FEATURE:
King on Queens
IN THIS PHOTO: BBC Radio 1 presenter and former member of The Saturdays. Mollie King, will present a new podcast for BBC Sounds, Where It’s At: A Short History of Girlbands
Inside the New Podcast, Where It’s At: A Short History of Girlbands
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THIS is the second time…
IMAGE CREDIT: BBC
in fairly short succession that I have discussed girlbands/groups. Whether you see them as dominating in the past yet less significant now, or that the best coming through right now are more innovative and fresher than their older sisters, one cannot deny that there is a lot of variety and legacy. A new BBC Sounds series, Where It’s At: A Short History of Girlbands, will be presented by Mollie King. The Saturdays’ member has this podcast coming out that looks at the history of girl bands. Rather than looking back to the 1960s, it seems like the series picks things up from the late-1980s and 1990s. Nodding to girlbands of her generation such as Girls Aloud and Little Mix, it will be a chance to see how the music and dynamic of girlbands has changed through the decades. You can get a flavour of what to expect here. The series officially launches on 6th November. Here is some detail about the new BBC series:
“Mollie King will host BBC Radio 1’s brand new podcast Where It’s At: A Short History of Girlbands, premiering exclusively on BBC Sounds on Monday 6 November, with the teaser episode launching on 25 October
The podcast will chart the evolution of the Nineties and Noughties’ iconic girl bands with contributions from some of the nation’s favourite female pop-group sensations, including TLC, Girls Aloud, Little Mix and the Sugababes.
In each episode, Mollie will look at how girl bands – including her own, The Saturdays – have become a cornerstone of music history and how groups like FLO, BLACKPINK and Say Now are redefining girl power for a new generation.
Mollie King says: “When the BBC asked me to choose some of my favourite girl bands from the last few decades for a new podcast series, I knew this would be the most fun project EVER and it really didn’t disappoint.
“I’ve had such a great time chatting to some of the women behind a few of my favourite girl bands. From the fashion - the crazy outfits, the high heels and the even bigger hair - the dance routines and the fun of big budget music videos, through to the lesser known lows of what it’s really like to live in the non-stop girl band bubble - it’s been brilliant to remember those times, whilst also looking forward to the future of girl band pop talent.”
Mollie King has been a member of the girl group The Saturdays since 2007, achieving thirteen Top 10 hits and four Top 10 albums before going solo in 2015. She is now better known for being a host on BBC Radio 1 presenting Future Pop (Thursdays, 8-10pm) and weekends (1pm-4pm) alongside co-host Matt Edmondson.
The teaser episode of Where It’s At: A Short History of Girlbands will be available on the 25 October on BBC Sounds, with the first four episodes launching on the 6 November and the remaining four available from the 13 November.
Where It’s At: A Short History of Girlbands is a Spiritland Creative production for BBC Sounds. The series is written and produced by Kate Hutchinson and the Series Editor is Joe Haddow. It was commissioned by Executive Will Wilkin for BBC Radio 1”.
I am going to end with a playlist containing songs from girl bands from the '90s to present time. There had been quite a few years where we did not see many new girlbands/groups. The past few years have seen FLO, Say Now, a raft of K-Pop groups and the odd U.S. export coming onto the market. Even if the scene is not as celebrated, fertile and busy as it was, there is still a role for girlbands. Maybe messages and dynamics have changed since the ‘golden days’. It is still great seeing a group of strong women putting out these powerful anthem. Medium published an article in 2015 where they discussed how girl groups, unlike their male counterparts, were critical because of their appearances and messages. A sexism and misogyny that is starting to erode (thankfully!). Even if there is still a snobby and dismissive attitude to girlbands from some, the fact that we have a new breed of empowering women putting out incredible songs and inspiring girls and women (and other genders/ages) is to be commended! I think that the best girlbands are the ones who can captivate and inspire a young female demographic; also speak to a larger audience in terms of the appeal of the music and lyrics:
“Girls-whether in the entertainment industry or simply posting a picture on social media-are subject to the response of being seen as “too sexy” and “trying to hard”. A member of a boy band can post a shirtless picture and gain many “likes” and compliments, while a member of a girl group posts a picture in a swimsuit and receives harsh criticism. This is because girl groups aren’t targeted to male counterparts, but to girls who have proven they will buy music and merchandise of people they like. Society is quick to judge girl groups on image, but instead of millions of boys stopping the hate because they enjoy the group, it is millions of girls being ignored by the media attempting to stop the hate because they enjoy the messages being sent by the group.
