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 Could The Spice Girls Have Continued After Forever? |
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 Feb 21 2018, 10:40 PM
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#61
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 Buffy/Charmed
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QUOTE(cripesdude @ Feb 15 2018, 07:50 AM)  I think they'd have gotten a third No 1 album and maybe a few more No 1 singles. Thanks for that post Jay - always with the facts! Imagine a Forever with those 1999 tracks instead! Also, let's not forget this INSANE fact: everything they released as a group was a UK No 1 or No 2 (to be fair Headlines just wasn't a 'proper' single). That album would have been so much better! WOMAN sounds amazing. Um, it was a single. It was the OFFICIAL CHILDREN IN NEED SINGLE  OMG LOOK WHAT I JUST FOUND!! I remember seeing this on tv when I was a kid when it first aired, before the songs had even been released!!!!!! Can't believe it's on yt 18 years later. Watch 11:34 , I've always remembered their conversation about Eastenders! I was amazed at that age that a Spice Girl would do normal things like watch soaps OMG the part I most remember, that conversation, is the screenshot for the thumbnail too!! That Edith woman looks bored doing the interview, just like Mel C Omg listen to 14:00 - Mel C saying the band 'wasn't the real deal' and basically a 'hobby'! That's why the album ended up like it did. No wonder the video's so great - it was by the Out Of Your Mind director too. |
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Feb 21 2018, 11:34 PM
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#62
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 BuzzJack Platinum Member
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To be honest back then I think they were under the impression that the 5 girls would all have very lucrative solo careers, given how huge they were as a group and how well known they were individually. Look at The Beatles I'm sure they were under the misguided view that they would be similar to them 4 and have huge or decent careers away from the band. In reality only Geri and Melanie C ever really had real success and even then nothing on the level of success of solo Beatles.
At the time their careers were doing well though Mel B had a #1 and a good selling top 20 hit. Melanie C had a massive #3 hit as well as 2 more top 5's and 2 number 1s, and Northern Star was selling really well. Geri had 4 big solo hits 3 of them being number one and her album on the way to half a million in the UK. Emma and Victoria both had big #2 hit singles... i guess this was looking very positive for Virgin. |
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Feb 22 2018, 09:50 AM
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#63
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BuzzJack Enthusiast
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QUOTE(Shia LeMuffQueef @ Feb 21 2018, 10:40 PM) Omg listen to 14:00 - Mel C saying the band 'wasn't the real deal' and basically a 'hobby'! That's why the album ended up like it did. These days Melanie C is one of the most grounded. But I think she shows her youth and naivety a little here. She comes across as quite dismissive of something they've encouraged thousands of kids to believe in. I remember being a little bit heart-broken by her back then. Thank you Shia for sharing! This post has been edited by Michael Andrew: Feb 22 2018, 09:50 AM |
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Feb 22 2018, 04:01 PM
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#64
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Buffy/Charmed
Joined: 18 April 2013
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QUOTE(Spiceboy @ Feb 21 2018, 11:34 PM) To be honest back then I think they were under the impression that the 5 girls would all have very lucrative solo careers, given how huge they were as a group and how well known they were individually. Look at The Beatles I'm sure they were under the misguided view that they would be similar to them 4 and have huge or decent careers away from the band. In reality only Geri and Melanie C ever really had real success and even then nothing on the level of success of solo Beatles. At the time their careers were doing well though Mel B had a #1 and a good selling top 20 hit. Melanie C had a massive #3 hit as well as 2 more top 5's and 2 number 1s, and Northern Star was selling really well. Geri had 4 big solo hits 3 of them being number one and her album on the way to half a million in the UK. Emma and Victoria both had big #2 hit singles... i guess this was looking very positive for Virgin. Yup, their solo careers were spicier than their final album which was kinda lifeless. Come to think of it, I'm not surprised Virgin thought that was the way forward. QUOTE(Michael Andrew @ Feb 22 2018, 09:50 AM) These days Melanie C is one of the most grounded. But I think she shows her youth and naivety a little here. She comes across as quite dismissive of something they've encouraged thousands of kids to believe in. I remember being a little bit heart-broken by her back then. Thank you Shia for sharing! Absolutely! That's exactly what I was thinking about her lack of maturity/ youth here. She basically did not care by that point. 'This is the real me', etc. Well, yeah, but you got there through the Spice Girls. For that last album, she should have at least tried to be a little less dismissive. |
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Feb 25 2018, 12:45 AM
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#65
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We're all Glitter and Tears in the Moonlight...
