Spice
Girls could still be considered one of the biggest phenomena of
my entire life. When they started releasing music in 1996 it was
everywhere and they became almost every little girl's biggest idols and role
models. Looking at the Spice Girls now it is no wonder they became so
big. They sang very nicely (harmonies too), their music was
absolutely catchy and melodic dance pop, their dancing was fun to mimic, they
looked good and gave away lots of positive kick-ass energy, also
known as girl power. In true bubblegum fashion there was also a
massive amount of different merchandise around. Girls (and maybe a
few boys) listened to them, collected photos, posters and stickers of
them and dressed up as them. All in all, the Spice Girls gave me the
ultimate bubblegum pop experience.
The
Spice Girls did seem to represent positive values such as encouraging
different people to accept themselves and other people as they are.
They participated in the writing of their own music and their videos
are still amazing to watch (check out Who Do You Think You Are, Too
Much, Spice up Your Life, 2 Become 1, Viva Forever and others). For
me, the music was always the biggest part of the experience despite
everything else that was going on. Spice Girls' pop melodies are
timeless and the music expresses true emotions even though the
computerized production may not appeal to everyone – not even
me, but it is a fairly small thing.
However,
it can be argued that the Spice Girls may not have played a very
significant role in inspiring girls to develop musical skills of
their own. In fact, the different dance choreographies, clothing
styles and looks in general got so much attention that practically
the only thing the Spice Girls inspired in my life was collecting
their pictures and dressing up like them. Or maybe me and my friends
were just too young for other musical activities.
The
Spice Girls were a fairly short-lived phenomenon but they surely were a
fantastic one. The concept was very appealing both visually and
musically. The Spice Girls phenomenon also had a strong social
character: me and all of my friends were interested in the same music
which is something that have I never experienced since.
I
listened to the two first Spice Girls albums (Spice, 1996 and Spiceworld, 1997) very carefully but me
and most of my friends seemed to lose interest after Geri Halliwell
left and the group went on as a quartet: I guess it wasn't the same
anymore. Maybe things like the Spice Girls mania aren't supposed to
last very long.
I
don't actively listen to the Spice Girls anymore but every time I do
it is great fun. A while ago there was a documentary on TV about Viva
Forever, the Spice Girls musical. It was great to see my old idols
again, and a musical play surely is a very suitable medium to keep
the music alive. All in all, it is good to see that there is still
some pretty strong activity around the Spice Girls.
Also
very much worth mentioning are the Backstreet Boys who were never the
biggest thing until the Spice Girls had pretty much broken up. I did
indeed listen to the Backstreet Boys quite a lot even when the Spice Girls were on top of
their fame. The Backstreet Boys are still around and I was even
hoping to finally go see them live in Helsinki a while ago but I
still couldn't make it – I never seem to be able to! I don't listen
to Backstreet Boys either anymore but when it comes to music they
were once a relatively important part of my life.
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