With being international superstars comes the price of fame, and Little Mix is no stranger to bad press. Just today are they making headlines for storming out of an interview, and have been known as “little rebels” in the media. But the group moves forward with their heads held high, with hopes of making more music and making an even bigger difference in our emerging feminist culture.
Girl groups throughout the years have been down played because it was only about their looks, but now with feminism becoming more apparent and stronger in our culture we see many activists through many platforms attempting to spread the word of an important cause. Girl groups are needed for the growth of feminism and female empowerment, giving young girls (and boys) role models that teach of the importance of equality and working for your future, whatever it entails. Stopping this growth because of looks and an image is harmful not only to the performers, but to the fans who want and need to hear these messages that give strength and hope for whatever struggle they are going through. Fans are dedicated, and want to be active in the causes of their favorite celebrities and performers. Taking away their opportunities is the exact opposite of the lessons these girl groups teach.
The next time you see or hear about these girl groups and their goals of helping others and feminism, take the time to read or listen to it. What they are seeing is important not only to them, but to their fans who are shaping the world and our culture, one hit single at a time”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Little Mix
I know the BBC Sounds podcast will explore the history of girl bands. Seeing how they developed and impacted popular culture. It is clear that there were distinct periods where the girlbands flourished and were at the forefront. Other times, such as the 1970s, where there was perhaps less success and attention. Udiscovermusic.com charted the history of girl groups earlier this year. It does seem that from the 1990s onwards particularly, there was a revival and renaissance:
“The 80s and beyond
Things improved for girl groups in the 80s. From America, the likes of Sister Sledge and Mary Jane Girls cleaned up in the discos during the first half of the decade, and the harder-edged, self-contained band Klymaxx brought a more funky attitude to their take on dance music. The Bangles enjoyed a series of smash hits in the second half of the decade, including a cover of Prince’s “Manic Monday” and the international No.1 “Eternal Flame.” In the UK, Bananarama, a group initially criticized for unison singing in a monotone, grew into a major pop act with the likes of “Shy Boy” and the witty “Robert De Niro’s Waiting.” The group carried on when Siobhan Fahey left to form Shakespears Sister with Marcella Detroit, a duo with a darker sound that scored heavily with the single “Stay” in 1992, from the album Hormonally Yours.
Bananarama had drawn influence from The Go-Go’s, a Los Angeles band fronted by Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin, who hit with “Vacation” and “Head Over Heels” in the early 80s, plus the song Wiedlin wrote with Fun Boy Three singer Terry Hall, “Our Lips Are Sealed.” Hall’s group had been instrumental in putting Bananarama into the public eye when the two trios cut a pair of hit singles together. In turn, Bananarama were an influence over the next wave of UK girl groups, who had grown up watching them become stars; this included Spice Girls. But there was another US girl group which had considerable input into the expectations of the Girl Power generation, though their fine records are not often cited as an influence: En Vogue.
The funky foursome from Oakland, California, were the brainchild of Foster-McElroy, who’d produced hits for Timex Social Club and Tony! Toni! Tone!. Though known for creating the sound of New Jack Swing, the production boffins yearned to build an act that echoed the late 50s/early 60s girl groups in a modern context. Deciding that elegance, looks and brainpower were as important as strong voices, auditions were held, and the result was En Vogue, who hit big with the highly harmonious funk groove “Hold On,” in 1990. This debut single put them on a hit run that lasted 10 years in the US.
