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?!?

T is for Thatcher, Margaret

Current affairs magazine The Spectator was the least likely place to find the Spice Girls in 1996, but when Simon Sebag Montefiore bagged an interview with the quintet, he certainly got his money’s worth.

After declaring “we need more women MPs”, Geri opined that former PM Margaret Thatcher “was the first Spice Girl, the pioneer of our ideology”.

“I like the woman,” added Mel B. “Even if her policies were hard-headed… but her legacy was a mixture.”

It made headlines everywhere. “Pierced-nosed pop group adds spice to the Tories,” wrote the Times. “Meet John Major’s last hope,” sneered The Guardian.

Ever the diplomat, Geri later walked back her comments. “When I said Margaret Thatcher was the first Spice Girl, I wasn’t claiming I was a real Tory. I just admire people with ideals,” she wrote in the official Spice Girls book, Girl Power.

“Even if it’s not my point of view, I respect the fact that it takes dedication and guts to stand up and say what you believe in.”