Spice Girls Reunion

The rumour mills have been swarming for months, and Simon Fuller's recent announcement has all but officially confirmed it.

I am loving it for many reasons. Of course, I am always eager to add new data points to my Everybody Reunites theory. When you've got Robbie Williams occasionally appearing on stage with a reunited Take That, then it's safe to say that Everybody reunites. Robbie also made up with longtime producer/collaborator Guy Chambers. Now it's the Spice Girls' turn.

The SG's were on my mind last week when I wrote that Robbie Williams was a great performer and a great artist despite not having a catalogue of great songs. In contrast, I thought, the SG's had nothing but great songs, and many outstanding singles. Their personalities and off stage antics far outstripped their actual on stage presence, but the songs were so great that it didn't matter if their dance routines weren't up to snuff, or that they did very little during big numbers other than run around spontaneously.

Is it time for the SG's to get their due? I expect that we'll see a recycling of all the old ridiculous critiques, such as 1) "Girl Power" is a stupid catchphrase (not true), 2) they're not the prettiest girls we've ever seen (so what? who cares?), 3) they're not the greatest singers in the world (neither are 99.9% of all pop stars), 4) they're manufactured (why does this matter?), 5) they rely on their producers to help write songs and shape their sound (as does every person working in music today ... with the rise to fame of Neptunes, Timbaland, the Matrix, and all the other production geniuses who are currently fawned over by both critics and casual fans, this silly and baseless SG criticism has been thoroughly debunked and discredited in the years since their breakup), 6) they're not good role models (most pop stars aren't, and I still maintain that the SG's emphasis on individualism did make them positive role models), and many more that I've long since forgotten.