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I voted maybe as it is very hard to tell whether they could have carried on successfully after 'Forever', considering it was panned by the critics and press and labelled a flop, despite selling 4 Million worldwide off the back of 1 single, which isn't bad at all, but nobody was willing to give them a chance and plus they were far more interested in their solo projects anyway. It depends on what direction they would have taken, coz I doubt they would have went with the R&B direction again, as that didn't quite work out, or maybe if they updated and better adapted their sound too fit in with the modern climate of the early 00's, so who knows.
As for the 'Forever' campaign I do feel that they gave up way too soon, yeah they were getting mauled left right and centre, but honestly I do think that if more singles were released then the album could have shifted more copies, nowhere near on the level of the first 2, but considering it had already earned Platinum status within it's first 2 months and already sold 4 Million worldwide, then yeah another single could have helped this album re-enter the charts in the following year at least. These were the planned follow up singles = "If U Wanna Have Some Fun" "Tell Me Why" "Weekend Love" Okay I very much doubt any of these would have topped the charts, but they could at least been top 5/10 hits for them. 'IUWHSF' would have been the better choice for the next single instead of 'TMW' in my opinion as the former has that more familiar Spice Girls sound to it and along with a funky music video with some energetic dance moves and in the early months of 2001, then I predict that this could have easily been a top 3 or top 5 at least. Have 'TMW' released after this in a more polished or remixed form, like the radio edit version which is a million times better than it's album version and bring it out during the summer months of '01, and could give them another top 5 or top 10 hit. As for 'WL', I'm not really that sure that this one could have worked, maybe if it was remixed and take out Mel B's rap, and maybe have another featured artist on it (not rapping), instead have another verse from the other singer and yeah maybe that might work and could manage to peak in the lower end of the top 10. Well that's my opinion, tell me what do u guys think. |
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Feb 26 2018, 09:54 PM
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#66
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Buffy/Charmed
Joined: 18 April 2013
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Those are all AWFUL. WHY do these Dark Child songs have plodding ballad style music, then a random rnb Mel B uptempo rap?!
Simon Fuller definitely had the better plan. He said the plan was three pop albums, setting them ALL up for big solo careers. Forever damaged their brand a lot, and so they didn't have a strong starting point for solo, especially with all the negative press. |
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Apr 1 2018, 04:54 AM
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#67
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BuzzJack Regular
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All these years later I find the continued disparagement of Forever to be quite odd. I prefer Spice and Spiceworld myself...but out of the new material (not counting Goodbye), Forever has at least five decent single contenders. I don't even include Let Love Lead the Way in that. The album's all perfectly solid material. Tell Me Why could've been a bit hit...in part because it's a good track...but also because of the natural controversy over it being about Geri. Beats me whether they would have fessed up to the song's real meaning at the time (they were often so unwilling to admit obvious tensions there)...but the speculation would have driven it. Jam n' Lewis were also still ruling the charts in that era...so If You Wanna Have Some Fun would have a very good shot with the right radio edit.
Anyway. Yes, I think they could have soldiered on after Forever...but they would have had to actually commit to the album and see it through first. Forever has the misfortune of being unceremoniously dumped into the world and immediately abandoned. I think the fanbase would be a lot kinder to it if it were just another step in a continuing musical evolution of the Spice Girls. There's a reason Madonna's fans don't obsess over Hard Candy as much as Spice fans obsess over Forever. Hard Candy was a phase...an era... the artist moved on. But...in abandoning Forever...that album never had an era. All three of the Spice albums got some brutal reviews at the time of release...but the nostalgia for Spice and Spiceworld allowed them to have a certain critical re-evaluation much later. Forever doesn't get to have that. While I'll admit Spice and Spiceworld are better...and certainly more unique...Forever deserved more than what it got. It may be the work of a group that was over it...but it really doesn't sound like it. |
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Apr 4 2018, 02:48 PM
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#68
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New Entry
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I believe the whole Forever project could have been much more successfull if they really were on it and continuing promoting well, instead of 1 one single wasted away and few of them having litle tv apparences.
And even if goin on as a group with Forever not been as big as the ones before, I believe is totally normal for groups/artists to have up and downs, specially after a period of huge exposure. there was and still is a lot of potential for them as a group to release music |
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Apr 4 2018, 04:03 PM
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#69
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 6 September 2017
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Forever the album could have been saved fairly easily tbh. They sold close to 300,000 with just one single release and a short bout of promotion. Further single releases through the year and a small tour would have easily pushed it over the half a million mark making it a successful album. Shame they just abandoned it.
