Six months ago, no-one had heard of Geri, Mel B, Emma, Victoria, and Mel C. Now, having scooped three Smash Hits awards, there isn't a soul who hasn't heard of the Spice Girls. Except Emma's grandad. Gina M reports...
"How would I describe 1996?" Mel C drops her head into her hands and emits a load guffaw. "Mad! Totally messed up mad. This has been the craziest, most knackering year of our lives!"
Name the biggest thing to happen in pop music this year. Not a difficult question to answer, is it? Yup, 1996 has been the year of the Spice Girls, that gang of sassy chicks who stormed the charts with their multitude of personalities, cheeky capers, high kicks and "zig-a-zig-aah"s. Sure, some other memorable stuff has happened along the way, but there was nothing so deafening as the almighty explosion of Girl Power.
But can you imagine what it's like to actually be a Spice Girl? All your life, you've wanted to be famous and then suddenly you are - splashed across the tabloids practically every day, with fans following you everywhere, old acquaintances popping up to cash in, paparazzi leaping out at you on shopping trips and people telling you what they really, really want everywhere you go. Suddenly, you're one of five girls of whom everyone has a favourite... and an opinion.
Of course, this is no overnight success story, more a prolonged rags-to-riches tale. The girls spent three years working damn hard to fulfil their dreams of pop domination. But nothing could have prepared them for all this.
"The strangest thing that's happened to me this year?" ponders Geri, fiddling with the laces on her boots. "Oh yes - somebody stole all my rubbish! I came out of my house to see all these kids running around. Then I noticed my rubbish was gone!"
At the start of the year, very few people had heard of the Spice Girls. A sizeable gathering at Kempton Park racecourse were first to witness the Spice Girls chaos, when the fivesome climbed onto a statue of champion racehorse Red Rum to sing a number called Wannabe, before being grappled to the ground by outraged security. Some also became the girls' first 'victims' as Victoria, urged on by Mel B, did a Shoron Stone and flashed her lacey knickers to a group of
middle-aged businessmen. Then, in July, a full-page advert appeared in the pages of Smash Hits. It read: 'Wanted - anyone with a sense of fun, freedom and adventure. Hold tight, get ready - Girl Power is comin' at you.' Nobody held tight enough.
It's now November and the girls are attending their own album launch party on the eighth floor of a swanky building on London's South Bank. Tonight, there's going to be fireworks - literally, for once. At around 9:30, the girls stride out of a back room and jump onto a small makeshift stage to push the detonator. But first, they are each presented with framed discs for Wannabe.
"For sales of over three million copies worldwide," announces a man in a suit. "And still selling."
Just thinking about the kind of year the girls have had is enough to flip your wig. One moment, they're so skint they have to steal toilet rolls from restaurants; the next, they're flying first-class all over the world, with a debut single sitting at Number One in 22 countries, and everyone knows who they are.
"Except my grandad," laughs Emma. "He doesn't know who we are and he's my grandad!"
"I know it sounds ungrateful," begins Mel C, "but sometimes it isn't much fun. You're visiting all these fantastic places and you'll be sat there moaning, 'I want to go home.'"
Yup, sounds fairly ungrateful. Then again, how much of what they've acheived has sunk in? They haven't had much time to stop and enjoy it...
"You can't think like that," explains Mel B, fluffing up her big hair. "You don't really accept what's happening to you."
"We've only had a bit of success," adds Emma, "so maybe it's good that we see it that way. If we stopped to think about it, we'd be a mess."
"We could be in the gutter tomorrow - that's the reality," says Geri. "What isn't real to me is selling three million copies of Wannabe."
Two Number One singles, a Number One album, the possibility of a Christmas hit, the honour of turning on the Christmas lights in London's Oxford Street and they've still got their feet on the ground. How can this be?
"You can get caught up in the hyper vibe," says Mel B. "But you just have to readjust yourself. I think people can tell we're not up to our own bottoms. You can see people who are like (she strikes a poncy pose 'Yeah, I'm number One!' Argh! They're the ones you want to smack in the face!"
Steady on, people think the Spice Girls are scary enough without entertaining thoughts of violence! Think of the headlines! After all, they're the only group to equal the Gallaghers when it comes to column inches and blurry photos in the tabloids. You couldn't leave the house without the full beauty treatment, surely?
