British music scene
After being shut out by the Brit Pop revolution that occurred in the early 1990s when bands like Oasis, Pulp and Blur dominated the charts, pop music found a voice again. The image of the Spice Girls was deliberately aimed at young girls, an audience of formidable size and potential; reinforcing the range of appeal within the target demographic were the bandmates’ five distinctive personalities, which encouraged fans to identify with one member or another. This marketing was helped in no small way by the aliases assigned to each member of the group. Shortly after “Wannabe’s” release, the group appeared in Top of the Pops magazine where each member was given a nickname based upon their image: Victoria became “Posh Spice”, Emma became “Baby Spice,” Melanie B was named “Scary Spice”, Geri was named “Ginger Spice”, and Melanie C became “Sporty Spice”.
“Girl Power”
The “Girl Power” has put a name to a social phenomenon, the slogan was met with mixed reactions. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. This concept was by no means original in the pop world; both Madonna and Bananarama had employed similar outlooks, and the phrase was most likely first coined by Welsh indie band Helen Love in 1993 and was the title of an album by British pop duo Shampoo in 1995. However, the Spice Girls’ version was distinctive. Its message of empowerment appealed to young girls, adolescents and adult women, and it emphasized the importance of strong and loyal friendship among females .
In all, the focused, consistent presentation of “girl power” formed the centrepiece of their appeal as a band. Some critics dismissed it as no more than a shallow marketing tactic, while others took issue with the emphasis on physical appearance, concerned about the potential impact on self-conscious and/or impressionable youngsters. Regardless, the phrase became a cultural phenomenon, adopted as the mantra for millions of girls and even making it into the Oxford English Dictionary. In summation of the concept, author Ryan Dawson said, “The Spice Girls changed British culture enough for Girl Power to now seem completely unremarkable.”
“Cool Britannia”
The term “Cool Britannia” became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and Tony Blair. Coming out of a period of 18 years of Conservative government, Tony Blair and New Labour were seen as young, cool and very appealing, a main driving force in making Britain look fashionable again. Although by no means responsible for the onset of “Cool Britannia”, the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than U.S., pop music. This fact was underlined at the BRIT Awards in 1997. The group won two awards but it was Geri Halliwell’s Union Flag dress that appeared in media coverage over the world and eventually became a symbol of “Cool Britannia”.
90s iconic status
The Union Jack dress Halliwell wore has acquired something of an iconic status, and sold at a cancer charity auction for £36,000 after interest from a frenzy of bidders. The dress was one of many items of Spice Girls memorabilia sold at the auction, where total sales reached £146,511 for charity.
The iconic symbolism of the Spice Girls in the 90s is also down to their merchandising and willingness to be apart of a media driven world. They advertised for many brands and even parodied themselves in the video for the song “Spice Up Your Life” in which the band fly in a space ship surrounded by billboards and adverts featuring them. Because of their regularity being seen in adverts and in the press and media the band solidified themselves as a phenomenon, an icon, of the decade and for British music. The Spice Girls ranked #10th in The Reasons the ’90s Ruled, special for tv channel E!.
The Spice Girls are revered as gay icons, especially in the UK. In a survey in which more than 5,000 gays and lesbians from the UK voted, Victoria Beckham placed 12th and Geri Halliwell placed 43rd in the Top 50 gay icons of all time.Halliwell joked at the Video Music Awards in 1998 about her appearance as Ginger Spice: “As you have noted, I am no longer dressed like a drag queen.” During an interview, Emma Bunton explained why the Spice Girls have so many gay fans: “We were really flattered with having such a huge gay fan base because they know about fashion and they know about songs… I’m so flattered that we’ve got such a huge gay following, it’s amazing.”
Ten years after the release of their debut single the Spice Girls were voted the biggest cultural icons of the 1990s by 80% in a UK poll of 1,000 people carried out for the board game “Trivial Pursuit”, stating that “Girl Power” defined the decade.
