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Posted by: Jay❄ 15th February 2021, 02:20 PM

#11 - Spice Girls - Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)
#13 - Mel B - Word Up
#13 - Mel B - Lullaby
#14 - Melanie C - On the Horizon
#14 - Melanie C - Loving You
#15 - Emma Bunton - Crickets Sing for Anamaria
#18 - Melanie C - If That Were Me
#19 - Various Artists for Children's Promise - It's Only Rock N Roll
#20 - Emma Bunton - We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight


Which singles do you wish had managed a Top 10 peak out of the above list? Whether it's because you love the song, or feel like it was underrated by the public?


Headlines is the major one for me. I really don't think it's a bad song, and it deserved more than what it got. The group themselves put very little effort into its promotion though, and the music video was a big misstep, so maybe in terms of that they got out of it the amount of effort put into it. It came within touching distance (only 445 sales behind #10). The #10 was Sugababes - About You Now, which was its 9th week inside the Top 10.

Out of the solo singles... I still think On the Horizon sounds like a hit. It stood out when the Reason album was new and it made sense as the second single, however much Melanie herself dislikes it. It also had good airplay... but only #14, eek. I'm not really sure what went wrong there.

As for the one that was furthest away from making it - We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight - I still think that it's an enjoyable song, and it puzzles me that the fan base are quite cold to it, and clearly the public weren't into it either. I don't hear what is so bad about it. It being the lowest ever peak for a Spice related single up to that point in time is harsh! I genuinely think it was at least worthy of scraping the Top 10. https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/20011216/7501/ Some of the songs above it aren't as good as Emma's, imo!

Posted by: spiceboy 15th February 2021, 02:35 PM

Headlines of course is the really annoying one that bugs me a lot. I mean if they had released it before the album, and with physicals and downloads combined then it would easily have gone top 10 and probably top 5, that is really annoying.

Out of the solo ones Loving you is the one that also really irritates me. Again if they had released a physical and not left it to downloads only then it very likely would have gone top 10 with Melanie's fan base alone buying thy physicals nevermind Matt Cardle's fan base also doing so. Would have been great for Melanie to be the only Spice Girl to achieve a top 10 hit to her own name in the 00's decade she really deserved it with her constant efforts. I guess at least she is the only Spice Girl to have a top 20 hit in 3 different decades and a top 10 album in 3 different decades anyway.

The other two are Word Up and On the horizon. Word up only going #13 (or #14 as they said back then) at that point was quite horrific and really undeserved for a song that had such a cool video and was such a cool sounding song. It was simply to old for the Spice fanbase of the time, I know I didn't appreciate it until I got a bit older, and the older fanbase obviously wasn't here for word up. I'm also not sure what happened with On the horizon it is such a catchy, easy listening song which did very well on radio and rightfully should have been a hit and really should have helped the album shift more copies!?

To be honest thought all the songs are worthy of top 10 (except the charity one which was rubbish).

- Headlines #5
- Word up #6
- Lullaby #6
- On the horizon #7
- Loving you #7
- Circkets sing for Anamaria #7
- If that were me #9
- We're not gonna sleep tonight #10

If they had double their success... it looks much more appropiate!

Posted by: Mr.X 15th February 2021, 02:59 PM

I think some of them definitely deserved to go into Top10 and a couple definitely deserved Top5 at the very least.

I know neither of these are very well perceived by the fandom at large (due to lack of TASTE, huns! Sort it out ) but I always thought that both Word Up and Crickets Sing for AnaMaria deserved to go Top5 at the very least. Both are fantastic songs, very experimental and interesting. Both provided new ways of Mel B and Emma really show their versatility as singers and popstars, in my opinion. Hell, Word Up has one of the best videos in the whole Spice catalogue ever, and Crickets had one of the best promotions, b-sides and remixes as well.

Their only downfall, in my view, is the fact both are covers, but both were done with such originality that they absolutely sound like they are original songs written by and for them. Clear examples of how to do proper covers - unlike some of the Bunton covers that have popped up since....