"If I left my house looking a mess and a photographer took my picture, I wouldn't care," dismisses Mel C. "That's what I look like when I'm off to buy the milk."
If there's one thing the girls have done, it's livebn things up a bit.
"We never mean to offend or hurt anybody," Mel C continues. "We're just a bit naughty. Eventually, it will probably get boring. And we don't want people thinking, 'Oh, the Spice Girls are on telly again - they'll probably have a food fight again.'"
For the time being, it's still pretty entertaining. But despite their grins and frolicking, the girls look completely exhausted. Next year will be their big test, to see if they can sustain the pace... whatever the future brings.
"You do have to think ahead," says Victoria, looking around at the others fondly. "But I couldn't see myself doing anything without the others."
Maybe you could just retire to the country? You must be pretty loaded...
"Oh no," claims Victoria. "We haven't seen any money yet."
What about when it does come?
Victoria sighs dreamily. "I want a big house with a moat and dragons. Big dragons and a fort to keep people out."
That's fame for you!
The Spice Girls' Highlights of '96
Knocking Gary Barlow off the Number One spot "I was really pleased because I thought it was a reflection of our times," says Victoria. "It was total Girl Power! Actually, I used to fancy Gary Barlow, after he changed his image... but he doesn't look as though he likes to have a laugh, does he?"
Strangling Cast While filming Top of the Pops, both bands were asked to pose for a photo. Instead of the usual group photo, the girls grabbed a hose, wrestled Cast to the ground and began strangling them with it. "They were really cool," Mel B insists. Wonder if Cast would say the same of them?
Debagging Japanese TV show hosts The girls appeared on live Japanese TV show Space Shower. They spent the'r airtime pushing and squeezing the two male presenters into skinny Wannabe T-shirts, before attempting to remove their trousers. The show finished with the presenters running around screaming, "It's our show - not theirs!"
Those photos of Geri with nowt on And there were a few! The one of her doing a high-kick to the camera when she wasn't - gasp! - wearing any pants! And the naked modelling pics of her in the woods! Well, if you've got it, flaunt it to the squirrels!
More classic telly moments This time on live French TV. The girls were instructed to wheel out an enormous cake and sing Happy Birthday for the show's anniversary. But they got over-excited and proceeded to smear the gateau over the heads of important guests. Needless to say, they weren't impressed!
The day they wound up with the Backstreet Boys Geri told the boys she had the letter W tattooed on each of her bum cheeks so that it spelt WOW when she bent over. They believed her and were utterly mortified. Well, you wouldn't put it past her, would you?
The Spice Girls on meeting stars in '96
BOYZONE "We first met them in Germany at a pop festival and, for some reason, we chose to pester Stephen. We wouldn't leave him alone until he'd said, 'Don't sweat, honey' in an American accent. He was so embarassed, his face went purple!"
KULA SHAKER
Mel B: "We met them at TOTP. They were standing across the studio and we started shouting, 'Hey, Kula Shaker - show us your tits!' They were like, 'Cripes, what rude girls!' So we went up and said, 'Ay, you're a bit bloody posh, aren't ya?' They avoided us after that."
COURTNEY LOVE
Mel B: "We posed as friends of Amanda de Cadenet and gatecrashed her room. She was sitting on the bed in this floaty dress and no bra. Then Danny DeVito rang, which was really bizarre. She wouldn't let us leave until we'd drunk tea and watched a video."
DJ/TV CELEB PAT SHARP
Geri: "I ran up to him on a stage at a roadshow, in front of thousands of people, and went, 'Hey, it's Mick Brown!' And he said, 'No, Pat Sharp actually.'"
JON BON JOVI
Geri: "He was on the running machine in the gym of this mad hotel where we were staying in LA. We kept staring and whispering, 'He's not as nice-looking in real life, is he?'"
LOUISE
Geri: "We were all on the same plane once and the girls dared me to ask her if I could borrow her tweezers. We were gonna give them back with loads of hairs stuck to them, but she was too nice."
BRYAN ADAMS
Mel C: "Geri made him sit on her knee. She kept patting her thighs and saying, 'C'mon, c'mon', like you do to a child. He did in the end. We couldn't believe how dinky he was, though."
JAS MANN
Mel C: "He was presenting Top of the Pops and he was absolutely scared stiff. We probably didn't help matters by walking up and going 'Oooohh, spaceman.' We're so tacky sometimes."
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