Spice Girls V Boyzone

Spice Girls Versus Boyzone... Who you chose to follow as a fan had a huge impact in the 90s. Personally I was all about the Girl Power myself (as were a huge proportion of my friends) but I still loved the Boyzone boys and their catchy tunes (again, as did all my friends). Howver, Spice Girls really started a whole new wave of feminism, eh, kinda. Whatever they stood for, their songs were catchy as hell! And the fact they all had different personas meant you could idolise any one of the girls and almost feel like they understood you. Spice Girls meant Girl Power and boy, did we love them.

The Spice Girls were an English girl-group formed in 1994 after a series of auditions to find the perfect mix of personalities for the group. 5 girls later and Spice Girls was formed and ready to take on the world.

They were signed to Virgin Records in 1996 and released their debut single, "Wannabe". This is a snippet of the girls singing "Wannabe" in their movie, Spice World.

"Wannabe" spent 7 weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart, becoming number 1 in over 30 countries and it helped to establish the group as a 'global phenomenon.
The girls gained their nicknames after a review in the Top of the Pops magazine and thus the Spice Girls were born; Ginger, Scary, Baby, Sporty and Posh.
The Spice Girls were hugely famous and had loads of number 1 and top 10 hits because their pop songs were catchy and got a lot of radio time. They became idols for girls everywhere with their slogan of "Girl Power" and their can-do attitudes. The Spice Girl image even became a franchise and they sold so much merchandising such as; a movie "Spice World", lollipops and chocolate, dolls, posters, tshirts and much much more. The Spice Girls essentially became a brand and according to the BBC they are the best-selling girl group of all time.
Alas all good things must come to an end and in May 1998, Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, left the group due to professional differences. The Spice Girls released their 3rd album after Geri left but it flopped and eventually the Spice Girls split and went their separate ways. Young girls and boys everywhere were heartbroken. It was the end of an era.
However the girls regrouped in 2007, released a Greatest Hits album and did a reunion tour in 2008, which was huge and although it was finished prematurely it gave alot of old fans the hope that they would maybe return to make some more songs in the future.

Here's the girls on Top of the Pops in 1997 singing "Who do you think you are".






Boyzone was the boyband that vied for our attention in the 90s. Boyzone is an Irish boyband and they were set up in 1993 by Louis Walsh. They had huge success in the early 90s and they famously made a comeback in 2007 and they haven't looked back since. The boys have released 6 #1 UK singles and 5 #1 albums.

Sadly one of the band members, Stephen Gately, passed away in October last year, shocking family, fans and band members.

Boyzone were a huge success (and since their comeback they have been continuing that success) in Ireland, the UK, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and they had varying levels of success across Europe. However, before they had even recorded any material the band made a, now infamous, appearance on RTEs the Late Late Show which included dungarees and impromptu dancing. Gaybo was shocked as was the audience. Must see TV!




'Nuff said about that the better eh?


Here's one of my fave songs by the band, "Love Me for a Reason".





However, as I mentioned already, I was a huge Spice Girls fan (and still am!) along with the majority of my friends at that age. Nothing like a bit of female empowerment when you're 7 years old! I had all their songs on tape and I'll still throw them onto my old cassette player if I'm feeling nostalgic. Although I am ashamed to admit I actually had the Spice Girls dolls...yeah looking back that's pretty uncool. Oh well, the Spice Girls were super cool, can't deny that!