interviewed on The Noise and they particpate in a phone in

o "2 Become 1" performed on Noel's House party

o TV Advert for Spice Girls album "Spice"

o Another appearance on Live and Kicking with various segments and a performance of "Two become one" and a phone in

o Various links from Christmas TOTP 1996 presented by the girls and they perform "2 become 1"

o Appearance on "The Girlie Show" where they are interviewed and perform "Who do you think you are?"

o Performance of "Who do you think you are?" on TOTP

o The girls accept an IRMA award and perform "Who do you think you are?" and "Wannabe" on an Irish music awards show

o Brit Awards '97 - Awards and backstage gossip where the girls get best single for "Wannabe" and best video of "Say you'll be there". They perform "Who do you think you are?".

o Noel's House Party - Another Promotional appearance singing their latest hit.

o TOTP promotional appearance

o GMTV - Spice girls in New York, three part segment with interviews and gossip from their girls on their first trip to the US.

o Big Breakfast - Promotional appearance including interview with Vanessa.

o GMTV - The person who taught the girls to sing speaks.

o Big Breakfast - Report on upcoming girls appearance on Omnibus feat. Emma

o Live and Kicking - Promotional appearance singing "Mama" + Link footage.

o Omnibus - Emma and her mum

o Clive James show - Interview

o Big Breakfast - Lots and lots of footage including each girl interviewed and they choose their favorite music videos etc.

o Comic Relief - Appearance singing "Mama" and "Who do you think you are?" with The Sugar Lumps and much much more.

o TOTP - First week at No.1 performance singing "Mama"

o TOTP Second week at No.1 performance singing "Who do you think you are?"



taken from http://matthewlc5.tripod.com/id6.html

video and other links

http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/dreadlock/512/video.html

http://spicegirls.poptopix.com/

cultural impact

Cultural impact

[edit]The British music scene
After being shut out by the Brit Pop revolution that occurred in the early 1990s when bands like Oasis, Pulp and Blur dominated the charts, pop music found a voice again. The image of the Spice Girls was deliberately aimed at young girls, an audience of formidable size and potential; reinforcing the range of appeal within the target demographic were the bandmates' five distinctive personalities, which encouraged fans to identify with one member or another. This marketing was helped in no small way by the aliases assigned to each member of the group. Shortly after Wannabe’s release, the group appeared in "Top Of The Pops" magazine where each member was given a nickname based upon their image: Victoria became "Posh Spice", Emma became "Baby Spice," Melanie B was named "Scary Spice", Geri was named "Sexy Spice" (later changed to "Ginger Spice"), and Melanie C became "Sporty Spice".[32] These nicknames quickly caught the imagination of tabloid editors and they stuck with the girls throughout their careers.
[edit]"Girl Power"
The "Girl Power" slogan was met with varied reactions, both positive and negative. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. This concept was by no means original in the pop world; both Madonna and Bananarama had employed similar outlooks. However, the Spice Girls' version was distinctive. Its message of empowerment appealed to young girls, adolescents and adult women, and it emphasised the importance of strong, loyal friendship among females. In all, the focused, consistent presentation of "girl power" formed the centrepiece of their appeal as a band.[33] Some critics dismissed it as no more than a shallow marketing tactic, while others took issue with the emphasis on physical appearance, concerned about the potential impact on self-conscious and/or impressionable youngsters. Regardless, the phrase became a cultural phenomenon, adopted as the mantra for millions of girls and even making it into the Oxford English Dictionary.[34] In summation of the concept, author Ryan Dawson said, "The Spice Girls changed British culture enough for Girl Power to now seem completely unremarkable."[35]
[edit]"Cool Britannia"
The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and Tony Blair. Coming out of a period of 18 years of Conservative government, Tony Blair and New Labour were seen as young, cool and very appealing, a main driving force in making Britain look fashionable again. (The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, responsible for coining the term "Cool Britannia" in their song of the same title, intended it in a sarcastic and mocking manner.) Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than U.S., pop music. This fact was underlined at the BRIT Awards in 1997. The group won two awards[36] but it was Geri Halliwell's Union Jack dress that appeared in media coverage the world over and eventually became a symbol of "Cool Britannia".
[edit]Icons of the 1990s
The Union Jack dress Geri wore has acquired something of an iconic status, and is in the Guinness World Records as the most expensive piece of pop star clothing (about £42,000) ever sold at an auction.
Ten years after the release of their debut single The Spice Girls were voted the biggest cultural icons of the 1990s by 80% in a UK poll of 1,000 people carried out for the board game Trivial Pursuit, stating that "Girl Power" defined the decade.[37]

