My life in generation Spice

She was first in line to see Viva Forever! Wannabe Ginger Susannah Butter on partying with her childhood heroines
p21 Susannah Butter dresses as a Spice Girl. PHOTO MATT WRITTLE
13 December 2012

When I was seven I wanted to be Geri Halliwell. Every lunchtime my friends — sorry, bandmates — and I would stand in the same spot of the playground belting out our favourite numbers from Spice, high-kicking our way through the dance routines until they were perfect.

My friend Lauren and I would bicker over who got to be Ginger and I often had to concede to be typecast as Sporty because of my brown hair. It was an early lesson in compromise. But Mel C had a better singing voice so it wasn’t all bad, and anyway the most important part was being in the group.

It was because of the Spice Girls that I started to watch Top of the Pops, hoping madly that the girls would get to number one and cheering when they did, as if I had played a part in their journey. I saved up my pocket money to buy a Girl Power ring like theirs and wore it even when it got rusty and turned my finger green.

I had the dolls, the temporary tattoos like Mel C’s, and regularly put on shows for my parents, who endured seeing their child innocently croon, “I need some love like I never needed love before”, with no idea what it meant. Although maybe it was useful. When one friend asked her mother what sex was she simply replied, “It’s like when two become one, darling.”

When Geri left it was a real shock. I remember sitting at home in my pyjamas on a Saturday night, watching the Lottery just because I was looking forward to the girls’ performance. Finally they came on. Emma Bunton was wearing a blue and white polka dot dress but something was wrong. Geri didn’t turn up and I felt let down.

I began listening to All Saints instead, claiming I’d moved on. But I still know all the lyrics to Who Do You Think You Are and all the moves to Stop.

Fifteen years later we are again living in a Spice World. The median wage is back to what it was in the Nineties (taking account of inflation), Topshop is stocking a range of Buffalo platform trainers (just like Mel B’s), and, amazingly, the Spice Girls have reunited.

Tuesday was the premiere of Viva Forever!, the Jennifer Saunders-penned musical based on their songs, and ticket sales attest to the continued popularity of Sporty, Scary, Baby, Ginger and Posh. It’s a source of great disappointment that I never got to see the Spice Girls live in their heyday — I was madly jealous of anyone who did — but finally this week I saw them in the flesh. I was sitting next to a stranger but when the girls walked in we looked at each other and squealed. By the end of the night we were discussing our favourites, comparing memorabilia collections and even did a bit of dancing in the finale.

Even if plot and production-wise the show wasn’t what I really really wanted, and there were too many B-sides that should have been left in the Nineties, it did remind me why I fell for Spiceworld. This wasn’t just about catchy pop songs that spiced up the routine of school, dinner, bath and bed. The Spice Girls’ charm was their ordinariness. They had none of the slick, managed sexiness of Rihanna and Beyoncé. In fact, unlike in current pop music, sex and boys were a sideline, secondary to having fun with your friends.

They didn’t hide their excitement at being in the spotlight and that enthusiasm was infectious. Sure the lyrics were sometimes baffling: “If you wanna be my lover you gotta get with my friends” — what? All of them? But the core message was that things were on their terms.

After the show we packed on to red Routemaster buses just like the ones in Spice World! We stood behind some of the faces of the Nineties in the queue — Cilla Black, Steps and Barbara Windsor. Radio 4’s Jenni Murray was wearing a leopard-print fur coat fit for Mel B herself. Jennifer Saunders had brought all her mates: Ruby Wax, Dawn French and an incredibly glam Joanna Lumley.

The Spice Girls gathered and, joy of joys, danced to a medley of all their hits, with everyone jostling to get a good view. Even Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw was starstruck, tweeting that he’d just met the Spice Girls.

I know it may not be cool but I still get a shiver when I hear the intro to Goodbye. On the Tube after the Viva Forever! party I found Spice on my iPod and listened to it all the way home, resisting the urge to impress my fellow travellers with my dance routines. All mates go through highs and lows but my relationship with the Spice Girls is just like the one described in Wannabe, where “friendship never ends”.

Viva Forever is on until June 2013 at the Piccadilly Theatre, W1D

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