History Music / SpiceGirls

* RapunzelHair: Victoria in the ''Holler'' video. Especially jarring because she has a pixie cut in the simultaneous video ''Let Love Lead the Way'' (which was actually shot before ''Holler''). Also in ''Holler'' Emma's hair is shown to be down to her waist in her water scenes while it's at its usual length for the dance scenes.

Despite most European pop bands finding it difficult to break into American mainstream, The ''Spice Girls''' very first single, "Wannabe," shot straight to number one in more than 30 countries, including UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates.

* HornedHairdo: Mel B occasionally had this, generally applied for performances of "Spice Up Your Life".

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Sort of. Even the Girls themselves, much less their producers, never expected the wild success they wound up having -- it was more of a case of good timing, as on both sides of the Atlantic, the alt-rock and {{Britpop}} scenes [[https://music.avclub.com/in-1996-alternative-rock-died-a-messy-forgettable-dea-1798251472 were both basically collapsing in on themselves]] for various reasons (Britpop in particular had run into an identity crisis); the Girls' style of bright, fun pop music was able to break through the dourness and gained momentum from there.

* {{Flanderization}}: All of them. Documentaries and interviews with them before they ever signed a record deal show that the styles and personalities they became known for were always there, but after they got some fame and money behind them, and more importantly got their nicknames from the British media, things quickly went UpToEleven.

* {{Flanderization}}: All of them. Documentaries and interviews with them before they ever signed a record deal show that the styles and personalities they became known for were always there, but after they got some fame and money behind them, things quickly went UpToEleven.

* IntercourseWithYou / GettingCrapPastTheRadar: What sounds like a silly arse kicking song in childhood sounds like a sex song in adulthood; ''2 Become 1, Holler, If U Can't Dance'' and many more. There were also two unreleased songs which attempted this (both were eventually deemed too rude for airplay). The first one was called ''Feed Your Love'' and was allegedly about giving a blow job and the second one was called ''C U Next Thursday'', which if you look at [[CountryMatters first letters of each word ...]]

!! "Trope power!":

!! This girl group provides examples of:

* TheFashionista: Victoria.
* FieryRedhead: Geri.

* BiTheWay: Mel B has had relationships with both men and women, most notably a four-year relationship with Christine Crokos after the band's split and a ten-year marriage with Stephen Belafonte after that.

# Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell
# Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown
# Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton
# [[Music/MelanieC Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm]]
# Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham (nee Adams)

** Mel C was thought to be a lesbian, but Mel B turned out to have had relationships with women, including a one night stand with the extremely straight-laced Geri.

# Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm

The five girl band consisted of Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell, Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown, Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton, Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm, and Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham (nee Adams). Despite most European pop bands finding it difficult to break into American mainstream, The ''Spice Girls''' very first single, "Wannabe," shot straight to number one in more than 30 countries, including UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates.

** Mel C was thought to be a lesbian, but Mel B turned out to have had relationships with women.

* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: Geri and her famed Union Jack dress (which became her signature outfit of sorts) from the Brit Awards.

[[caption-width-right:300: Then and now.]]

->''"GRRL POWAH!"''

* {{Flanderization}}: All of them. Documentaries and interviews with them before they signed a record deal show that the styles and personalities they became known for were always there, but after they got some fame and money behind them, things quickly went UpToEleven.

* TheGimmick: The "characters" and individual styles of each girl was a major part of their success. Though contrary to popular belief they were the girls' own personalities and ''not'' manufactured personas assigned to them by the record company, once the marketing potential in their characters became clear they played it up for all it was worth. [[MoneyDearBoy Which was a lot]]. Toned down after Geri left for a more uniform look between the remaining four, as Geri was the main proponent of the more exaggerated outfits they wore.

* LittleBlackDress: Victoria is fond of wearing these, as said in ''Film/SpiceWorld'', "the little Gucci dress".

* HiddenDepths: It's a common misconception that the band was entirely manufactured by a record company and thus had no input into their careers, but this was not the case. After being brought together in auditions for a girl group, the five of them left to seek out management on their own, and always insisted on maintaining their own personalities and styles. They also co-wrote all of their music, with a clause in their contract stipulating that they each receive an equal share of the songwriting credit along with their regular writing/producing team, "Absolute".

* ImportantHaircut: Victoria chopped all of her hair off just before getting married and Geri dyed her signature fire-engine-red hair a much more muted strawberry blonde after she left the group. Victoria also dyed her hair blonde and has continued to do so for many years now.

* PowerOfFriendship: Theme of ''Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)'' and one of their major messages.