taken from wikipedia as was the post bellow

how they started

Beginning
In early 1994, father-and-son management team Chris and Bob Herbert set about creating an all female group that could compete with the onslaught of boy bands that dominated the pop music scene in the early to mid 1990s: "the whole teen-band scene at the time was saturated by boy bands. It was all clones of New Kids on the Block and Take That. That was all a bit of a yawn for me, and only appealed to female audiences...I felt if you could appeal to the boys as well, you'd be laughing".[4] In March 1994, Heart Management – which comprised the Herberts together with financier Chic Murphy – placed an advertisement in The Stage trade magazine asking "R U 18-23 with the ability to sing/dance? R U streetwise, ambitious, outgoing and dedicated?" Hundreds of girls responded and the applicants were whittled down to a final five that consisted of Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell and Michelle Stephenson. The group was given the name "Touch" and moved into a house together in Maidenhead (owned by Murphy) where they were subsidised by Heart Management and each was claiming unemployment benefit.
During the first two months the group worked on demos and dance routines at the Trinity Studios in Woking. According to Stephenson, the material the group was given was "very, very young pop" and included the song "We’re Gonna Make It Happen", a record that never came to light.[5] It soon became apparent that Stephenson did not have the drive and belief that the rest of the group had, so the decision was made to fire her from the group. Bob Herbert stated that "she just wasn't fitting in...she would never have gelled with it and I had to tell her to go".[6] However, Stephenson stated it was her decision to leave the group because of the illness of her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Victoria later dismissed this claim saying she "just couldn't be arsed" to put in the work the rest of the group was doing.[7] The Herberts searched for a replacement and first came across Abigail Kas, who did not impress, and then were led to eighteen-year-old Emma Bunton at the suggestion of vocal coach Pepe Lemer. Bunton instantly impressed the Herberts and was invited to meet the group in July 1994, who welcomed her with open arms: "Straight away I knew she was the one", stated Halliwell.[8]
After Bunton joined the girls there was growing discontent amongst the group with the management team. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction in which Heart Management was steering them. They persuaded Bob Herbert to set up a showcase performance for the group in front of industry writers, producers and A&R men in December 1994 at the Momis Studios in Shepherds Bush where they received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction.[9] Due to the large interest in the group, the Herberts quickly set about creating a binding contract for the group. Encouraged by the reaction they had received at the Momis showcase the five girls delayed signing contracts on the legal advice from, amongst others, Victoria's father Tony Adams. In March 1995, because of the group's frustration at their management's unwillingness to listen to their visions and ideas, they parted from Heart Management. In what biographer David Sinclair calls an "incredibly self-serving and underhand" ploy, the group stole the master recordings of their discography from the management offices in order to ensure they kept control of their own work.[10] That same day the girls tracked down Sheffield-based producer Eliot Kennedy, who had been present at the showcase, and persuaded him to work with the group.
In October 1994, armed with a catalogue of demos and dance routines, the group began touring management agencies. The group was introduced to record producers Absolute, who in turn brought them to the attention of Simon Fuller of 19 Management. The girls began a relationship with Fuller and finally signed with him in March 1995.[11] During the summer of that year the group toured record labels in London and Los Angeles with Fuller and finally signed a deal with Virgin Records in September 1995. From this point up to the summer of 1996 the girls continued to write and record tracks for their debut album while extensively touring the west coast of America, where they had signed a publishing deal with Windswept Pacific.'[11]

Monday, October 1, 2007

Spice Girls sales records

Answer
Hey,
The Spice Girls released 3 albums as a group (two with Geri and one without her) Spice, Spiceworld and Forever. As far as singles go its really hard to tell you how ALL the singles did all over the world.... but i can give you as much info as I can find.

Wannabe (1996, 1998)
Say You'll Be There (1996, 1997)
2 become 1 (1996)
Too Much (1997)
Step To Me (1997)
Mama / Who Do You Think You Are (1997)
Spice Up Your Life (1997)
Who Do You Think You Are (1997)
Move Over / Generation Next (1997)
Move Over (1997)
Stop (1998)
Viva Forever (1998)
Goodbye (1998)
Let Love Lead The Way (2000)
Holler (2000)
Tell Me Why (2001)
If You Wanna Have Some Fun (2001)

Pepsi Singles


Step To Me 1997
Move Over/Generation Next Live 1998

Promotion Singles


Tell Me Why
If You Wanna Have Some Fun
Weekend Love 2000

Exclusive Japanese Single
Love Thing 1996


1996 - Overview

The start of the Spice Girls phenomenon was in July 1996, with the release of "Wannabe", this year, two more singles followed, "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1" - all of these sold 900,000+ in the UK, and this was only a drop in the ocean. World domination was at their heels, in 1996, despite only having released in the last 6 months of 1996, the Spice Girls spent 20% of the year at #1. "Spice", the debut album, was released in November 1996, eventually receiving sales of over 3 million in the UK, and 22 million worldwide..

