Piers

I've got several unpopular opinions, but this is probably the main one. I like every single song on the group's three studio albums and Greatest Hits.......except one. Time Goes By. That opening keyboard sounds like the beginning of some hellish children's talent show performance. What follows just plods along. It's the only song the group's recorded that I think sounds inauthentic. I also think Mel C's ad-libs at the end are the least flattering she's ever sounded on a Spice song. Didn't like the song on first listen. It's never grown on me in more than 18 years. I assumed this one was just cranked out by Darkchild...after he'd already given them a few single choices and was ready to take their money and get the album over with. But. No. The girls seem to really like the thing. Mel C...who would seemingly rather eat a light bulb than continue with the group at that point...even suggested it be a Christmas single. She continued to sing its praises even years after Forever crashed and burned. I wouldn't be shocked if it even springs up at the reunion show. I'll grin and bear it.

Yup. I think the song's pretty great. I actually like it better than anything on Life in Mono. It may be a blasphemous thing to say around here...but that album's a bit soft for me. The Free Me album...and now this...are more to my taste. I think this is worthy of her best singles...and would've been a big hit in a different time. The video? I think the song begs for a more sleek, stylish video...instead of dancing outtakes at a photoshoot. But. Whatever. It's professionally shot and edited...and I guess that's surpassing expectations for a solo Spice these days. The Angels in Chains video is downright confusing in its incompetence (honestly, guys...if you need to learn how to properly size pictures...I can help you). One more note. How great does Emma sound on this?

My memory is for a story where Robbie claimed she insisted on wearing some sports jersey in bed. There was some fan speculation Goin Down was written about this incident. Anyway. I've tried to find anything on the internet about this now, and I'm not getting anything. Granted, this story would have been from 20+ years ago...from a time when there were quite a few articles written that have been lost to time. Hoping someone else vaguely remembers this...before I start doubting my own memory/sanity.

For someone who has a pretty great songwriting history...I really...really...wish there was more original music here after a 12-year-gap from her last solo album. I already didn't think Life in Mono had enough Emma-penned originals. So. Hm. Also. Not in love with Robbie getting to record a Spice Girls song. A one-off performance was one thing...buuut... This is the guy who called Geri a demonic little girl and publicly made fun of what Mel C was like in bed. Isn't Goin Down about him? He also said he was going to shag Victoria...years after she was already married. I get that they may have long forgiven all of this. But. He's kinda had a history of being a douche to members not named Emma Bunton. Anyway. All I can say is this. Really looking forward to the two Emma originals. Hope she knocks it out of the park. This beats nothing.

I kinda think this too. We know she was struggling to get her material released. I think the leak was probably just a good excuse for why the material never came out. I don't think I know the full circumstances around the leak...but I'm guessing it may have happened when it was clear that the material wouldn't see the light of day otherwise. Shame. Because I like quite a bit of the Man on the Mountain material. I don't think she would have gotten a legitimate hit...but I do think Love and Light was good enough to get a bit of attention on its own merits. Side note. I really do feel a bit bad for Eliot Kennedy. He did material for Forever...the VB album...Life in Mono...Geri's fourth album...and GEM...and NONE of it saw an official release. Most of it just got leaked instead. Sure, his computer's not exactly secure...but that's got to be tiresome to keep recording with these people and only for it to get ditched.

I'm not especially concerned with chart positions at this point. They've all hit that unfortunate age ceiling where an artist is no longer allowed to have a hit. I'm also not sure a looming Spice Girls reunion has any sway over how well their solo careers will do. If it couldn't help Mel C in 2007, I'm not sure how it can help now... I only hope the girls can continue to do their solo work with distributors who have a reasonable set of expectations. In the past ten years (the "charts-are-done-with-you" era), Mel C's managed one of her obvious best singles (Think About It) and two really solid albums of original stuff...Mel B's released a very likable song...and it's fairly criminal that Geri's Man on the Mountain material never got its proper due (Love and Light is way too good for its fate). If Emma can even get to that level of expectation, I'm good. Side note. I'm really quite happy none of them ever truly devolved into the type of artist who just sings about all the stuff they bought and how rich they are. Not. Naming. Names.

