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BuzzJack Music Forum _ Spice Girls _ Spice Girls 20th Anniversary Celebrations

Posted by: Maurice Jul 5 2016, 06:40 PM

Spice Girls Wannabe



This week we celebrate the release of the 1st Spice Girls single Wannabe 20 years ago on the 8th of July 1996. It debuted at no.3 on the official UK Chart but got to no.1 the next week where it stayed for 7 weeks.
Penned by the girls in conjunction with Biff Stannard and Matt Rowe, Wannabe was a wonderful introduction to the spirited fivesome who would enjoy unprecedented, relentless chart success all over the world in less than two years.
The story with Wannabe goes that Victoria had to miss the writing session due to illness and so gave her feedback over the phone. The track was done and dusted in about half an hour, but the record company thought it could do with some more work and sent it off to the US to be mixed as an R&B track by Dave Way (it's awful), In what would become a common theme throughout their career, the girls rebelled, and mixing duties went to Spike Stent, who’d worked with Madonna. Virgin and Simon Fuller both wanted Love Thing (track 4 on the Spice album) as the 1st single but the girls again didn,t want Love Thing as 1st single and pushed Wannabe to be their debut single.
The video of the single was shot at the St.Pancras Hotel in London on the 20th of April 1996 in one shot.

Some interesting facts:
7 weeks at #1.
2xPlatinum certification.
1.36m sales as of August 2015.
2nd best selling single of 1996 (behind The Fugees Killing Me Softly).
13th best selling single of the 1990s decade (sales from Jan '90 to Dec '99).
Within the Top 100 best selling singles of all time.
Biggest selling single by a girl group of all time.
it'ssold 6 million copies worldwide.
It reached #1 in 31 countries.
They won a Brit Award for 'Best British Single' for Wannabe and an Ivor Novello award.

1st performance on GMTV 28th of June 1996


1st live performance on Live! With Regis & Kathie Lee 16th of May 1997


Live in Istanbul


Live at Wembley Stadium


Live at ROTSG Tour 2007/2008


''Last Ever'' (?!) performance at the Olympic Closing Ceremony in London 2012


(Credit to Jay for all the chart facts)

Posted by: Maurice Jul 5 2016, 06:59 PM

Wannabe was the 1st single that i bought, i remember it being on the radio all the time in the Summer of 1996 and i loved it. Asked my mum if i could buy it and i could. Still have the single in my closet in between the rest of my Spice Girls cd collection which contains all the albums, singles and most of the solo spice singles/albums. Thanks to girls i met one my best friends Jay in 2003 and we still are friends 13 years later.

Posted by: mr_pmt Jul 5 2016, 07:44 PM

Goodness me, I really feel old.

Posted by: Jonjo Jul 5 2016, 08:07 PM

I hate this topic. Really don't want to be reminded that this was 20 years ago! Goodness me.

They were the first group/artist I ever become a "stan" of! I still remember the hysteria surrounding them like it happened just a couple of years ago. We won't ever come close to a girl group quite like them ever again, imo. As much as the likes of Sugababes, Girls Aloud, The Saturdays, Little Mix, Pussycat Dolls et al have been big successes, none of them have quite touched the Spice Girls impact or hysteria.

I remember wanting EVERYTHING to do with them. I think my dad has even kept the Spice Girls chocolates (well, the wrappers & packaging at least)!

Posted by: Jade Jul 5 2016, 08:14 PM

I wasn't quite born yet when this was out ph34r.gif i discovered the Spice Girls' music when i was about 10 though and instantly fell in love. <3 Started collecting merchandise off eBay around this time and was obsessed for a few years. Jonjo you've reminded me that i even bought Spice Girls lollies that are still in their packaging laugh.gif

Can imagine how huge this was at the time and wish i could've witnessed the few years of them being at the top.

Posted by: Cameron Jul 5 2016, 08:17 PM

it was #1 when I was born laugh.gif slay

Posted by: Joe. Jul 5 2016, 08:54 PM

I remember the domination so much. I prefer so many other girlgroup's discographies to the Spice Girls, but I still think it's crazy how big they were for those 3 years.

It was world domination artists like 1D and Justin Bieber could only dream of. They were the face of Cadburys, Pepsi, Walker's Chrisps, channel 5, ASDA, Impulse - you name it! And whether of not they liked their music, the public and media were obsessed with them to no ends, they'd make the BBC 1 news, front page of every newspaper. And I feel like those who weren't around can't fathom how big they were because no artist has really come close. In my lifetime, I'd say Britney was the only one who came anywhere near as close. When Stop missed the #1 spot there was such uproar!

Posted by: gooddelta Jul 5 2016, 09:00 PM

This was all in the pre-social media age too and before many people really used the internet. They were just huge, I remember the cultural impact so well, pretty much everyone who knew anything about popular culture could name and knew something about each of the five members, how many pop bands could you say that about these days? I remember each of their singles premiering was a huge must listen moment as well.

