Spice Girls

The Spice Girls (1996–1998/2000) were a British vocal girl group. They enjoyed substantial commercial success from 1996 to 2000, and it is claimed that they are the biggest-selling girl group of all time, with reported sales of over forty-five million albums and thirty million singles. They are also famous for popularising the term Girl Power. The group originally consisted of Victoria Adams, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown, and Geri Halliwell. However, in 1998, Halliwell left to pursue a solo career. The remaining four members never formally broke up, but have not performed together or released any new recordings since 2000. They have each released solo material, and some have stated that they have no interest in participating in the group in the future.

Spiceworld released internationally

In October 1997, "Spice Up Your Life" was released internationally, and was hailed as the return of the Spice Girls, since it marked the first single from their forthcoming second album. With this single, the Spice Girls corrected the lag that had existed between European and American singles from their previous album. Americans did not understand why the music industry was touting the song as the group's "return", since it hit the airwaves while "2 Become 1" was still quite popular there. However, internationally, the single marked the Spice Girls' first since March. Its original release date was put forward by a week to have a better chance of displacing Elton John's million-selling single, "Candle in the Wind 1997", from number one, and succeeded in doing upon release.

Related Topics:
Spice Up Your Life - Elton John - Candle in the Wind 1997

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"Spice Up Your Life" was an international hit, topping the Canadian and Spanish charts, reaching number eight in Australia, and giving the girls their fifth number one in the U.K., making them the first act to have their first five singles reach number one in their home country. However, it peaked quite quickly on the Billboard Hot 100 at number eighteen, and did not succeed in the United States on the massive level that its three predecessors had. Despite not being as successful as predicted, it did show some evolution in the girls music, with more of a latin/samba feel than any of their previous songs. It went on to become the forty-sixth best-selling single of the 1990s. http://foreverspice.com/spicediscography/spicegirls-suyl.htm

Related Topics:
Spanish - Billboard Hot 100 - Samba

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The second single taken from the album was a ballad identical to "2 Become 1", but with a bit of an edge. "Too Much" became the girls' second Christmas number-one single in the U.K. and also made them the first act to have their first six singles make number one there. It was fairly successful in the U.S., peaking at number eight and receiving an extensive amount of airplay, however once again, it did not (like "Spice Up Your Life") receive the massive airplay that Spices singles had acquired. Unlike its four predecessors, "Too Much" was unable to reach number one in Canada, peaking at an unexpectedly low number nine, and halting the girls' consecutive number-ones run. This was a confusing shock to many, but still allowed them to be the first international girl group to have their first four singles make number one in Canada. It also peaked at number seven in Australia. The song eventually became the seventy-sixth best-selling single of the 1990s decade. http://foreverspice.com/spicediscography/spicegirls-toomuch.htm

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The Spice Girls second album, Spiceworld, was released on November 4, 1997. Despite selling seven million copies in only two weeks (the highest ever for a sophomore release in two weeks), it only reached number three on the Billboard 200 and was not as successful as Spice, topping the United Kingdom charts for only three weeks, when Spice had managed fifteen. Although they were still global superstars, Spiceworld was not the massively successful follow-up people had expected, with sales plummeting and chart positions slowly dropping. However, the album did produce one massive success, which no one expected: their very own movie, which was released in mid-January 1998. The film was in the same vein as some of The Beatles' films, a factor deliberately played on by director Bob Spiers (the director of The Goodies, Fawlty Towers, and Absolutely Fabulous among other notable British comedy successes) and was a commercial success. However, the critics detested the film, and this led to the girls winning a Golden Raspberry Award each for their efforts. They actually hold a world record documented in the Guinness Book of Records for receiving the most Razzies (five) at one time.

Related Topics:
Spiceworld - November 4 - Billboard 200 - The Beatles - Bob Spiers - The Goodies - Fawlty Towers - Absolutely Fabulous - Golden Raspberry Award - Guinness Book of Records

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The girls still celebrated Girl Power, and on November 7, 1997 they fired their manager Simon Fuller, showing that ultimately, there was no stopping them. Problems would soon arise out of this, because Simon was able to contain the arguments between the girls and with him gone, one of them would have to take control, which would obviously create controversy. In early 1998, "Stop", the third single taken from Spiceworld was released and was their least successful song in terms of chart performance. It peaked at number sixteen in the U.S. and quickly dropped out of the top forty of the airplay charts with very minimal radio airplay. It also became their first single to fail to top the UK charts, ending their run at six, despite being their only single that incorporated a dance routine.

Related Topics:
November 7 - Stop

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"Stop" was the second Spice Girls song not to reach number one in Canada, peaking six positions higher than "Too Much" at number three, and debuted and peaked at number five in Australia. It was also their first song that did not make it into the top one-hundred best-selling songs of the 1990s decade.

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