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Apr 16 2018, 02:05 PM
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#70
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BuzzJack Enthusiast
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Two more singles would've been great but they were bored to death and they all wanted to focus on their solo stuff and to be honest we got some good solo music from them .
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Apr 16 2018, 06:38 PM
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#71
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Buffy/Charmed
Joined: 18 April 2013
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Making of Holler y'all!! Look at those gravity boots they gave VB and the half-constructed tunnel! |
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Dec 1 2022, 11:07 PM
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#72
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Buffy/Charmed
Joined: 18 April 2013
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Still find this a v. interesting discussion/ thought exercise. This album burst the Spice bubble for sure, so they would never rebound to 1996-9 levels, but if they hsd gone back to pop, they could have stayed around Girls Aloud/ Sugababes popularity. But in doing so, ir would be tantamount to admitting that they were in a bubble, and also that 90s Geri was the main driver of their sound and success.
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Dec 2 2022, 12:56 AM
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#73
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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Ultimately, Forever had one major flaw which made it flop. The lack of promo or interest from the girls.
Had they really tried, and committed, we would today be more graceful about the album. It's a solid album, and marks an evolution in sound which whilst quite a hard shift, it was clearly an evolution from their already well-thread r'n'b path. Two more singles would have helped but they would have had to commit to it, properly. They should have gone on tour in Spring-Summer 2021 and then call it quits for a while and go solo. Alas... |
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Dec 2 2022, 01:19 AM
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#74
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Buffy/Charmed
Joined: 18 April 2013
Posts: 44,012 User: 18,639
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But the album simply isn't good... How could they tour with material like Waste of Time or Oxygen?? And with such a massive shift in sound, how would that tour even look??
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Dec 2 2022, 05:11 AM
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#75
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 "Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
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QUOTE(Yet!!!!!! @ Dec 2 2022, 01:19 AM) material like Waste of Time How dare you x |
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Dec 2 2022, 11:36 AM
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#76
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BuzzJack Enthusiast
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Old topic, but no damn way could they have carried on. The group members themselves weren't in a good place and the public didn't like the new image and sound.
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Dec 2 2022, 12:01 PM
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#77
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Buffy/Charmed
Joined: 18 April 2013
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That is true. It didn't comnect, even though Hollier is that BOP, their image was all over the place, and they were all burned out snd focused on solo projects, and lesving their best ideas for solo songs, except for Hollier, Pain Proof and W.O.M.A.N.
The more I think about it, their best chanve would have been thr 1999 pop album, with rockier and dancier songs, and thrn a more pop/rnb album campaign in 2000/1. Forever is boring, plodding, and generic; and that was the main problrm for a pop band known for its spice. It also slienated their fanbase, particularly their younger fans. |
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Dec 2 2022, 01:01 PM
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#78
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 7 September 2017
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I think genuinely people make too much of Forever not being 'pop enough' whereas the main issue here is that the whole press and industry seemed to be anti-Spice (including some of the Spices themselves). Had the climate been easier for them as a group, and had been given a proper chance, Forever would have been successful.
The level of vitriol they faced during 1999-2001 was insane, as proven by the various documentaries, specially the Channel 4 one. They were seen as horrible people, hated and unwelcome. Not because they did anything wrong other than they fired their manager and they had become too successful. The British press LOVES to bring women down, and they had a filled few years with the girls then. Forever was clearly a victim of that. Had the album been given a chance outside of the anti-Spice movement of the time, where the girls did promo and a tour, the fans would have grown to like the album more. It was dumped, so it never had a chance to shine. That's it for me. People can dress it as they wish, but it was a really great album with really great sound which was popular at the time. The press and the girls themselves killed it. No need to shit on the album just because it didnt reach the heights of Spice and Spiceworld. A Tour in 2001 would have really brought the album and its songs to a new life and fans would have appreciated it more. |
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Dec 2 2022, 01:08 PM
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#79
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 there's nothing straight about plump Elvis
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Alternatively, take a break and work on solo endeavours until 2002, instead of recording music that was on the way out and sounded outdated before its time!
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Dec 3 2022, 11:22 AM
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#80
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BuzzJack Enthusiast
Joined: 6 September 2017
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Forever was certainly not promoted enough and that is fact.
The drastic change in sound and image however I feel most certainly went against them too of course. People say Holler/LLLTW was a success but its sales were mediocre for being the big comeback single of the Spice Girls. Even today Holler trails behind on streaming. So yeah promotion and lack of love from the girls most certainly contributed but so did the direction/quality of the material. I'll always feel Rodney Jerkins was the worst thing that ever happened to the Spice Girls. |
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