Name of Release
Record Sales
Peak Position Certification
Wannabe (Spice Girls - 07/96) 1,269,841 copies #1 (7 weeks) Platinum
Say You'll Be There (Spice Girls - 10/96) 930,000 copies #1 (2 weeks) Platinum
Spice (Spice Girls - Album - 11/96) 3,000,000 copies #1 (15 weeks) 10x Platinum
2 Become 1 (Spice Girls - 12/96) 1,072,073 copies #1 (3 weeks) Platinum

1997 - Overview

Going into 1997, the year started with a trip to America, in which the phenomenon extended - "Wannabe" reached #1, staying there for 4 weeks. This year, three singles were released in the UK, all massive hits - by the end of 1997, the Spice Girls had six #1 singles in a row, and another hit album under their belt - "Spiceworld", which would emulate the success of "Spice". December 1997 saw the release of "Spiceworld: The Movie, the film to which the new album was the theme. Come 1998, the Spice Girls would be embarking on a world tour, and preparing to record the third album, or at least, that was the plan at the time.

Name of Release
Record Sales
Peak Position Certification
Mama/Who Do You Think You Are (Spice Girls - 03/97) 660,000 copies #1 (3 weeks) Platinum
Spice Up Your Life (Spice Girls - 10/97) 800,000 copies #1 (1 week) Platinum
Spiceworld (Spice Girls - Album - 11/97) 1,900,000 copies #1 (3 weeks) 5 x Platinum
Too Much (12/97) 657,000 copies #1 (2 weeks) Platinum

1998 - Overview

1998 would see many big changes, and twists for the Spice Girls. This year saw them embark on the Spiceworld tour - 103 dates, 2.1 million fans, a dream come true for them. But, this didn't stop them releasing three more singles, and, two solo projects. This year also saw their first #2 peak - "Stop", in March 1998, and Geri Halliwell's departure from the group, in May 1998. The end of the year would bring their fourth best seller so far, "Goodbye", and would also mark a two-year break for the group.

Name of Release
Record Sales
Peak Position Certification
Stop (Spice Girls - 03/98) 331,000 copies #2 Silver
Viva Forever (Spice Girls - 07/98) 623,000 copies #1 (2 weeks) Platinum
I Want You Back (Mel B - 09/98) 218,000 copies #1 (1 week) Silver
When You're Gone (Mel C - 11/98) 635,300 copies #3 Platinum
Goodbye (Spice Girls - 12/98) 833,500 copies #1 (1 week) Platinum

1999 - Overview

1999 would be a signature year in Spice history - it would be the first year without any Spice Girls releases as a group, but there would be plenty as solo artists, there was, however, group activity - the recording of "the third album", took place after August, and there were was a mini-tour in December. Geri Halliwell and Melanie C released their first solo albums, while all of the other girls, excluding Victoria, all had at least one solo single in the chart - towards the end of the year, we would see the first, and only Spice battle to date, with Geri's "Lift Me Up" and Emma's "What I Am" going head-to-head for the #1 in November 1999.

Name of Release
Record Sales
Peak Position Certification
Look At Me (Geri - 05/99) 330,000 copies #2 Gold
Schizophonic (Geri - Album - 06/99) 415,000 copies #4 2x Platinum
Word Up (Mel B - 06/99) 50,000 copies #14 -
Mi Chico Latino (Geri - 08/99) 372,000 copies #1 (1 week) Silver
Goin' Down (Mel C - 09/99) 90,000 copies #4 -
Northern Star (Mel C - Album - 10/99) 900,000 copies #4 3x Platinum
What I Am (Emma - 11/99) 215,000 copies #2 Silver
Lift Me Up (Geri - 11/99) 337,000 copies #1 (1 week) Silver
Northern Star (Mel C - 11/99) 195,000 copies #4 Silver

2000 - Overview

The start of the new millennium, and this year would see all of the Spice Girls in the chart for one reason or another - all excluding Emma releasing a solo single, and the Spice Girls as a group making a "comeback". The first 6 months of this year are often seen as the height of Spice Girls' solo success, with 3 #1s and a very high selling #2. In October 2000, the Spice Girls released a new single, "Holler", which did well on the chart, and in November, the album "Forever" followed, which flopped quite remarkably. Unfortunately for Melanie B, her album, "Hot", was released in the middle of all of this, and only reached #28.

