25 years of Spice Girls #Pinkinourlives #Spiceworld

The Spice Girls at 25: Here’s the story from A to Z

Released 25 years ago, on 8 July 1996, Wannabe spent seven weeks at number one in the UK and four in the US. In the process, it made five unknown girls – Victoria Caroline Adams, Melanie Janine Brown, Emma Lee Bunton, Melanie Jayne Chisholm and Geraldine Estelle Halliwell – global superstars.

So here’s a story from A to Z of how the band started, rose to fame, fell apart and put themselves back together again. Because which member of our LGBT+ Community does not love the Spice Girls?!?

G is for Girl Power

Girl Power came in for a lot of stick – mostly from critics who weren’t girls and didn’t need any more power, music writer Tom Ewing observed.

Geri was the one who pushed the concept, and even developed a “power oath” to be recited when events demanded: “I, being of sound mind and new Wonderbra do solemnly promise to cheer and dance and zig-a-zig-ah. Ariba! Girl Power!”

But even if the parameters were a little hazy, the idea was potent. The Spice Girls stood for freedom, self-belief and disobedience – and they inspired generations to stick up for themselves.

In 2017, Geri reflected on the legacy of Girl Power in a BBC interview: “Twenty years ago, if you said the word feminism, you thought of those bra-burning, marching protestors. It was quite tough and harsh.

“For me, Girl Power was a much more punchy way of saying it. But actually, Girl Power embodies much more than a gender. It’s about everybody. Everybody deserves the same treatment, whatever race you are, gender you are, age you are.

“It was just saying that in a very digestible way.”