^ I never followed why she got so much flack for the horse riding thing during her Ride It promo. She was selling a single. So what? I realize that was an era where some tabloids would make anything she did sound outrageous and crazy. But. I don't know. Her publicity stunts seem downright quaint today...

Honestly, I'm not sure what lyrics could be updated for political correctness and inclusion. The only line that could really be updated was already taken care of in 1996...when they replaced the "boys and girls go good together" in 2 Become 1. Other than that...their lyrics were already pretty progressive...very pro-woman.

When I was a kid, I had a birthday party to see one particular Christmas movie. I knew it wasn't great even at the time. But I've recently just rewatched it...and wow...Jingle All the Way is really, really bad. I've got nothing against Arnold Schwarzenegger as an unstoppable killer cyborg from the future. But I can't quite wrap my head around him as a normal everyday suburban family man. And how bold is Phil Hartman hitting on Arnold's wife? Dude. He will pound you into dust. The whole superhero parade battle thing is a special kind of obnoxious and terrible.

^ That's pretty interesting. That article was written during a more snobby time toward music acts targeted at young people...but...yeah...it would appear they just pretended the Spice tour never happened. I actually don't think that'd be the only inaccuracy. Hanson and the Backstreet Boys were also on tour that year. BSB's tour in particular was pretty extensive. I have no idea how well those two tours did...but I have a hard time believing they didn't do extremely well in 1998. Guess the writer just decided to leave them all out?

I saw it again recently. There's something really unusual about it in retrospect. The girls were the biggest group on the planet at the time Spice World was shot. You'd think it'd be a pretty strictly mainstream effort. Instead, the filmmakers cast a ton of cult actors...and loaded it with bonkers scenes like they intended all along for the thing to be a favorite drag queen midnight movie staple in 20 years. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that. I actually rather like how weird the movie is. It's endlessly quotable. I just have one major criticism. They should have recorded the Spice World album before they shot the movie...not during production. To me, the best moments come when the girls are performing...and certainly nothing else in the film comes close to the ending performance of Spice Up Your Life. But there should be more. They had such a command of a stage at that time. The Istanbul concert is a very good showcase of that. Spice World only shows that fact in spurts. Had the album been complete at that time, other songs could've been better incorporated (a performance of Stop, in particular, definitely belongs in there) Aaaaand I've just typed a lot more than I intended on a weird movie about five popstars that features aliens and a live childbirth scene.

Lol. I wonder what her character would have even looked like? Five women bolt onto a stage...adorned in a union jack dress...leopard print...black Gucci...a tracksuit...and...a...uh...graduation cap and gown? But. Really. I guess it's a little surprising in retrospect some company didn't nab up Michelle during Spice-mania...and try to push her out there as Billie Piper 2.0. Her voice was right for pop. She was really quite beautiful. The Spice connection meant a built-in interest for interviews. Anyway. I've heard a few of her songs on Youtube. I'll admit Boom Boom is kinda an ear worm. It reminds me a smidge of some of the unreleased solo Spice demos from the early 2000s. Anyone know the story behind those recordings? Michelle ever attempt a real go at it?...or were those from just playing around in a studio?

I don't want to be mean to Lianne...especially as she's known to read online forums. Buuut. I find her story of being devastated to be cut from the group to be rather odd. She was cut before much of anything really happened. And you'd think someone who was part of the singing/dancing circuit would be far better adjusted to rejection. Could her disappointment have actually come much later when the group blew up? Maybe. But the reality is...the group only blew up because of the line-up they landed with. It may be that Lianne could technically sing circles around Geri and Victoria. But. Divine technical prowess wasn't what was really needed for the opening lines of Who Do You Think You Are. Y'know? Michelle Stephenson, on the other hand, did seem to have the right voice for a pop group. However...I'm not sure her intention as "the smart university girl" would have been anywhere in the stratosphere as popular with fans as what Emma became.