Beyond that, I do think that Headlines going in at #11 was bad. They only have themselves to blame for that, as they barely did anything for it and both the video and the promotion for the song were so lackluster... Plus, the song itself whilst not bad by any stretch, wasnt that great either. The Victoria-led chorus was bad, the message wasnt very good either and whilst it starts ok with Emma's intro, it kind of derails from then on and never really recovers. The lack of Mel B is very loud, unfortunately and it is too Victoria-heavy. A clear example of how uninterested they were, and it showed. In hindsight, it probably was deserved that they didnt get to #10. If you do middle of the road effort, you get middle of the road results

I'm not really bothered about the rest. Maybe Loving You deserved #10 but that's about it...

Posted by: spiceboy 15th February 2021, 03:29 PM

Sorry but Crickets is terrible.

Posted by: Jay❄ 15th February 2021, 03:33 PM

Mr. X when he reads this post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1CI5WjDPDA&t=1m45s

Posted by: spiceboy 15th February 2021, 03:39 PM

Posted by: spiceboy 15th February 2021, 03:40 PM

Ps more than any of these being top 10 I would much rather Hot album had gone top 10. While it's not the best album it certainly not a #28 album, and Mel B certainly doesn't deserve to be the only Spice Girl not to have a top 10 album...

Same for Victoria and Out of your mind missing #1.

Posted by: Mr.X 15th February 2021, 03:45 PM

I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU MATTHEW

Posted by: Lukuzz 15th February 2021, 03:47 PM

Headlines definitely deserved at least number 10, just annoying it was one spot off being a top 10 record, think it would look less like an eye sore in there history if it was at least a top 10 record

I also think Word Up, Loving You and On The Horizon were all deserving of top 10 at least.

Were Not Gonna Sleep Tonight is actually my favourite ever Emma song so I think it was deserving of at least top 5, really don't get the hate for it

Posted by: Spice Girls Net 15th February 2021, 04:07 PM

Headlines annoyed me the most as it was 1 position away from being a Top 10.

Like Spiceboy said the single should have been released before the GH album and the download/physical week should have been the same.

As for solo music I think Word Up deserved to be a Top 10 hit, it was a great cover and so was the production. Mel B's version of Word Up IMO was and is the best Word Up cover ever released.

I also wish Crickets had been Top 10 so that all of the Free Me Era singles had reached the Top 10 too.

Posted by: spiceboy 15th February 2021, 04:16 PM

Truth hurts

Posted by: Mr.X 15th February 2021, 04:23 PM

Apparently, so does good taste cos you avoid it with a passion

Posted by: spiceboy 15th February 2021, 04:24 PM

That's why I ADORE Emma

Posted by: Mr.X 15th February 2021, 04:27 PM

Clearly we are simply talking about Crickets here my hun, don't generalise it to get away with it

Posted by: Simon. 15th February 2021, 04:30 PM

I'd pick Headlines if I had to pick one, if that was released in their prime it would've done well.

Posted by: spiceboy 15th February 2021, 04:35 PM

Posted by: vibe 15th February 2021, 04:58 PM

Loving You , it just need a physical release for this too happen !!

Word Up was also overlooked at the time , her version is so much better than LM. Has amazing production and 2 amazing videos.

Posted by: spiceboy 15th February 2021, 05:41 PM

One amazing video, the Austin Powers one was terrible

I agree though her version is so much better than the Little Mix one!

Posted by: sammy01 16th February 2021, 09:30 PM

Didn't Mel C and Matt Cardle also bugger off to Germany where the song did naff all mid release week when it was obviously going to be touch and go with being top 10.

I'm not sure what other promo they might have done but I'm sure they could have spent a few hours doing local radio interviews and performances. They also did a couple of nice acoustic performances of it with Matt playing guitar that were begging to have a studio version released on itunes to help it out mid week.