The only cultural impact I can think of that has come close since is Lady Gaga in 2009 or Rihanna in late 2010, but these girls sustained that feeling that they were a completely unstoppable force over three years.

Posted by: Colm Jul 5 2016, 09:01 PM

The best thing I can say about it is that it was far from their worst song biggrin.gif

Posted by: dandy* Jul 5 2016, 09:07 PM

As far as pop groups go, they weren't that bad in retrospect. I really wasn't a fan at the time but I can now see that they had fun and catchy songs and pretty much every single from their first two albums was quite distinctive and memorable.

Posted by: Maurice Jul 5 2016, 09:14 PM

QUOTE(Joe. @ Jul 5 2016, 10:54 PM) *
I remember the domination so much. I prefer so many other girlgroup's discographies to the Spice Girls, but I still think it's crazy how big they were for those 3 years.

It was world domination artists like 1D and Justin Bieber could only dream of. They were the face of Cadburys, Pepsi, Walker's Chrisps Impulse - you name it! And whether of not they liked their music, the public and media were obsessed with them to no ends, they'd make the BBC 1 news, front page of every newspaper. And I feel like those who weren't around can't fathom how big they were because no artist has really come close. In my lifetime, I'd say Britney was the only one who came anywhere near as close. When Stop missed the #1 spot there was such uproar!

This is spot on! They were everywhere! When Geri left it was breaking news worldwide and even more huge than when Zayn left 1D last year. I haven't seen a pop phenomenon as huge as the girls. They had 11 top 20 hits 10 of them were top 10 hits 9 of them were no.1 hits (Mama/WDYTYA and Holler/LLLTW are double a-sides and counted as 1 single). But outside the charts they were also everywhere crisps,candy,drinks,dolls,perfumes,a photo camera,books,pillows,curtains and even a cinema movie.

Posted by: Chez Wombat Jul 5 2016, 09:23 PM

I was only 3 at the time, but even then, I remember the domination of them/this song, I definitely remember people quoting this song and seeing Spice Girls related merchandise (I think seeing them on crisp packets was my earliest memory of them laugh.gif) everywhere. Must've been such a phenomenon being slightly older then, especially with how much they contributed to the third wave feminism of the 1990s (their cultural impact was quite a big part of my university studies so I learned further then as well!). It's pretty hard to find a female music act, bar Madonna, that even came close.

This was great (and pretty much their definitive song), though it's ofc. all about Viva Forever <3

Posted by: vibe Jul 5 2016, 10:48 PM

I read in someone's autobiography that Victoria didn't sing on the song because she went to a wedding when it was requested. Bit mean of them to not let her record some vocals on a later date.

Posted by: Cody Collins Jul 6 2016, 01:18 AM

I think if I were to pick a song that defined the girl group era of the 90's, it would be this song.

Just its prevalence decades on speaks for itself. I remember this being on a rip-off of Rock Band and it was the one song that was the most far away from alternative or even guitar-based pop considering it also had Taylor Swift in it.

Also this:


Posted by: Ja˙ Jul 6 2016, 02:21 AM

Great topic Maurice! biggrin.gif

I can't quite believe it's been 20 years since the song that started it all... cry.gif 'Wannabe' is the first song I ever loved, and they were the first music act I became a fan of. wub.gif I'll always love the Spice Girls! #loon kink.gif Their music always lifts my mood if I'm feeling down; they've been important to me over the years in that respect.

Joe summarised their impact really well... they were all-encompassing, truly phenomenal. Maybe I see that period of time through the eyes of the 8 year old I was back then, but to me they were pretty magical.

I was in Year 3 when 'Wannabe' came out, and the Spice Girls became an almost immediate craze at my school. It seemed like all of a sudden everyone was talking about them, everyone had a favourite Spice Girl. (Mine was & has always been Emma!).

Anyway, 20 years on and it's still a wonderfully unique song, fully deserving of still being the definitive girl group song ever. <3

Posted by: Ja˙ Jul 6 2016, 11:07 PM

Vote for your favourite Spice Girls song! - http://www.itv.com/goodmorningbritain/get-involved/spice-girls-favourite-song-poll

QUOTE
We're celebrating 20 years of the UK's - and many would say the planet's - biggest girlband ever! Yes, it's really been two decades since Baby (Emma Bunton), Scary (Melanie Brown), Posh (Victoria Beckham nee Adams), Ginger (Geri Horner nee Halliwell) and Sporty (Melanie Chisholm) first burst onto the pop scene.

To mark 20 years of girl power we're finding out what the nation's favourite Spice Girls song is out of their top ten singles. Take our poll below and we'll reveal the result on Friday's show!


