Continuing our series (click to view all in the series), we’re ranking the music videos of artists or bands that were created during the height of the MTV music video era. Today it’s time for one of our favorite female pop groups — the Spice Girls! The Spice Girls formed in 1994, and consisted of five ladies — Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham (aka Adams when the group first formed). Their aliases of Scary Spice, Sporty Spice, Baby Spice, Ginger Spice, and Posh Spice were actually bestowed on them by the British media, and they decided to embrace these personas. Though they were only all together for a short period of time, from 1994 to 1998, they were hugely successful and influential. While the group did continue as a four-piece from 1998 to 2000 after Geri Halliwell left in May 1998, we’re just going to look at the videos featuring the entire group in their heyday.
We could go on, but let’s get to what you came here for — our ranking of all of the Spice Girls music videos.
9. Mama
The music video for this song dedicated to the groups’ mothers featured all of the girls’ actual mothers in the video. The girls perform the song to a group of children with their mothers, with cuts to various pictures of the group growing up as well as scenes of each of their moms holding a photograph of each girl. There’s nothing that innovative about this video, but it is fun to see the moms all there with their daughters.
8. Stop
This video is pretty random, and mostly just features the girls performing in a small town reminiscent of a 1950s working-class neighborhood. The older townsfolk see them as kind of crass, but the kids all like them, and in the end when the group performs at a local hall, the audience of elders now all applauds for them, seemingly accepting them? Sure, we’ll go with that.
7. Who Do You Think You Are
There are technically two official versions of this music video — the original cut above, and a director’s cut. However, the two cuts are so very similar, we decided to just feature the original cut here. In this video, the girls perform the song in front of a live audience with cuts to them each singing in their own little colorful space. These bits are all spliced with various background performers doing random stuff (which is the only thing that seems to vary between the two different versions of the video).
6. Say You'll Be There
Even though this video is presented as if there was a story, it’s really incoherent. Apparently, the girls are all supposed to be techno-warriors who use martials arts and high-tech ninja-type weapons… all to capture a random dude. To be honest, it mostly consists of the girls dancing in the desert in front of a sparkly background.
5. Wannabe
In this video, the girls crash some hoity toity party at a fancy hotel and proceed to run around performing the song. It’s unclear whether they’re trying to perform in the context of the story, or if they’re just causing some mayhem. Nonetheless, this video really put the Spice Girls on the map and was hugely popular.
4. 2 Become 1
As a young kid singing along to the Spice Girls, did any of us realize what this song was actually about? At one point, the lyrics say, “be a little bit wiser, baby / put it on / put it on” which is clearly about putting on a condom! The video itself features the girls singing individually, in duos, or as a group as New York City scenes flash in double time around them. Also, at the end of a video, a random deer pops up standing by itself…. What?! So strange.
3. Spice Up Your Life
This video is pretty much insane! Apparently the girls didn’t like this concept for the video, but went with it because they were too tired to fight it. The video features the girls in a futuristic setting reminiscent of Blade Runner, where they have taken over the world. They travel in a spaceship type thing around a dark rainy city, and then are mysteriously flying around on these weird surfboard things. Honestly, it makes no sense, especially since the song itself is so upbeat.
2. Too Much
Technically there are two versions of this music video, one featuring scenes of the Spice World movie spliced in throughout, and one without those scenes. The above is the one with the scenes as it’s the one featured on their official YouTube channel. Essentially, in this video, each girl has her own individually shot scene based on a film. Mel B is featured in a Mad Max-esque setting, Emma is in a Poltergeist-type situation, Mel C is in a kung fu type scene based on Year of the Dragon, Geri is singing in a black and white scene based on Rita Hayworth in Gilda, and Victoria is dressed in a catsuit similar to Catwoman in Batman Returns. It’s kooky but kinda fun.
1. Viva Forever
Wow. Wow wow wow. What a video. The girls don’t appear in this video at all! The only appearance they make are as stop-motion animated fairies that come out of a giant plastic toy container (you know, that you’d get out of those toy dispensers for 25 cents). If you’re thinking wait, what? Huh? You’re not alone! We could describe the video here, but it’s really better if you just watch it. Apparently it may have a hidden meaning about losing someone, as that’s what the song is about, but when you watch it, you’ll just think to yourself what did I just watch?!
Which is your favorite Spice Girls music video? Let us know in the comments!
- The “Say You’ll Be There” music video was inspired by Pulp Fiction and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! The alter-ego identities for each Spice Girl were created based on a suggestion from Geri.
- The “2 Become 1” video was shot entirely on green screens. The girls had to lip-synch the lyrics in double-time in order to achieve the effect of wind rippling slowly through their hair.
- A third, comedic, version of the “Who Do You Think You Are” video was shot featuring the Sugar Lumps, a satirical version of the Spice Girls, for Red Nose Day in 1997.
- “Viva Forever” was the last video featuring the group in their complete, five-person form, but the girls don’t even appear in the video. Indeed, by the time the video came out, Geri had already left the group, and the only reason she is technically in it is because it features stop-motion dolls of the girls rather than the girls themselves.
- The “Wannabe” music video is meant to be one continuous shot. The group had to practice the routine several times throughout the night, and while the video looks like one long shot, it’s actually two shots cut together.
- The “Say You’ll Be There” music video was inspired by Pulp Fiction and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! The alter-ego identities for each Spice Girl were created based on a suggestion from Geri.
- The “2 Become 1” video was shot entirely on green screens. The girls had to lip-synch the lyrics in double-time in order to achieve the effect of wind rippling slowly through their hair.
- A third, comedic, version of the “Who Do You Think You Are” video was shot featuring the Sugar Lumps, a satirical version of the Spice Girls, for Red Nose Day in 1997.
- “Viva Forever” was the last video featuring the group in their complete, five-person form, but the girls don’t even appear in the video. Indeed, by the time the video came out, Geri had already left the group, and the only reason she is technically in it is because it features stop-motion dolls of the girls rather than the girls themselves.
- The “Wannabe” music video is meant to be one continuous shot. The group had to practice the routine several times throughout the night, and while the video looks like one long shot, it’s actually two shots cut together.