Name of Release
Record Sales
Peak Position Certification
Bag It Up (Geri - 03/00) 255,000 copies #1 (1 week) Silver
Never Be The Same Again (Mel C - 03/00) 400,000 copies #1 (1 week) Gold
I Turn To You (Mel C - 08/00) 338,000 copies #1 (1 week) Silver
Out Of Your Mind (Victoria - 08/00) 376,000 copies #2 Gold
Tell Me (Mel B - 09/00) 100,000 copies #4 -
Hot (Mel B - Album - 10/00) 50,000 copies #28 Silver
Holler/Let Love Lead The Way (Spice Girls - 10/00) 230,000 copies #1 Silver
Forever (Spice Girls - Album - 11/00) 280,000 copies #2 Platinum
If That Were Me (Mel C - 11/00) 35,000 copies #18 -

2001 - Overview

Following on from a disappointing last half of 2000, things seemed to pick up in the first half of 2001, before falling apart very rapidly towards the end - "What Took You So Long" and "It's Raining Men" were massive, but just like in 2000, a massive Spice-campaign in the Summer probably made people bored of the girls, with three releases within 6 weeks - 2001 would be the last year to date that we would see a solo Spice Girl reach the coveted #1 spot, or even sell above 100,000 copies with a single.

Name of Release
Record Sales
Peak
Position
Feels So Good (Mel B - 02/01) 138,450 copies #5
What Took You So Long (Emma - 04/01) 246,080 copies #1 (2 week)
A Girl Like Me (Emma - Album - 04/01) 125,000 copies #4
It's Raining Men (Geri - 04/01) 421,670 copies #1 (2 weeks) Silver
Scream If You Wanna Go Faster (Geri - Album - 05/01) 154,000 copies #5
Lullaby (Mel B - 06/01) 30,000 copies #13
Scream If You Wanna Go Faster (Geri - 07/01) 78,500 copies #8
Take My Breath Away (Emma - 08/01) 77,500 copies #5
Not Such An Innocent Girl (Victoria - 09/01) 75,000 copies #6
Victoria Beckham (Victoria - 10/01) 50,000 copies #10
Calling (Geri - 11/01) 66,000 copies #7
We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight (Emma - 12/01) 35,000 copies #20

2002 - Overview

2001 was the biggest year for solo Spice Girls releases yet, with a massive 12 going into our shops, but 2002 would be different. Due to Emma and Melanie B's poor showings with their last singles, they had parted from Virgin Records. Geri had taken a break from music, and Melanie C was enjoying a rest after a 2 year promotional campaign for "Northern Star" - this left Victoria, who released "A Mind Of Its Own" in February 2002. This was to be followed by a remix of "I Wish", but poor sales led to her parting from Virgin, and consequently, the single never got released - a quiet year for all Spice Girls fans in general.

Name of Release
Record Sales
Peak
Position
A Mind Of Its Own (Victoria - 02/02) 60,000 copies #6

2003 - Overview

After the disappointing break that 2002 gave us, Melanie C kicked off 2003 with "Here It Comes Again", the first Spice single in nearly a year, and then her new album, "Reason". Like the rest of the Melanie C releases in 2003, neither took off, and it taught the lesson to Mel that she should go back to her "Northern Star" roots. In May, Emma gave us "Free Me", her first single in 18 months - this, and the follow up single "Maybe" surpassed all expectations. The end of the year was the pinnacle, with Victoria's first single in two years, "Let Your Head Go/This Groove" reaching a brilliant #3 in the charts.

Name of Release
Record Sales
Peak
Position

Here It Comes Again (Mel C - 02/03) 40,000 copies #7
Reason (Mel C - Album - 03/03) 80,000 copies #5
Free Me (Emma - 05/03) 65,000 copies #5
On The Horizon (Mel C - 06/03) 25,000 copies #14
Maybe (Emma - 10/03) 80,000 copies #6
Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh (Mel C - 11/03) 10,000 copies #27
Let Your Head Go/This Groove (Victoria - 12/03) 60,000 copies #3

2004 - Overview

With 2003 showing promise on the Spice Girls front (despite Melanie C's chart-problems), 2004 looks to repeat the success. Confirmed album releases this year come from Victoria and Emma, as well as rumoured single/album releases from Melanie C and Geri. The first releases of 2004 are Emma's single, "I'll Be There", and her album, "Free Me", which look set to repeat the success of the singles "Free Me" and "Maybe". Spice Girls Discography will keep you updated with all of the latest developments and news on the new solo Spice albums.