I voted for Spice Up Your Life. cool2.gif

Posted by: Jonjo Jul 6 2016, 11:26 PM

Voted for 'Stop'. wub.gif

All 10 of them though... <3 <3 <3 <3

Posted by: Jade Jul 7 2016, 01:07 AM

Voted for 'Viva Forever' wub.gif

Posted by: Kye Jul 7 2016, 01:17 AM

I have a different favourite SG song depending on the time of year. Right now it's 'Spice Up Your Life' or 'Viva Forever'.
But at Christmas time, it's always '2 Become 1'.. wub.gif

Posted by: Martyn Jul 7 2016, 06:14 AM

Unlucky fans of Holla, Let Love Lead The Way jameela.jpg and actual Headlines rotf.gif

Posted by: Maurice Jul 7 2016, 02:54 PM

Viva Forever wub.gif one the few Spice Girls songs that aged well.

Posted by: Maurice Jul 8 2016, 04:06 AM

Happy 20th Anniversary to Wannabe!

Posted by: slowdown73 Jul 8 2016, 04:13 AM

Wannabe is their worst single in my view. Completely tacky.

Posted by: ThePensmith Jul 8 2016, 06:23 AM

Can't believe it's been 20 years! I'm doing a special series of blogs to celebrate, first one is up today: https://alexscsb.com/2016/07/08/a-crazystupidplaylist-special-20-years-of-the-spice-girls-part-1-their-greatest-hits/

Posted by: Maurice Jul 8 2016, 06:37 AM

Spice Girls Gem
3 of the Spice Girls have opened a website, looks like they are relaunching under a the name Spice Girls GEM.

Posted by: Ultraviolence1989 Jul 8 2016, 06:59 AM

Happy 20th birthday to one of the best songs of all time wub.gif

Posted by: gooddelta Jul 8 2016, 09:05 AM

Ughhh, Spice Girls without Melanie C feels so wrong (Victoria too, but Mel is the heart and soul of so many of the songs).

Posted by: Jonjo Jul 8 2016, 09:17 AM

QUOTE(gooddelta @ Jul 8 2016, 10:05 AM) *
Ughhh, Spice Girls without Melanie C feels so wrong (Victoria too, but Mel is the heart and soul of so many of the songs).
Yep. Def giving this a miss I think. drama.gif

Posted by: Joe. Jul 8 2016, 09:23 AM

Yeah, I think I'll give GEM a miss and just re-watch the Olympics performance.

Posted by: Martyn Jul 8 2016, 11:43 AM

There's so much negativity online to Mel C and Victoria because of this. Apparently they owe their lives to the fans.

Posted by: Hadji Jul 8 2016, 11:44 AM

Radio 1 just played it

Posted by: #00274E Jul 8 2016, 12:44 PM

this is already rly embarrassing and i can't bear to look

Posted by: Joe. Jul 8 2016, 12:46 PM

QUOTE(Martyn @ Jul 8 2016, 12:43 PM) *
There's so much negativity online to Mel C and Victoria because of this. Apparently they owe their lives to the fans.



People should leave them alone, BUT they do owe most of the careers to Wannabe. A one off performance or appearance wouldn't hurt surely? Everyone is usually slayed by Victoria's vocals so I don't know what her issue is, it's not like she has anything else to do.

Posted by: Regina Jul 8 2016, 06:44 PM

OMG I just got it. Gem = Geri, Emma, Mel. laugh.gif

Posted by: Jade Jul 8 2016, 07:10 PM

Happy birthday 'Wannabe' *.* Still the ultimate girl-power anthem. <3

Wtf at Spice Girls GEM laugh.gif Disappointed at the lack of Mel C but not surprised at Victoria.

Posted by: Umi Jul 9 2016, 12:47 AM

I am surprised they thought it still worthwhile with two members saying no. Victoria you kind of expected but not Mel too.

Posted by: KWEEN_DEE Jul 9 2016, 09:21 AM

Victoria doesn't even have any lines in 'Wannabe'

Posted by: vibe Jul 14 2016, 12:28 PM

So who has heard this leak ?

Posted by: KWEEN_DEE Jul 16 2016, 12:02 PM

I think its an internal leak. By internal I mean like the Britney leak where no-one except certain journalists got access to it.

Posted by: Silas Jul 16 2016, 10:15 PM

This has reminded me of how much I dislike Viva Forever still. 20 years and I still think it's their worst single by a mile.


The whole GEM thing is a bit iffy. I mean I can understand sans Victoria but the Mel C snub is a big loss. Her vocals will be very much missed.

Posted by: Jonjo Jul 16 2016, 11:41 PM

Am I missing something or what is supposed to have "leaked"?

Posted by: Jester Jul 17 2016, 06:37 AM

Bit late here, but I was at uni in the summer of 96 and was doing nothing in the summer but watching music channels (the box, Mtv or vh1 were the choices). In the weeks before the release of wannabe, it was huge on the box. Almost every it beget video chosen, so I could tell it would be big. All summer it was everywhere, and the only thing to take over was their next single.

Simpler times biggrin.gif

Posted by: jakewild Aug 24 2016, 02:46 PM

wagwan with this

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