Faye Minton
Sporty, Scary, Baby, Ginger, and Posh: the five girls who for the past 25 years have dominated pop culture. They’ve spread girl power, served us iconic looks, and provided the soundtrack to most of our childhoods. But what are the highlights? Let’s take a look at some of their spiciest moments over the years!
1. If You Wannabe A Pop Star
After their formation in 1994, the Spice Girls burst onto the scene in 1996 with their single ‘Wannabe’. It shot to number one in 37 countries and became the best-selling single by an all-girl group in history. It paved the way for them to release Spice, their debut album, which featured classics like ‘Say You’ll Be There’ and ‘2 Become 1’.
The fourth single from the album, ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ was the official 1997 Comic Relief single, showing just how quickly the group became a household name.
2. *That* Union Jack Dress
In February 1997, the girls opened the BRIT Awards by performing ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ – and it’s safe to say they made an impact. Geri Halliwell’s Union Jack mini dress dominated headlines the next day and is still one of the biggest 90s pop culture symbols.
A Daily Telegraph poll in 2010 named the dress one of the 10 most iconic dresses in the past 50 years, and it’s the centrepiece for most Spice Girls group costumes at fancy dress parties.
3. Pop royalty meets… royalty
In May 1997, the girls gave a royal gala performance to celebrate the Prince’s Trust. The footage of them meeting Prince Charles beforehand does not disappoint.
Charles first approaches an excited Victoria, who beams as she shakes his hand. He moves on to Mel B, who excitedly asks him to dinner and leaves lipstick on his face as she breaks protocol to give him a cheeky kiss. Charles blushes as Geri tells him “I think you’re very sexy” and copies Mel’s kiss.
As they pose for pictures, they try to persuade him to throw up a peace sign, and as he walks away, Geri pinches his bum as a final farewell.
Not everyone would’ve tried something so bold on the next King – and not everyone would’ve gotten away with it scot-free.
4. A Hero’s Hero
1997 must have been the most exhausting year.
When the Spice Girls travelled to South Africa in the autumn, they met Nelson Mandela. Mandela, the man who literally led a life-long revolution against racial injustice and became South Africa’s first Black president, looked at these girls and said: “You know, these are my heroes. I don’t want to be emotional but it’s one of the greatest moments of my life”.
Prince Charles, who joined them for the trip, piped up and told reporters: “It’s the second greatest in mine” – the best being “the first time I met them”.
Wow.
5. Spice Up Your World?
As a true sign of their fame, the Spice Girls signed a deal for a musical comedy film in 1997. Spice World had a $25 million dollar budget and bagged $100 million at the box office. In the film, the girls all play themselves in the run up to a fictional performance where things just won’t go right.
They secured some impressive guest stars including Meat Loaf, Jools Holland, Elton John, Jonathan Ross, Bob Geldof, Jennifer Saunders, Hugh Laurie, and Stephen Fry.
Unfortunately, Spice World is laughed at for most of the wrong reasons. Critics seemed to hate it from the offset. But, at the end of the day, they had a movie released just over a year after their debut album… Who else is that successful? That’s real girl power at play.
6. Viva Forever!?
A movie just wasn’t enough – the Spice Girls had a crack at theatre too, developing the stage musical Viva Forever! in 2012. Admittedly, just like the movie, critics slaughtered it, and it had to wrap after just seven months at the Piccadilly Theatre in London’s West End. But it just shows that the Spice Girls are up there with the greats.
I guess it’s a shame ABBA and Mamma Mia! were so hard to follow.
7. Winning Olympic Gold
Okay, so they didn’t quite win a gold medal – but they definitely stole the show at the 2012 London Olympic closing ceremony.
Despite facing some bumps in the road, with Geri leaving in 1998, and the others having hiatus after hiatus in the 2000s, the Spice Girls re-joined for a once in a lifetime show. The girls drove in individual black cabs to the centre of the stadium and performed on top of them. They sang a medley of ‘Wannabe’ and ‘Spice Up Your Life’, and Twitter literally went crazy for it.
Nobody else could’ve done it like them, let’s be honest.
Featured image courtesy of Aditya Chinchure on Unsplash. No changes or alterations have been made to this image. Image license can be found here.
Faye Minton
Faye is a former Empoword Editor in Chief and an MA International Journalism student at Swansea University.