Official Chart Flashback: Spice Girls' Wannabe gives Geri Horner, Melanie C, Mel B, Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham their first Number 1 single
officialcharts.comIt's hard to imagine the Spice Girls stomping into the public consciousness in anything other than an explosion of Buffalo boots, mountains of merchandise and chants of 'Girl Power!'.
But, in reality, their introduction was slightly more modest. On July 8 1996 Geri Horner (née Halliwell), Melanie C, Mel B, Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham (then Adams) released their debut single Wannabe.
That summer, the girl group landscape was basically barren. With the exception of Eternal, who were yet to reach their commercial peak, boy bands saturated the charts.
The patriarchy ruled pop. Until something shifted. Famously recorded in less than an hour, the Spice Girls' debut was co-written with Matt Rowe and Richard 'Biff' Stannard at East London's Strongroom studios, then produced by Mark 'Spike' Stent. "I think we write it in about fifteen, twenty minutes," Emma explained in the group's 2007 reunion documentary Giving You Everything. "Just five of us, throwing ideas in." "It was so unique, it was like nothing you'd ever heard before," added Melanie C. "We thought 'that is our first single, that is it!'" A 2-minute-and-52-second tour de force, it immediately outlined the band's ethos ('friendship never ends'), introduced each member by means of an irresistibly-catchy rap and added 'Zig a Zig Ah' to our lexicon.
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