This might be a somewhat unpopular opinion...but I wouldn't mind their solo careers being fairly well-represented at the shows. I'm less concerned about the setlist being made up of things released under the Spice Girls banner than I am about the whole show being material that genuinely made an impact in its day...and would play well at a stadium. I just think it should be the big hits. Not some solo thing that barely squeaked onto a chart in the past ten years. Personally, I'd like something like this: Geri - Look at Me, Mi Chico Latino, Bag It Up medley Emma - What Took You So Long (full song) Mel B - I Want You Back (full song) Mel C - Never Be the Same Again/I Turn to You medley Out of Your Mind dancer interlude Mel C/Mel B duet - When You're Gone (this was actually rumored for the ROTSG tour) Full group - It's Raining Men (let Geri remain prominent in it...but truthfully, this song is too big and tough to be carried by Geri alone...) Other than that, all the group singles from 1996-2000 should be full length and as big as possible. I'd ditch Headlines. I mean. I like the song, but it couldn't manage to be a genuine success even with the group reuniting and it being a charity single. Too much bad juju around it. Album tracks to be performed? Never Give Up on the Good Times and Move Over.

Alright, Spice Girls creative team. Here's my idea. You can pay me in a trip to London and tickets to one of the shows. Start the show off with a video of Richard E. Grant impatiently waiting for the girls at the venue. "Did one of their friends have another damn baby?!" Cut to Victoria weaving through city traffic in the Spice bus, carrying the other four in tow. Maybe they're inside. Maybe they're on the roof. I don't know. Whatever. They pull up. "Victoria, you coming?" "I'm right behind you! I've just got to park this thing." The other four girls go ahead. Perform the show. During costume changes, we get videos of Victoria stuck in traffic...driving through a lot looking for a spot...trying to parallel park the Spice bus...etc. There you have it.

Yes! I think that was in the David Sinclair book. I figure Reason might have been a critical hit (well...as much as a Spice-related release could've been at that point). That song's a wonderful showcase for her voice. It's a beautiful song. I'm not sure the appreciation would've been reflected on the charts, though...and we inevitably would've ended up with another video of Mel chasing a light or whatever. I think On the Horizon has gotten a bit of a bum rap. If it landed in the top ten, I figure it could've been a sing-a-long favorite at the live shows. It's one case where I really can't fault the record company. To my ears, On the Horizon and Yeh Yeh Yeh just sound like the most commercial songs off that album.

Nice to see the two of them performing together. They're a bit of an unlikely performing duo. So. Dig it. I realize this wasn't rehearsed...but I do wish Geri had sung a bit more. The only time I can clearly hear her singing is her one album version line. Side note. Is this the only time "...boys and girls go good together" has been performed?...live OR mimed? I remember video surfacing on the reunion tour of Geri's vocals accidentally being used as backtrack as Victoria sang over it (...an incident that seems even odder now). But I don't *think* "boys and girls go good together" has ever been legitimately performed. A bit interesting Geri sang it all this time later. I would've expected them to just use the same lyrics that have been performed the past 20+ years...just with Geri going low with "take it or leave it" instead of the way Victoria sings it. Another side note. I prefer the Victoria version's lyrics for its consideration for gay couples...but prefer the way Geri sings that section.

^ Yeah. On the Today Show this morning she also claimed plans were all sorted out, and they would definitely be performing soon. Poor naive Hoda Kotb did the same thing all the interviewers do...sit back and act stunned at this seemingly huge revelation. Mel also said she wishes Victoria would stop claiming it's not happening. So. I'm sure Victoria just loved that. Perhaps most interestingly...Mel claimed the reason the royal wedding thing fell apart was because she had to be in divorce court. Not that this matters...but I'm sure that court date could be pretty easily disproven. And does that odd explanation imply another two members of the group had their invites rescinded because one of them was in court? Anyway. I'm not new here. I know Mel B's spent the past decade making wild untrue claims. While it doesn't seem very many publications call her out on her blatant lying...it does seem the level of excitement over her announcements is dwindling. There doesn't seem to be an explosion of articles over Mel's claims today...like there have been in the past. Some of the entertainment writers starting to catch on...?

I was just thinking...we're actually coming up on ten years since Mel blurted out she was recording a duet with Janet Jackson...and would even be going on tour with her. Janet's reps had to swoop in and discredit Mel's claims. Point being. The past ten years have held *a lot* of lies. It's hard to keep tabs on them all. My best guess is this. Mel's just looking to raise her profile...and by the time her latest big claim is proven false, she might have some other work booked. Mel's not really held accountable for making stuff up. Will anyone really call her out on the royal wedding claims? Even if they did, she could just say "Well. Didn't work out!" and that would be that.

