The story of the Spice Girls

Brut America

They told the world what they really really wanted, and made “Girl Power” the rallying call of a generation...   This is the story of the Spice Girls.

Transcript

00:00Yo! I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want

00:02Go tell me what you want, what you really really want

00:05I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want

00:07Go tell me what you want, what you really really want

00:09I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really really wanna

00:13This is the ass!

00:29This is the start of a journey that's gonna go on for ages.

00:43If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friend.

00:49Make it last forever, friendship never ends.

00:54If you put two and two together, you will see what our friendship is for.

01:02If you can work this equation, then I guess I'll have to show you the door.

01:10We are asking people to join our gang rather than to say,

01:14yeah, I like them and I wanna be like them.

01:16We're asking people, look, you too can be part of this adventure that we're having.

01:20It's still the same fundamental basis of women supporting women.

01:24You know, girls supporting girls.

01:27No matter whether we look different or we have similar likes or similar behaviours,

01:31I'm there for you and I have your back and you're there for me.

01:40When I went to launch them, it was, well, girl bands don't work.

01:52Only boy bands work because girls buy records and they won't buy records from girls

01:58because they wanna fall in love with the boys.

02:00So I challenged it and said, well, actually we're gonna go completely the other way.

02:05And that empowerment that those five girls felt was contagious and it changed the industry.

02:10I think that we always stood for girl power and now maybe it's woman power.

02:32We're also going to be introducing a whole new generation of women to girl power.

02:37Girls are identifying with us maybe and it's, you know, and we're out there doing what we wanna do, having fun.

02:42And I think that's the main thing, it's just fun. We're having brilliant fun with each other.

02:47You having fun?

02:48Yeah, I think what's most important is we're not trying to be anything else apart from ourselves.

02:52I would say about 85% of our fan base is actually girls.

02:56Yeah.

02:57But what we always said that, we like boys though, send them more boys.

03:00What we always said though is we wanted to break rules that, you know, we wanted our audience to be really wide,

03:05you know, appeal to everybody and I think, yeah, really wide like that.

03:09Like really, really wide.

03:10And I think that's what it's done is, you know, it doesn't alienate anybody,

03:13whether you're black, white, you're president, postman, it doesn't matter.

03:16You know, you can all nod your head to the same good groove.

03:19I see tributes in my room every Saturday, every Saturday.

03:37Like the whole two albums, I had so much stamina when I was little, it was amazing.

03:41Lately, like a lot of people have been like, oh, you can't do this because you're a girl.

03:44I mean, seriously, I'm a lot, I'm very athletic and my friends make fun of me.

03:47I'm like, so what?

03:48I can be athletic and still be a girl.

03:50All right.

03:51That's girl power.

03:52That's girl power.

03:53These are my heroines.

03:55And these are our heroes.

03:57Wow.

03:58And I don't want to be emotional.

04:02But it's one of the greatest moments in my life.

04:06I already referenced the Spice Girls once here, but starting with the Spice Girls,

04:10they really, they really got the girl power into my psyche.

04:13I love them.

04:14I love their music.

04:15I love the message that they represent girl power equality.

04:18I loved Spice Girls, obviously, being from London.

04:21Girl power.

04:22I was 15 when the Spice Girls came out.

04:24And I lived in a little farm and village in Scotland.

04:27And I suppose it wasn't the easiest place to grow up being a gay man in the 90s.

04:35So, and then along came these girls who just said, do you know what?

04:40Be who you want to be in life.

04:42If you want to be my lover.

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