The Spice Girls’ 1997: Shakey Graves Joins the Greatest Pop Stars Podcast to Talk One of the Best One-Year Takeovers in Pop History
This Vintage Pop Stardom episode of 'Greatest Pop Stars' dives deep on the year of stateside Spicemania, with help from the acclaimed Austin singer-songwriter.
Black News 
When the Spice Girls hit U.S. shores in 1997 — after having spent 1996 rocketing to era-defining superstardom in their U.K. home — they detonated on impact. Within six months of the stateside release of debut single “Wannabe” in January, they had a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, three top five hits on the Billboard Hot 100, music videos and commercials on TV every five minutes and plans already in the works for their own movie with its own accompanying soundtrack album, all out by calendar’s end. It was too phenomenal to last, but for one year, the girls known as Ginger, Scary, Sporty, Posh and Baby defined global pop music and pop culture, and transformed the entire sound and feel of the decade’s top 40 in the process.
On this Vintage Pop Stardom episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, we dive deep on one of the great single-year sensations in modern pop stardom with the Spice Girls’ pivotal takeover year of 1997. Host Andrew Unterberger is joined by an unlikely Spice Boy in Austin folk/Americana singer-songwriter and actor Shakey Graves, whose superfandom started at the turn of his teens but has lasted well into adulthood — — and who has the tattoos (and the live covers) to prove it. (We also discuss his beautiful new album, Fondness, Etc. — which you can buy or stream here — for the pod’s first 10 minutes or so.)
Along the way, we cover all the questions that you could really, really want answered about the year of Spicemania: Which was our personal favorite Spice Girl? Did we appreciate at the time how different they were from everything going on in pop music in the years leading up to them? What made “Wannabe” such a unique and unstoppable lead single? Did the Girls do sex songs well? Has Spice World aged a little better than expected (and was its floppy reputation always a little oversold to begin with)? How heartbreaking was Geri’s eventual departure? Could the group have survived into the 2000s if they’d stuck together? And perhaps most importantly: What is the most lasting legacy of the Spice Girls’ vision of Girl Power?
Check it out above, along with a YouTube playlist of the Spice Girls’ biggest 1997 moments — all of which are discussed in the episode — and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!
And as we say in every one of these GPS podcast posts — if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:
Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe
Human Rights Campaign – In Your Area