** "Christmas Wrapping", the B-side to "Goodbye", only has vocals from Emma and Mel C, because the other two were pregnant at the time. "Goodbye" itself was also originally written to be about a relationship ending. With Geri's sudden departure, the lyrics became about her instead.

* SeriesFauxnale: Many, including the girls themselves, believed that ''Goodbye'' might be their last single. Obviously, it isn't.

* TheGimmick: The "characters" and individual styles of each girl was a major part of their success. Though contrary to popular belief they were the girls' own personalities and ''not'' manufactured personas assigned to them by the record company, once the marketing potential in their characters became clear they played it up for all it was worth. [[MoneyDearBoy Which was a lot]]. Toned down after Geri left for a more uniform look between the remaining for, as Geri was the main proponent of the more exaggerated outfits they wore.

* TheGimmick: The "characters" and individual styles of each girl was a major part of their success. Though contrary to popular belief they were the girls own personalities and they were ''not'' manufactured or assigned their personas by the record company, once the marketing potential in their characters became clear they played it up for all it was worth. [[MoneyDearBoy which was a lot]].

* AloofDarkHairedGirl: This is Victoria's reputation and appeal/gimmick (until she becomes a blonde in the reunion, at least). Somewhat averted by Melanie C who, while camera-shy, came across as friendlier than Vicky.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Music/MelanieC, not helped by the fact she had a butch look in mid 1999, although this was a fabrication by the media, she is actually straight. (Mel B was the one who went public about having a relationship with a woman.)

* BoyishShortHair: Victoria sported this from 1998 to the band's split in 2000. Melanie C sported this from mid 1999 to early 2000 in addition to bleaching her hair blonde.

* BrieferThanTheyThink: 3 albums, 2 with the original group, 5 years releasing, 3 tours, yet spearheaded the whole Teen Pop movement and opened the doors for many artists in the late 90's & early 00's.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Theme found in "Viva Forever", a LoveNostalgiaSong.

* CulturalRebel: That was the plan, anyway.
* CuteBruiser: Mel C. Emma counts too; believe it or not, she's a master of Goju.

* DaddysGirl: Geri. Partially {{Gender Flip}}ped by Emma, who's very close to her mother.
* DontYouDarePityMe: ''Guess I'd rather be hated then pitied'' in Naked off their debut.

* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Emma. Geri too; technically she's a natural blonde.

* {{Flanderization}}: All of them.
* ForgotFlandersCouldDoThat: Especially egregious with Victoria, who seemed to turn into the one that was just meant to stand there and look pretty. Despite singing on almost every track on all three albums, she is often touted as "the one who never sings" because she ''doesn't'' a have a solo part in Wannabe, the song which the girls perform most (she missed the session when the song was written because she had to attend a family function). She even parodied this perception of herself during the reunion tour when she walked the runway as a fashion model instead of singing a solo like the others. Thing is, the girl can actually sing. Check out her [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsOeQCIrAhs&NR=1 audition tape]].

* TheGimmick

* GreatestHitsAlbum

* HornedHairdo: Mel B occasionally had that kind of hairdo in a somewhat RuleOfCool manner.
* IconicOutfit: Geri's [[WearingAFlagOnYourHead Union Jack dress]] in the 1997 Brit Awards.

** Also technically inverted with Victoria who started alternating between hair extensions and short hair in 2000. In 2011 she actually grew her hair long for the first time since before the group formed rather than getting extensions.

* LovableAlphaBitch: Seems to be part of Ginger's persona

* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: For some strange reason, Victoria got shoehorned into the Zoidberg part, although Mel C sometimes fills it instead.

** To be fair the ''Forever'' album, it was produce by Darkchild who had had a hand in making hits for groups like Destiny's Child. While certainly not ''bad'' it was just too far removed from what fans had come to expect from the Spice Girls and, as such, was a huge disappointment.

The Spice Girls are a British (English) GirlGroup who played a huge role in forming the 1990's for young girls across the globe. With songs mostly written and produced by Richard Stannard, Max Martin, and Matt Rowe, their sound was created to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers alike, using familiar riffs and somewhat suggestive lyrics. As a result, not only were they able to easily break through to the American market, but the group can also be credited as a major factor in shifting the tide in TheNineties from AlternativeRock to teen pop music (later solidified by boy bands, Music/BritneySpears, and Music/ChristinaAguilera).

The quite intentionally tailored five girl band consisted of Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell, Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown, Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton, Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm, and Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham (nee Adams). Despite most European pop bands finding it difficult to break into American mainstream, The ''Spice Girls''' very first single, "Wannabe," shot straight to number one in more than 30 countries, including UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates.