Spice Girls: As Wannabe turns 25, here’s a look back at Posh, Ginger, Baby, Scary and Sporty through the years | Ents & Arts News

It’s been a quarter of a century since the Spice Girls first entered our lives, making the message clear from the start.

“If you want to be my lover, you have to be with my friends,” was their warning to the boys, in a song about friendship and, of course, the power of girls, which paved the way for world domination – comes with an absurd non-attitude that has given modern feminism “a kick in the ass”, as they would later say.

Dancing chaotically through what was then the Midland Grand Hotel in St Pancras, London, the video featured a Geri Halliwell in a sequin leotard reeling in heels, Mel B taking charge and demanding that we all listen intently, a pigtailed Emma Bunton stoically negotiating the wedges, the famous Mel C backflip, and what would become the Victoria beckham (then Adams) signature pout.

Originally released on July 8, 1996, according to Official Charts, Wannabe debuted at number three in the UK before climbing to number one a week later; it remained at number one for a total of seven weeks, which is still a girl group’s longest-running chart top.

Wannabe has also enjoyed huge success around the world, reaching number one in as many as 37 countries. In the UK, it has 2.03 million chart sales, including 1.32 million outright sales (making it the seventh best-selling debut single of all time) and 84.2 million streams, according to the figures of the official charts.

In Baby, Ginger, Scary, Sporty and Posh, a pop phenomenon is born. As we celebrate 25 years of the Spice Girls, here’s the story from A to Z …