Posted in reference to The Common People’s Tribute To The Spice Girls

The Spice Girls’s debut song Wannabe was the first non-country song I ever liked. Talk about changing a life forever. Amanda made it sound like us Spice Girls fans try to hide our love in a post-spice world (or post their hey-day), but we don’t. We just don’t have any other reason to post our somewhat embarassing past adventures/goings-on. But, for Amanda, I will.

In the name of Spice, I:

  • memorized the lyrics to every song, listening to them so much that I could differentiate between girls, imitating the voices of each one;
  • sang the words to every song, not realizing that many of the lyrics I was singing had adult meanings that I did not yet understand. I now understand my mom’s wide eyes and her probing questions that were attempting to gauge the level of my understanding–or lack thereof;*
  • tried to wear platform sneakers, though they tended to make my feet fall sideways, threatening to break my ankles;
  • watched Spice World so many times that I unconciously developed a British accent and subsequently (when told by my mom) got extremely excited and honored to have the accent of the Girls;
  • called the radio station a few times to request Spice Girls songs–while using my British accent;** and
  • can still, ten years later, hear their songs and sing along word for word and watch their movie and quote scenes word for word.

A little scared? If only you knew about my Backstreet obsession…

*What mother wouldn’t flinch as her 10 year old sang “tonight is the night when two become one”
**It probably wasn’t even close to an accurate British accent.