David Sinclair (1)

Apparently, it's still not common knowledge that "zigazig ahhhh" was Spice Girls slang for sex c1996. I find this odd, as my ninth grade class had figured it out for ourselves, right before we all realised that we were way too cool and mature to be Spice Girls fans, and settled for buying all their albums, reading all their interviews, being part of "ironic" tribute bands at school talent nights and concentrating on cultivating our alternative streetcred by talking up Alanis. What can I say, show more it was the nineties.

Anyway, that SHOCKING REVELATION aside, Spice Girls Revisited was a pretty good read. Sinclair maintains a good balance between exploring the Spice business -- from songwriting to product endorsements -- and gossip (apparently Mel B was unbearable by the end, but Posh is witty and self-aware).

What I particularly enjoyed were the chapters that put the Spice Girls in the context of wider media issues: a decision by The Mirror to declare the Spice Girls a failure while, by any objective standards they were the biggest band in the world, and the influence of the Spice Girls, and their one-time manager Simon Fuller in changing the face of the entertainment industry as we know it, with the rise of Popstars and Idol and family-friendly Disney popstars/actresses. Sinclair has a great deal of sympathy and affection for the Spice Girls, and points out every instance of institutionalised sexism in their media coverage, but he is detached enough to draw attention to bad decisions, poor behaviour and plain old obnoxiousness. It's only in the case of Emma, Baby Spice, that he never finds a bad word to say, and really, does anyone have a bad word for Emma Bunton?

I had greatly looked forward to reading this book, and I wasn't disappointed. I joke a lot about being into tacky biographies about British B-list celebrities of the 1990s, but really, that is a period of pop culture that I find deeply fascinating, and this book was a deeply rewarding read. show less

All right, I'm just going to come straight out and admit it: I kind of like the Spice Girls. I didn't like them back in their heyday, when they were everywhere all the time, when you seemingly couldn't do anything at all without reference to the Spice Girls. Now, though, I sort of like them. Perhaps it's nostalgia. I miss the 90s. It was a more innocent time.

Actually, I read this by way of a bit of research. Yes, research! That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Anyway ... it's good. In show more fact, it's a thoroughly entertaining book. Sinclair doesn't hide the fact that he's very pro-Spice, so it's not exactly the most objective overview of the group, but it's fun and informative. And it left me kind of liking the Spice Girls, not just as a band but as individuals. I never would have foreseen that back in the 90s. I must be mellowing with age... show less