Posted by: JosephStyles 16th February 2021, 09:52 PM

On the Horizon and We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight are both big "not sure what went wrong there" moments to me! I don't think either get enough love as individual songs (particularly We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight which is one of my favourite Emma singles) and to have underperformed like that is quite surprising - they deserved better!

Headlines going top 10, even scraping in at #10, would obviously be so much nicer than the horrible #11 peak. It's far from being one of their best songs in my opinion but the release strategy seemed messy and if they weren't giving it 100%, there's only so much that can be expected. Similarly for Loving You I suppose - it was clear weeks before it was set to do surprisingly well, so why did they not capitalise on this with physicals, signings, etc?

Posted by: Mr.X 16th February 2021, 10:18 PM

We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight was actually quite a big gamble for Emma.

Prior to that, she had had a big hit with What Took You So Long? (though not so big in the UK that would warrant better sales, mind you...), the album itself and its second single weren't huge sellers. I think the record company wanted to do a Melanie C and release a dance remix of one of the album tracks, to provide a change of pace and maybe entice renewed interest in the album and her as a solo artist.

Unfortunately, it didn't catch on. The remix itself was good but to me it didn't particularly sound that amazing. Certainly it sounds a bit like a high quality remix you would tag inside a single's CD, not necessarily single material.

Plus, it was released around Christmas, which was a bit weird as it got swallowed up with other type of tracks. Remember Bunton saying that she wanted to 'do something diferent for teh Christmas market' or something like that.

It was just a bit odd to be honest. It didnt particularly work and the video, whilst great and high quality, seemed not very Emma Bunton. Personally never been a fan of the leather look on her... She looked *fine* in the Holler video but awkward in this.

They should have kept the original plan and release A World Without You for Christmas time, maybe with a Christmas remix instead.

With On The Horizon, I think again Virgin wanted something much more comercially friendly than Here It Comes Again as both that single and the album weren't exactly setting the charts and sales targets alight. But they went with the Paint-By-The-Numbers-New Radicals-wannabe track that a very recognisable hook.

It was a bit of a radio hit for her, but it did bugger all on sales, so it flopped. Plus, she absolutely hates the song and it was obviously not her decision to release it to save the album...

I'd say that both these songs kind of sealed their fate as solo pop starts in the UK as artists with the occasional well-known song rather than hit-making successes. Both of the songs were meant to save their fortunes and both turned out to be huge dissapointments, both artistically and commercially.

Yes, both Emma and Mel managed to somewhat turn it around a bit but since those singles, it has been quite a lot of unsuccessful releases with the occasional success story (Free Me and Melanie C, with a few singles each that cut through)

Sad times...

Posted by: sammy01 16th February 2021, 10:20 PM

Was were not gonna sleep tonight released in December or did I make that up? It definitely feels more a summer song than winter which probably didn't help.

Posted by: Mr.X 16th February 2021, 10:23 PM

Jesus, I hadnt realised I wrote so much. Apologies in advance

Posted by: Mr.X 16th February 2021, 10:27 PM

Yep. Released on 10th December 2001 Such an odd release...

I do wonder if Virgin just wanted to get rid of her so she was badly advised. It was quite obvious that Virgin didnt really care for Melanie C either during the Reason album, and Melanie B and Victoria had also vastly dissapointed too.

So Virgin was probably trying to get rid of the solo Spices by this point, or simply they didnt care much and were just a bit 'meh' about them as soon as they started to undeliver

After such a busy two year punch in solo releases like 2000-2001, to see it all dwindle so much in terms of sales, was probably what drove Virgin away from them as solo artists...

Posted by: sammy01 16th February 2021, 11:03 PM

You'd think at least an early January release for 'sleep tonight' would have given it a decent peak when sales were always low.

I'd have had Emma on TV shows signing A world without you over xmas or released that on December 10th to fit in with winter time.

Posted by: spiceboy 16th February 2021, 11:31 PM

I always thought the girls getting dropped over Gold album sales was grossly unfair when lots of other artists released Gold albums and kept their contracts. Both Emma and Melanie C should have been given another album out of Virgin but just with reduced budgets for recording the following time round. Then again I'm glad they didn't because it resulted in Free Me and Beautiful Intentions.

Posted by: Tawdry Hepburn 16th February 2021, 11:54 PM

#14 - Melanie C - On the Horizon
#14 - Melanie C - Loving You

These two definitely should have done! I remember thinking 'Loving You' was guaranteed to go top 10 based on the pre-orders.

I enjoy 'We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight', but I'm not sure I'm bothered enough about it not making the top 10 and 'Headlice' definitely got what it deserved!

Posted by: Sideout 17th February 2021, 02:10 AM

By the end of 2001 the girls were underperforming. Their singles were not selling over 100,000 copies. Their albums were not selling past 150,000 copies. It's not surprising Virgin Records were done with the girls in 2002. Melanie C has gone on record saying the record label didn't really care about her anymore during the Reason era due to new people in charge at Virgin Records.

The girls and the record label made terrible single choices in 2001, but I don't know if better single choices would have prevented general audiences from solo spice apathy.

Posted by: Last Dreamer 17th February 2021, 06:29 AM

"We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight" is wonderful, from the rest I will say "If That Were Me" and "On The Horizon" - two best Mel C singles.

Posted by: tommie 17th February 2021, 09:15 AM

I don't get the strategy of putting We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight in the Christmas market either - I get that there was already a big gap between Take My Breath Away and We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight, but but I doubt it would've hurt much to put it out three weeks later plus airplay and promotion still would've happened during the Christmas period, so hopefully grabbing some Christmas sales for the album. Add that the remix (if it had been better tbh ) might've been played at Christmas + New Years parties/clubs and garnered more attention.

But I think it's a classic case of that they already had decided to drop her at that point anyway and they were just putting it out as a courtesy to show that they tried.

Posted by: sammy01 17th February 2021, 10:32 AM

For me Sunshine on a rainy day was an obvious 3rd single. It had easy breezy top 5 written all over it and I could see radios eating it up as its just such an easy listen.

Ideally have it out in November, then over xmas do some promo with A world without you and a tour announcement for for summer 2002. 1 more single March time and I'm sure the album would have done 200k+ minimum.

Posted by: Mr.X 17th February 2021, 10:36 AM

I am not here for the Sunshine on a Rainy Day as a third single.
It was too similar to Take My Breath Away and What Took You So Long, so I can understand how they felt like they needed a change of pace.

The original plan was to do A World Without You on the lead up to Christmas, which sounds much better as a plan. Then maybe release Sunshine on a Rainy Day in early 2002 and if things were successful, go into a festival/theatre tour in Summer together with another single maybe as a feature with another artist or something.

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 18th February 2021, 02:42 AM

Loving you and lullaby are 2 big faves of mine.

Posted by: sammy01 18th February 2021, 03:34 PM

Lullaby got what it deserved tbh.

Posted by: tommie 18th February 2021, 03:56 PM

Lullaby is a perfect example of a stupid make-or-break single - it was clear at that point that they were only releasing further singles because Feels So Good charted in the top five. And then they release Lullaby? Perfect way to discourage the label to not release anything else.

Posted by: spiceboy 18th February 2021, 04:44 PM

Why they didn't do Hotter I'll never know!?!?!?

Posted by: vibe 19th February 2021, 09:32 AM

Mel wanted Lullaby.

Posted by: spiceboy 19th February 2021, 03:31 PM

Well Mel was stupid wasn’t she! I get the attachment to the song and I genuinely don’t think it’s anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be, however it is a final single at best not a make or break single! Out of all of them I’m not surprised Mel was the first to lose her recording contract, she openly admitted she refused to listen to advice and pushed ahead with tell me as the first single over feels so good and wouldn’t wait until after Xmas to release the album after Forever I bet they couldn’t wait to let her go.

