Trivia / Spice Girls

• Actor-Inspired Element: It was Geri's idea to have the girls adopt Awesome McCool Names in the "Say You'll Be There" video.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: "Who Do You Think You Are?" essentially came about because the girls went "we want to write something fun".
• Banned in China: The music video "Wannabe" was banned in Malaysia because Mel B and Mel C's nipples were visible through their tops (the video was filmed in the middle of the night, and the girls were all "freezing cold").
• Breakthrough Hit: "Wannabe".
• California Doubling: The "Stop" video was filmed in Dublin, Ireland. As the intent was to resemble a 50s working class British street.
• Creator Backlash: Mel B claims that none of the girls liked the video for "Spice Up Your Life", unsure of what was meant to be going on. She also mentioned in her autobiography that the band wanted a carnival theme for the video, but were too exhausted to fight for it.
  • Melanie C admitted in 2008 that "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)" was a poor choice for their comeback single and was against the idea of new material for their Greatest Hits album, however six years later, she softened up on the song by saying that performing it on stage felt lovely and that it grew on her but admitted that she was relieved that "Voodoo" didn't get picked as their comeback single.
• Creator Breakdown: Geri suffered depression during the group's mammoth success, which led to her departing the Spice Girls in 1998.
• Cut Song: "W.O.M.A.N." was planned to be part of Forever and even performed live a couple of times before getting scrapped from the album. This was apparently because the girls wanted to go in a more R&B direction, and the song was considered too bubblegum to fit in with that.
  • "Step To Me" was part of the demos for the first album but left off and released as as a Pepsi exclusive single instead. "Feed Your Love" was also cut from the album for being too risque but not released until its 25th Anniversary. Numerous other tracks in this period were done as b-sides or unreleased tracks, but it is not known whether they were candidates for the album at any point.
• Development Hell: Before it was officially confirmed in October 2018, the group's second full reunion was teased since 2016.
• Dye Hard: Geri, a natural blonde, known for her red hair.
• Executive Meddling: According to Geri's autobiography, Ashley Newton of A&R wanted to turn the group into a more R&B type of sound. Upon hearing a remix of "Wannabe", the girls decided that wasn't what they wanted. Doubles as Hilarious in Hindsight since they would eventually record a R&B album titled Forever.
• Fan Community Nickname: Melanie B once dubbed the band's male fans as "Spice Boys".
• Follow the Leader:
  • After their success, the Girl Group got revived heavily in the late 90s and early 2000s. The likes of Sugababes, Atomic Kitten, Girls Aloud, B*Witched and others followed. The group All Saints struggled throughout the 90s but didn't break through until the Spice Girls had become successful.
  • Forever is heavily inspired by the likes of Destiny's Child, TLC and other American R&B groups.
• Licensed Game: Spice World, a Rhythm Game for the original Playstation.
• Lying Creator: "Mama"'s video shows child versions of the girls together, even though none of them grew up together.
• The Pete Best: Before the lineup finalised various other girls were considered but dropped out for various reasons. The most prominent was Michelle Stephenson, who got as far as singing on demos and working for two months on songs and dance routines before leaving the group.^note  Depending on who's telling the story, the reason varies. According to the band it was a case of not fitting in, according to the management it was a lack of commitment/work ethic, and Stephenson herself said she left as her mother became seriously ill and she prioritised looking after her instead (which may explain the other two stories).
• Real-Life Relative: "Mama" features all the girls' real mothers in the video.
• Reality Subtext:
  • "2 Become 1"'s lyrics were heavily inspired by an attraction that was developing between Geri and one of the song writers.
  • "Too Much" was written by Geri after all the stress suffered while filming Spice World.
• Release Date Change: Forever was originally planned for a mid to late 1999 release before production delays and retoolings led it to be postponed to early 2000. It was ultimately released in autumn 2000.
• Romance on the Set: Briefly. Mel B alleged in 2019 that she'd had a one night stand with Geri during their peak years, which they later just laughed about. For the record, Mel B is openly bi, while Geri considers herself straight. Geri has denied the allegation.
• She Also Did: Victoria is also better known nowadays as being a savvy businesswoman and fashion designer.
• Short-Lived, Big Impact: They were pretty much only around from 1996-1998 with two albums and only ten singles. Geri Halliwell had already announced her departure before the ninth single was even released. Yet they were huge, kickstarting a 'Girl Power' movement throughout the world and popularizing the Girl Group in The '90s. They were also one of several acts who helped make bubblegum vocal pop cool again post-Milli Vanilli. A third album with two additional singles was released in 2000 with four of the five girls after a year's worth of solo projects - but it didn't have the same impact.
