I am born in 1984 and became a fan in mid 1997. I am from South America, I had to work hard to get information and products in an era where the internet did not exist. It was not until the 2000s that things got better around here. I traveled the first time to UK now in May and June 2019 and it was the best thing I have ever done in my life! I saw 04 concerts, equivalent for all the concerts I've never seen of them i did not have much hope that this return would happen. It was magical! That fire still shines! With no new songs playing on the digital platforms, they have managed to make an incredible celebration of fans and admirers of the past! I met fans who just talked on the internet. I think these few presentations need to win the world! They have fans all over the world. For me, it was the real feel of Rock and Roll! It would be silly to stop now. Come on Spice World 2020, the same, in Stadiums few shows! Give them the value they deserve!
i hope!
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Have any of the Spice Girls apologized for promoting Margaret Thatcher as “ the original spice girl”? Think not, since they also campaigned for Teresa May.
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Born in 1989, in Italy. The Spice Girls effect does indeed span all borders, with the exception that some of us didn’t grow up in English! We didn’t understand a word of what was said in Wannabe. And yet the every member of the non-English-speaking Spice Girls Generation has her own broken rendition of the song’s opening lyrics. In my Italian second grade cohort, it usually went like this:
Atalawatawaaaawatawatawatawaaaaa
When my education finally enabled me to hear the lyrics, it was a total reshaping of the experience. I had a hard time letting go of the sound that had been playing in my head for years and years, to make space for an adult understanding of the song. Which, to be sure, didn’t change the generational meaning captured so perfectly in this article’s opening. The best part? Some of us never actually learned English to the level of making out song lyrics. Their Wannabe childhood dream is still intact.
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Great article, but Croke Park is not a soccer stadium! It’s a GAA stadium, so hurling and Gaelic football are played there, but very rarely soccer.
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A few years ago some scientists and musicologists attempted to identify the catchiest songs in the world. A song and tune that people instantly recognize and relate to, even after one listening, and which stays with you. The winner? "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls.
Here's one reference: https://www.ksl.com/article/32231914/catchiest-song-in-the-world-identified-through-research
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This jubilant celebration of the McDonalds of music is rammed full of exciting language that somehow still reminded me how awful they were. Respect to all artists, glad they made money, but saying an artist is the best or most successful because they made the most money in a particular year is like saying McDonalds is the best restaurant. Awaiting an adjective filled article on McDonalds.
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Slow news day? A yawn even for the music & arts section.
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Caity can really write! A really witty read!
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@Nancy
Caity Weaver is excellent, check out her GQ articles.
Spice girl mom here too of a daughter born just outside the very end of the author’s timeline. I still smile every time I hear “Wannabe” thinking about my then young, early elementary school age daughter dancing and singing at the top of her lungs but replacing the word lover with “if you wanna be my mother.” No one could convince her she had the word wrong and she tries to ignore me every time I tell that anecdote. In the same vein, she got to grow up watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on tv with me, her non-slayer, actual mother. Today she is an aerospace engineer with the ambition of becoming CEO of her large and well-known company. I think she may succeed. Girl Power still rules.
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Only edit I’d suggest is that age range- older Millennials enjoyed the Spice Girls too (at least my friends and I did). Otherwise, article on point!
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One notable and interesting thing was missed: the gossip around their breakout days that some of them were transexuals. Did people forget?
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No mention of Girls Aloud a few years later?
Gonna say this article is dross, sorry. Still, it’s a master class in weaving whole cloth from mere fluff, a publicist’s fantasy puff piece.
The Spice Girls’ real legacy is not so-called girl power—which is just neoliberalist, consumerist propaganda—but the cynicism and shameless dunderheadedness that brought on not only that crass, manufactured band but the Iraq war, the global financial crisis, Trump, Brexit, etc etc ad nauseum.
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Fun article.
Croke Park isn't a soccer stadium. It's the national headquarters and stadium of the Gaelic Athletic Association, where the Gaelic Games are played- hurling and Gaelic football. These sports are particular to Ireland and have nothing to do with soccer.
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What is this garbage? I have no idea if this article has any substance because I couldn’t get past the obnoxious flowery language. Honestly I think this girl is high. NY Times are you hiring? I can show off my vocabulary without actually making sense too! Shame because I’m in this “micro generation” and was excited for a nostalgic read on the Spice Girls phenomenon that dictated so much of my childhood.
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The spice girls ushered in an era of girls standing up for and celebrating each other, something feminism alone failed to achieve.
@anonymouse nope they were put together by a couple of guys.
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I’m a 60-something year old dad who took my daughter to her first concert. Yep, Spice Girls in Cincinnati back in the 90s. We were so far back, my daughter, now a pharmacist, sat on my shoulders for an hour or two so she could see. We still laugh about what I have called my “Spice Neck” injury ever since that night. It actually hurts every now and then to this day, but I wouldn’t trade my daughter’s joy of that night for anything. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane!
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Born in 1985. Had the movie on vhs. Would be at that concert in a half second if they come to my neck of the woods.
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Born in 1982, I loved the spice girls! Fun article, even if it is the only one I read for the day from the NY times. I have a son now who is 2 and is a fan of the song "Stop" (great way to teach them how to say thank you I might add).