Posted by: vibe 20th February 2021, 07:22 AM

I always thought the record company pushed for tell me.

Mel did not listen about the album release date.

Posted by: spiceboy 20th February 2021, 10:57 AM

Nope they wanted FSG to launch the album as they thought Tell Me could attract negative attention but Mel insisted of leading with that.

Posted by: vibe 20th February 2021, 01:33 PM

I thought the rc wanted the jimmy gulzar scrutiny. 🤔

Posted by: Dill Doe 20th February 2021, 02:01 PM

I think they were actively sabotaging all of them by 2001. Look at Victoria Beckgam. She had I Wish and Like That ready to go and they go for two unpopular pop songs...

I didn't know that about Mel B. Where did she say that? Feels So Good is by far her best song and should have been first. Lullaby would have been fine as a last single, like Mel C's Tell Me Why (Phone Remix).

Posted by: Jay❄ 20th February 2021, 04:59 PM

Posted by: Mr.X 20th February 2021, 05:05 PM

It is pretty obvious that Virgin wanted solo Spices to go, specially after the Forever fiasco and their solo numbers dwindling around the same time too...

Posted by: spiceboy 20th February 2021, 05:12 PM

Tell me why was Spice Girls, Mel's was If that were me, and I don't get why she released that when she was sitting on Closer which is one of her best songs ever!?!?

Mel B talks about it in her autobiography how they wanted FSG but she wanted Tell Me because it was more personal and made her mum cry. Also someone who worked Virgin has confirmed it in the How the Spice Girls changed Pop biography that was done.

Posted by: Piers 20th February 2021, 10:42 PM

Before the release of Hot, Sisqo was angry that some elements of his productions were changed on the two songs he did...Hell No and Hotter. I can't remember his exact quote...but it was something to the effect of "if she doesn't change it back, I'm taking my name off the songs." So. He didn't exactly do that. But I did notice those songs seem to be credited to "Mark Andrews" (his real name) as opposed to the known "Sisqo". From what I can tell, he sometimes went as Mark "Sisqo" Andrews on his own writing credits.

Anyway. This is total speculation on my part. But I did wonder if Mel decided not to release it out of concern of reigniting some bad blood. Tag to that, she'd been vocal about not getting along with Teddy Riley, so she basically had a bad experience with her collaborators for half the album.

So. In her mind, maybe it was safer to go with a track written by longtime collaborator Richard Stannard and produced by the Darkchild team (who were always positive about their Spice collaborations)?

I do think she was bound to take a slide no matter what she released at that point. I think Tell Me and Feels So Good were more obvious hits than Hotter. But I'd agree that Hotter was probably the next most obvious in line...and was certainly a more commercial choice than Lullaby. Maybe it could have made the top 10?

Anyway. Back on topic. Which of these do I wish made the top ten? Headlines.

The reasons it all went wrong for Headlines have already been discussed in here, so I won't get into it all. But while I found the one TV performance and the video to be surprisingly unimaginative for what should have been a big pop culture moment...I've never been disappointed in the song itself. I thought it was gorgeous from the first listen, and I've never changed my mind about liking it. I guess you could argue that declaring your love through newspapers isn't the most relatable perspective...but I'll defend it as a kinda unique take...and certainly an experience they'd been living for a while. All the girls and their collaborators had evolved so much since 1997, I actually think it's cool their team somehow recaptured that very specific Spice sound from ten years previous. I don't hold it in the same regard as Viva Forever or anything, but I do think it deserves a place alongside their other singles.

Other than that...On The Horizon. It sooo doesn't deserve the ire it gets.

(Mod Edit: 'Reason' discussion moved to 'Reason' thread: http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=238326&view=findpost&p=6803892 )

Posted by: Dill Doe 25th February 2021, 05:10 PM

The remix about her jot living without phones or something. It was very ahead of its time, seeing as we now call mobiles, phones, and now that we have smartphones that people get addicted to. #psychicspice