Name of Release
Record Sales
Peak
Position
I'll Be There (Emma - 01/04) 30,000 copies #7
Free Me (Emma - Album - 02/04) 33,000 copies* -

* Sales last updated 16th February 2004

taken from
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Spice-Girls-600/ALbum-single-sales.htm
in a reply to a question

Spice Girl stufffs

It is a spice world, and the rest of us are just along for the ride.

At least that is what the Spice Girls and their management team want you to believe.

The British pop group, comprised of Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice), Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice), Victoria Adams (Posh Spice) and Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), has seemingly taken the world by storm, with its debut album, Spice, which reached No. 1 in more than 20 countries.

Since then, the group's media exposure has been nonstop, culminating with today's release of the feature film Spiceworld: The Movie.

The movie pairs the Spice Girls with the writing team responsible for the hit comedy show "Absolutely Fabulous."

Familiar faces such as Elvis Costello and Roger Moore make cameo appearances in the music-filled comedy. Yet, even with all the media exposure they have received, life in the limelight has not been without its rigors.

The latest problems include the firing of their manager, Simon Fuller, and a not-so-fashionable appearance on Mr. Blackwell's annual "Worst-Dressed List."

In fact, since the first note of their hit single "Wannabe" hit the airwaves, there has been a public backlash concerning all things Spice. Some feel the group is a brightly-wrapped gift with nothing inside.

Tracy Fell (sophomore-education) said the group's success owes more to its management than to its talent.

"They've been marketed very well," she said. "They hit upon the pre-pubescent, little girl fan base."

Fell sees their nicknames and distinctive personalities as a ploy to make them seem like living Barbie dolls.

"It makes me want to burn Teen Beat (magazine)," she said.

However, despite reactions such as Fell's and countless World Wide Web sites, such as the Spice Girls Hate Organisation (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/chimera/), devoted to bashing the group, the group's record sales are proof that millions of people are listening to the music.

And, though some critics have panned the two albums, the opinion is not a consensus.

Reviewing the second album for the All-Music Guide, Stephen Thomas Erlewine had strong praise for Spiceworld.

"It's a pure, unadulterated guilty pleasure and some of the best manufactured dance-pop of the late '90s," he wrote.

If the Spice Girls do make great dance-pop music, as suggested by Erlewine's comments, the problem may lie in another comment Erlewine makes about their music, a word that has haunted the group since its earliest days: "manufactured."

A quick survey of the group's critics shows that nearly all of them take considerable effort to explain, and attack, the group's origins.

The five members met in 1993 in response to an ad placed in a London trade paper by a management team looking for five "lively girls." The women we now know as the Spice Girls were chosen from 400 hopefuls based on looks, personality and talent.

After meeting one another, the five promptly dumped their first manager and set out on their own. They eventually hooked up with Fuller, who manages Annie Lennox, and signed a deal with Virgin Records.

Since then, they have seemingly subscribed to the philosophy: the more media exposure the better. Recently, they have been seen nearly everywhere -- from an Oprah appearance to hugging Prince Charles. For those who dislike the group, the constant media exposure has been like salt on a wound.

As one World Wide Web site states, "the idea of a manufactured group has been done before, but never with such blood-boiling success."

Despite the controversy, others take all the Spice hype in a much more lighthearted manner.

"The whole purpose is for entertainment and that's what they provide," said Sanjay Bhatnagar (junior-English and philosophy).

Bhatnagar said he isn't bothered by their success because he doesn't see them pretending to be something they're not.

"They're just a fun pop group," he said. "They are getting their 15 minutes of fame."

Phil D'Ambrosio (senior-physics) sees the Spice Girls as fulfilling people's need to forget about the bad and just enjoy themselves.

"The day the stock market crashed, 'Happy Days Are Here Again' was the No. 1 song," he said. "It's the same with the Spice Girls. They are like candy."

taken from
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1998/01/01-23-98tdc/01-23-98d05-019.asp

Spice Girls wikipedia linkage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice_Girls