Foster-McElroy’s formula worked – so it was copied. British foursome Eternal enjoyed 15 hits from 1993; All Saints grabbed five No.1s between 1997 and 2000. There were many more acts formed this way. The biggest by far was Spice Girls, whose image of a gang of five ordinary young females having fun and expressing power through their music – and, above all, attitude – had a profound influence on a generation. Their 1996 debut “Wannabe” was a No 1 in every major music market.
In truth, their motto of Girl Power was a dilution of the politics, anger, and energy of the riot grrrl movement which had emerged from Washington state in the early 90s, but Spice Girls’ message was more easily accepted than the likes of the musically more credible Bikini Kill, Huggy Bear, and Sleater-Kinney. Girl Power delivered at least an idea – if not the reality – of feminism to millions of adolescent females. Spice Girls’ initial hitmaking career was no longer than four years, just two of which were spent as a five-piece. Some of their records seemed short on substance, but the marketing of Posh, Ginger, Sporty, Baby and Scary, using the group name as surrogate surnames much as Ramones had during the punk era, was nigh-on perfect, and they became the pop act of second half of the 90s.
American black music continued to bear female fruit: TLC made beautiful records in the first half of the 90s, justifiably selling 65 million of them, a figure more or less matched by Destiny’s Child, the leading trio who followed them and launched the career of the biggest female star of the new millennium, Beyoncé. In the UK, Sugababes and Girls Aloud in turn gave rise to Little Mix; the last two groups were formed through TV talent shows.
It’s a long journey from The Andrews Sisters to Little Mix, but the route is surprisingly direct. For each group mentioned here, there are dozens more, each with something to say. Generations of girls admire them – teenage boys do too. They deliver a different voice to pop: an emotional expressiveness, often surprisingly direct, that male acts cannot – and cannot even hope – to deliver. If that’s the real meaning of girl power, more power to them”.
I am going to finish in a second. Not only will the Mollie King-fronted series celebrate the queens of the past. She will also shine a light on modern girlbands and their value. I want to highlight an article from The Guardian from last year. I think FLO and Say Now are leading a charge for the modern girlband. If some are still formatting and galvanising their music to something strong and long-lasting, there are others that are a little pale. I do wonder why there are not as many girlbands now as before. Maybe, with all-female groups and female-led bands, the form and genre is diversifying. What we now terms a ‘girlband’ does not necessarily mean five or more women doing Pop/R&B and presenting themselves a particular way. It must be quite hard keeping fresh and alive the girlband at a time when there are other genres and groups taking the spotlight:
“But for every success story, there followed half a dozen failed attempts to capitalise on it. After the Spice Girls’ ascent the major label machine pumped out various groups, but, despite some decent hits, the likes of Atomic Kitten, B*Witched and Honeyz never achieved the same cultural dominance. The situation is worse post-Little Mix: the girl bands hoping to fill the void are, frankly, lacklustre.
SVN, a group made up of the original cast of the musical Six plus an understudy, are peddling trite girlboss empowerment anthems that, in an era of Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo’s weighty emo pop, feel dated. The atrociously named CuteBad, a new group backed by Girls Aloud hit-makers Xenomania, feel as if they’re desperately chasing K-pop maximalism but are already struggling to keep hold of band members. Another Xenomania outfit, Unperfect, split up before they got going, while groups like Ring the Alarm and Four of Diamonds have tried and failed to capture pop fans’ attention.
IN THIS PHOTO: SVN
Only the London trio FLO have sparked any excitement. Their debut single, Cardboard Box, produced by MNEK, is a fun hit of nostalgic 00s R&B, although it lacks the sizzling originality of Overload by Sugababes, a group that FLO are heavy-handedly styled after. It might be unfair to write these groups off before they’ve had a chance to thrive: a large part of their failure is down to a simple lack of good tunes. Yet they also seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes a girl band great.