• Throw It In!:
  • "Wannabe" was written in about 30 minutes, with the girls just throwing various ideas at each other. Geri and Mel B spontaneously came up with the rap that happens at the end.
  • "Spice Invaders", the B-side for "Spice Up Your Life" came about because they had no other songs to use for the single - so the girls were just recorded talking about whatever came into their head.
  • Geri thought the plain black cocktail dress she'd been given for a performance looked bland, so she grabbed a Union Jack tea towel from a store near her house, and told her sister to sew it onto the front. The rest is history.
• Troubled Production:
  • "Spice Up Your Life" had to be recorded in about half an hour while the girls were on a break from shooting Spice World, and an MTV camera crew were following them. The session kept being interrupted by fans trying to break in. The girls were also all exhausted.
  • Geri announced her departure right before the group were to go on tour. Initially they lied to say she was ill, feeling they could talk her around. But then her manager read an official statement confirming it. According to Victoria's autobiography, they had to re-choreograph all their dance routines for four girls instead of five^note although apparently choreographing for four is actually easier, so this wasn't that stressful and share Geri's vocals among everyone else in the songs. There were apparently several instances where the girls would forget who was meant to sing Geri's line on stage, resulting in dead space.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The debut single was planned to be a slow and soulful ballad called "Feed Your Love" but it wasn't used because it was deemed too rude for the group's target audience.
  • "Say You'll Be There" was a strong contender for the debut single. It became their second instead. An alternate version of the video was also edited in a way that removed the male bondage elements, but this was never released.
  • The girls wanted the "Spice Up Your Life" video to have a carnival party theme, but the producers wanted something futuristic in the vein of Blade Runner. The girls were too exhausted to argue and disliked the video that resulted.
  • "Viva Forever" was going to be a double A-side with "Never Give Up On The Good Times". As it coincided with Geri's Creator Breakdown, it was just released on its own.
  • For the third album, the girls couldn't decide whether "Holler" or "Let Love Lead The Way" would be the first single off it. Instead they went with a double-A side, and gave the videos similar themes.
  • "Tell Me Why" was planned to be the next single released off Forever but it got cancelled due to the group's breakup. "If You Wanna Have Some Fun" and "Weekend Love" were also considered with the former having a music video containing footage from several of their music videos and adverts being made in case the group was busy doing stuff to promote the album with a tour and was shown in several European TV channels following their split and the latter was planned to be remixed to feature a female rapper like Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown or Trina.
  • Prior to Geri's departure, the girls were recording a follow-up to Spiceworld. After her departure, the songs recorded for the planned third album (which was expected for a 1999 release) were cancelled as they decided to record a new album from scratch, resulting in Forever. A live album was also planned.
  • "Goodbye" was originally written for Spiceworld.
  • They were offered to do the voices of the Muses in Hercules but declined due to scheduling conflicts.
  • There were plans for a Disney animated TV series starring them but they were cancelled when Geri left the group.
  • There were plans for a reunion album with announcements occuring in 2016, which marked the 20th anniversary of their debut single though Melanie C and Victoria declined the offer. While material were recorded and songs were leaked online, it was postponed indefinitely due to Geri's pregnancy with her second child and Mel B's commitments on America's Got Talent.
  • Four songs were recorded for the Greatest Hits album but only "Headlines" and "Voodoo" made it in to the final track listing.
  • Victoria's sadly-overlooked solo career has a WCHB of its own as her last two singles "This Groove" and "Let Your Head Go" were planned to be lead singles for her joint second album, which would've been the Distinct Double Album Come Together (which would've been an R&B album) and Open Your Eyes (which would've been a pop album) and became a UK Top 4 hit, but both albums were never released following the bankruptcy of Telstar Records and thus Victoria decided to focus on her fashion career instead. One would wonder what her career would be like had both albums got released.
  • There were plans for a Forever tour but never materialised due to the group opting to take a break.
  • In actuality, the group's split was never intended to be a split as there was no official announcement that they disbanded and it was going to be an indefinite hiatus with a possibility of them reforming in 2002. Of course, had this happened around that year, they would've faced a certain girl group that would become their Spiritual Successor.
  • The Greatest Hits tour was set to include South America, Asia, Australia and Africa before the group cancelled them, following the expansion of their European and North American legs, which unfortunately sparked a huge fan backlash.
• Working Title: Spice 2000 for Forever.