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I was born in 1994, but am the youngest of 4 siblings. My oldest sister always had the albums "Spice" and "Spiceworld" on repeat (in-between Britney albums) while I was in the backseat. I recently rediscovered the Spice Girls discography (as well as the fantastic discography of Melanie C's solo work), and I am obsessed. This article sums it up so brilliantly. Is it part nostalgia? Absolutely. But even the songs I didn't know bring me a nostalgic love -- craving a time where music was blissful, being a unit was powerful and there wasn't a political climate so dire that it needed to be addressed. The Spice Girls music is the perfect escape in 2019, and we needed the reunion just as badly as the girls themselves did. I hope the Spice Girls take their tour stateside so I can relive the songs I moved to in the backseat of my sister's car when I was 5 years old.
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Ugh, this is what the rest of us hated. There wasn't a political climate dire enough to be addressed? Wow. I guess racism took a break for a few years so we could finally have the time to enjoy pop music.
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Thoroughly enjoyed reading this article incl. the fun facts about the group. My brother (born June ‘91) and I (born May ‘84) met in London for the last leg of the reunion this year. The energy in Wembley Stadium was unbelievable. Women and girls of all ages and backgrounds and all (some also pregnant) dancing and singing in sync is a memory that gives me goodebumps. Girl power was def. alive, well and nuclear that night.
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Spice Girl mom here. I was so happy my daughter was an enthusiastic fan. It’s only misappropriated feminism if you decide to politicize what is actually great pop dance music and feel-good ballads.
They made bank on the phrase “girl power.” I just can’t see anything bad about that...my daughter and her friends are accomplished women who aren’t afraid to have fun. Musicians have made bank on much worse messages. We can still hear a Spice Girls song and will immediately drop what we’re doing, yell out the lyrics, and dance like crazy.
They’re a bonding experience.
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Great article with a lovely wry tone. The one observation missing is that the first album is actually quite, quite good. It's all perfect pop and appropriated lite funk that goes down extremely smooth and invites repeated listens.
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Don’t AOC and the Squad fit these demographics, counts for a lot.
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@Rich Murphy
That is thinking outside the paradigm, yet not mean. So, what does it mean? Does the statement have to mean anything in particular?
I really enjoyed this article. That 10 years of my life was an utter blur of studying and work - no real feel one way or the other for the Spice Girls. However, how has there not been a documentary or movie about the year they coalesced, and then absconded with their demos. Brilliant!
Anything not having to do with current political realities is a blessing! Thank you.
1
why was there never a chili spice? is not chili a spice, or not -- what say you? these girls were fun, but they just weren't very hot. maybe that was the point.
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@drollere
Chili was in TLC
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I adore Caity but I have to disagree on the demographics of Spice Girls fans. Born in 1980, I was in high school when Wannabe came out. My girlfriends--from high school and those I've made as an adult--and I still know every word. And yes, I have attended more than one Halloween party dressed as Posh.
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@psych completely agree! My sister was born in 1980 and I was born in 1982. I remember she was the target age for SG while I was a bit on the young side when Wannabe came out.
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@psych As another 1980 child, I've made friends because of Spice mania, and it was great to get most of these friends to come to London for this tour. I cannot find words to describe how special it was. Also a great break from the world we live in today. It felt amazing to be back at the "Spiceworld", even for such a short time.
2
I remember first encountering the Spice Girls in 1997 on a TV in a Bulgarian apartment occupied by Mormon missionaries. It was playing "Say You'll Be There " and I was transfixed -- by the video, the sexy girls and the song. (At the time I was a 32 year old English teacher at various E. European universities). For the next 2 years I was always humming these songs -- that first album was great! I was a tireless defender of this group; they're an easy target of ridicule. Then again, their irreverance was part of the fun. They were kind of a fad, but over the years the music stays the same -- and so does the fun. Thanks for the great look back -- PS, I've always been a Sporty fan!
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Reading this instantly brought back a flood of memories from my childhood! Hours and hours of frenzied playdates choreographing dances to Spice Girls songs, not to mention INTENSE embarrassment when I was not allowed to see the Spice World movie because of it's PG-13 rating. Really well-done. Thank you!
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I was in high school when the Spice Girls came out. Geek that I was, thought spice was a reference to Dune. Never was crazy about them.
Millennial were not the "lost generation" as you call them - my cohort was. The internet began creeping in while I was in high school, but it wasn't until college that it became entrenched in our culture. Not Gen X, but not quite Millennial.
11
I was born around Labor Day 1983 and I identify myself with the Spice Girls generation. :) Good memories.
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@Petunia
Me too:-)
Great article--rather tongue-in-cheek, but also apparently written by an admirer. Well done.
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Add Adele to the list of women born in the timeframe mentioned. Check out her time in Carpool Karaoke with James Corden.
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"Spice Girls generation?" Same thing as "millennial," no need to reinvent the wheel...
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Yes, and in country music you have a version of the Spice Girls coming today called The Highwomen, a minor supergroup of sorts in the same demographic.
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What a delightful article! More from Caity Weaver, please!
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Very enjoyable read. Great job Caity Weaver.
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The opening of this article alone is one of the best (and funniest) things I've read all week. Terrific job.
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