Spice Girls wouldn’t have mattered if their music was garbage, but, unlike the Hi-NRG dance pop and new jack swing that typified most pop bands of the time, their music spanned groove-filled R&B, disco, funk, 60s girl groups and, later, Latin-inflected pop. Aside from FLO’s throwback R&B, an outlier in a pop landscape that now favours moody singer-songwriters and 00s samples, all other recent UK girl bands have produced music without any identity. CuteBad’s You Don’t Really Wanna lacks any discernible melodic thread, while Gots to Give the Girl, the debut single by Unperfect, attempted relaxed California breeziness to the point of narcolepsy.
British girl bands conceived in the wake of the Spice Girls often failed to capture their lawless ebullience. This was sometimes by design: All Saints, with their sophisticated trip-hop, were like a Silk Cut and a glass of wine compared with the Spice Girls’ candyfloss. Effortless cool was the initial MO for Sugababes, too, although they also arrived with an angsty sense of disaffected ambivalence and an innovative sound in the shape of Overload. (You wonder whether the Spice Girls’ anarchy – stealing their master tapes pre-fame, sacking their manager – made the record industry exert a tighter grip on the doggedly kid-friendly girl bands who came in their wake, such as B*Witched.)
Only Girls Aloud came close to recapturing the spirited chaos of the Spice Girls. Their music was often idiosyncratic: while they weren’t immune to bland covers, songs like Biology and Sexy! No No No … stitched together disparate hooks and textures. Distinct identities helped sell these pop curios: Cheryl Tweedy and the late, great Sarah Harding became tabloid fixtures, famous not only for their late-night antics but also their gobbiness (like Cheryl’s criticisms of other pop stars such as Nicole Scherzinger and Lily Allen). Again, they all felt like individuals who could come together to form something greater.
So in the era of the solo artist, the closest we have to a girl band is when these solo artists collaborate. Sometimes, such as Charli XCX, Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek’s various team-ups, these are explorations of simpatico pop sensibilities; others, like Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion’s collaboration Sweetest Pie, are calculated positioning exercises. Supergroups such as US-based Boygenius, comprising Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, could also signify the next iteration of the girl band: the thought of Bree Runway, Raye and other UK pop stars going full Avengers is certainly appealing. K-pop, of course, is a space where the girl band is thriving: groups like Blackpink, Twice and Everglow offer whiplash-inducing choreography, bombastic bangers and luminescent visuals with astonishingly high production values that make UK efforts look embarrassingly budget by comparison.
IN THIS PHOTO: boygenius/PHOTO CREDIT: Chantal Anderson for WSJ. Magazine
But a new girl band is what Britain needs. If the Spice Girls took the lairy masculine energy of 90s Britain and powerfully feminised it, whoever follows Little Mix needs to similarly tap into the spirit of the age. They will require chemistry, strong personalities, irreverence, a cache of bangers, and an ability to commune with the mood of the country: one that has now been ravaged by a decade of austerity, the fallout from Brexit and vicious culture wars. Bleak times, currently soothed by the sad girls of bedroom pop, also need brightening with bold, dynamic talent, not the second-guessing of major labels. It is a mighty task, but only then will the UK spice up its life once more – Lord knows, we need it.
I am really looking forward to Where It’s At: A Short History of Girlbands. Taking that classic All Saints song as the title, it will be shining a light on the bosses and queens. How fans have formed these tribes. How the music speaks to a particular generation. I feel, at a time where the new breed is taking shape, this is very timely and relevant. I am going to end with a playlist featuring the best girlbands from the 1990s to today. You will hear some amazing and timeless music – a lot of which will be covered and discussed by Mollie King. If you have even a passing interest in the history of the girlband, then you will not want to miss…
THIS amazing series.