A ton of outlets ran with the "only three Spice Girls invited to the royal wedding" thing...including...quite oddly...Fox News. I mean. Is everyone just basing this off of the Page Six article...quoting some source they didn't reveal? I wouldn't say it's exactly confirmed that's what happened. Anyway. I guess Mel B just said what she said as a way to raise her profile for a short while. It's probably why she flat-out makes up a lot of things. This is the first time I've seen a lot of outlets calling her out on a lie. Her comments from The Real have been in a lot of royal wedding articles yesterday and today.

*sigh* Look. Mel B's my favorite member. Always has been. Always will be. Buuut. I have to assume the other four girls have been in a group text for years...with lots and lots of messages reading "OMG...did you hear what she said now?!" The tabloids and talk shows still don't seem to have caught on to the fact Mel's big announcements never actually happen. I guess they all just think they have a big scoop every time Mel blurts out something. Do the other girls call her out on it? Is it all just wishful thinking on Mel's part?...like if she announces plans enough the others will feel obliged to do it? And how far back can we trace Mel doing this? Years and years ago...I remember her claiming they might release more Forever singles in 2002. But as a general rule, I think these, erm, "premature announcements" came about post-reunion tour...

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.

Return of the Spice Girls probably. I'm not 100% on the setlist. Obviously, I would've rather had Never Give Up On the Good Times or Do It over the Celebration medley...and I wish I Want You Back and Out of Your Mind got solo performances as they'd become forgotten solo Spice hits. But. Staging was immaculate. All the singles sounded amazing. The girls are also the rare group to peak in performance ability long after their heyday...so...I think the show is (overall) stronger. I like all the shows, though. With Istanbul/world tour/Wembley, the live band did wonders with some non-single songs. If You Can't Dance, Love Thing, and Something Kinda Funny sounded amazing. I think Naked on the Spice album is a smidge ho-hum...but I *love* the live version. It completely brought the song to life. On the flip side...I think a few of the big songs were a bit let down. 2 Become 1 and Too Much didn't sound nearly as good live...and the live Spice Up Your Life always lacked the manic energy of the album version (I think Christmas in Spiceworld and Return of the Spice Girls later cracked the code on how to do that song).

Northern Star. I still love it. Go!, NS, Goin Down, ITTY, NBTSA, GaGa, and Closer were all worthy of being hit singles...and I even think Suddenly Monday and Be the One could've made for decent double A sides just because they deserve to be heard. Mel C was killing it during that time. Even the b-sides were amazing. The rest of the albums for me would go...Schizophonic, A Girl Like Me, VB, Hot. I'll say this, though. I like I Want You Back, Tell Me, and Feels So Good better than anything off A Girl Like Me or VB. I love those three songs. Always did. The latter two really deserved to be bigger. But a lot of Hot really let Mel B down. Stuff like Hell No and ABC 123 couldn't have been more generic. Mel's personality was so big, she didn't need to have such anonymous songs that could have been sung by literally anyone.

One of the most concerning parts of this idea to me is...while Simon is a genius at certain aspects of handling artists...that really...really...doesn't apply to his handling of films. From Justin to Kelly and S Club Seeing Double happened on his watch. Spice World gets points from me for being just so unapologetically weird and campy despite belonging to the biggest group of that era. 90s nostalgia can somewhat save it now...but we have to be honest. Whatever they do now has to be better. A lot better. Why do we believe that during the group's heyday we'd just get a product like Spice World...but think 20 years later that Disney and Marvel will create something truly great with them? I don't think Simon has the best sense of quality control in this arena. A demand for the Spice Girls definitely exists. Every time another reunion rumor surfaces (which is...a lot) all my social sites explode with excited reposts/retweets. That's coming from middle America. But I truly do believe the fandom exists only over seeing the actual girls. A reunion tour would be a towering success...and I really do think anything else is doomed. There's a reason why I see hundreds of reposts/retweets from friends over a reunion tour rumor...but I see none when word of an animated movie breaks....