I was 9 years old when the Spice Girls burst on to the scene-all mouthy, and loud, and screaming about Girl Power. I was in awe of these amazing women-much like the rest of the world-and instantly knew that I wanted to be one of them. You could say I turned into a superfan overnight.
Not content with just listening to their music, I had to have ALL the memorabilia, I even went as far as to subscribe to the Stage newspaper (real fans know why) to see if I could get the same opportunity they did.
During the countdown to this Saturday's gig I have been feeling very nostalgic for those early years of Spice, and it got me thinking about all the things the ultimate Spice Girls fan owned during their heyday, so here is my list of the top 5 things every Spice Girls #BestFanEver absolutely had to have:
1) The Official Spice Girls photo album:
Do we all remember the days before camera phones? When you had to take your photos and then wait for them to be developed to see if they came out ok, and then once you had them in your hand it was time to buy a new album to collect them all together. My favourite past time as a child was looking through our old family albums, and trying to figure out if that baby photo was me or my sister. But then the Spice Girls photo album came out and I had a new obsession.
This was the ultimate things for me, a 90s fabulous photo album containing photos of the girls from backstage, video stills, concert pics etc. Gone where the days where Panini sticker books were the ultimate collectors item-I wanted every photo in the album-I hate to think how much money I made my parents spend on these photos-that I coveted more than the ones in my own family albums.
It's been 20+ years and I still remember my favourite photo from the collection- Geri being held in the air by a very handsome, and very strong Hunter from the Gladiators! If you need me now I'll be on ebay rediscovering this awesome album.
2) The official Spice Girl dolls:
With Spice fever officially taking over the world it wasn't long before the fab five were immortalised as their own dolls. Every one of us had a favourite Spice Girl and it was imperative that we got our hands on that girls doll-if not all of them. I absolutely had to have the Mel B doll-she was feisty, unapologetic, and permanently clad in leopard print...of course she was my favourite! The scariest thing to me is just how much the Baby Spice doll ACTUALLY looks like Emma Bunton and yet the Mel C doll looks nothing like her! How could they get it so right and so wrong at the same time?!?
3) SpiceWorld on VHS
Hands up who remembers the first time they saw SpiceWorld the Movie. I do, and I have watched it around 100 times since then- and I'm not even sorry. The acting was hammy, the outfits were 90s fabulous, the storyline left a lot to be desired, and yet it's a bloody amazing movie!! From alien invasions, to flying Union Jack buses, with boot camp and cut-out booty shiny suits in between, this movie was a riot of camp-and just what you'd expect from the Spice Girls to be quite honest! My favourite part, to this day, is still when the girls all dress up as each other!
4) Spice Girls Impulse Body Spray
Can any one actually remember what this smelled like? Was it sweet, spicy, fruity or musky? Was it in fact all of the above...who bloody knows! But we all wanted it anyway. It was a summer where you were either Team Charlie or Team Impulse, and impulse played a blinder teaming up with everyone’s favourite group! I’ll admit I bought every can I could get my hands on but as soon as summer was over I was back to being a Charlie girl!
5) Chupa chups lollipops, Walkers Crisp, and Pepsi
Not content with steamrolling on to our airwaves, movie screens, wardrobes (yes I had a replica union jack dress from C&A) and bathroom cabinets, the girls also took over our snack drawers. In the days before pokemon the first Gotta Catch em all was definitely the Spice Girl lollipops, and who can forget having Generation Next stuck in their head every time the pepsi advert came on TV...I still sing it when people call me a millennial! Then of course there was the infamous Walkers advert that pitted the girls against everyone's favourite crisp dude, Gary Lineker.
I think it's safe to say that if you had all of these like I did you can count yourself as one of the Spice Girls' Best Fans Ever. And luckily for us all the girls have teamed up with Walkers once again to give the certified Best Fan Ever and amazing prize. Check out this video to see why this prize is still up for grabs! And while you're doing that I'll be pulling on my pink, leopard print platform trainers, my Posh Spice t-shirt and my 90s fabulous butterfly clips and hot stepping it to MurrayField to see the girls in action.
Have a great weekend folks! And if you're going to see the Girls this summer why don't you pop down to the comments and Say You'll Be There (sorry couldn't resist a pun)!
