They were the first group to herald the return of cheesy pop music. They paved the way for Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. They were an international sensation. And then they promptly disappeared.
But the Spice Girls have seen a remarkable rebound in popularity over the last few weeks. Not the whole group, but rather individual members.
Right now the hottest Spice Girl is the only one who is definitely an ex-Spice: Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice). Halliwell is big around the world right now thanks to her cover of the disco classic "It's Raining Men" that appears on the soundtrack to Bridget Jones's Diary as well a forthcoming new solo album. Searches for Halliwell have gone up 125 percent over the past four weeks.
The new album will be called Scream If You Want To Go Faster and comes out in the U.K. on May 14. Apparently, the artwork has stirred controversy in Britain because some parents are afraid that their children will copy the cover art and -- gasp! -- hold on to the back of a car while on roller skates.
Of the four remaining Spice Girls, the one who is currently seeing a lot of interest is Emma Bunton (Baby Spice). Bunton's searches have been on an even steeper rise than Halliwell's, more than doubling over the past five weeks. Bunton's new solo album A Girl Like Me was released on April 16, and the first track "What Took You So Long" went to number one in Britain.
If you want to compare these two Spice Girls to the search interest in famous actresses, Geri Halliwell is currently in Julia Roberts territory, while Emma Bunton compares favorably with lesser star Sharon Stone. Both of them are also well-known by just their first names, as we saw a number of searches for just Geri and Emma last week. We see the same one-name interest in Britney and Janet, though not in Christina or Jennifer (Aguilera and Lopez, that is).
While the rest of the Spice Girls aren't quite as popular online right now, they all have their own solo careers. Melanie Chisolm (Sporty Spice) was the first of the Spice Girls to release a solo album, 1999's Nothern Star. Melanie Brown (Scary Spice) released a more R&B-flavored solo disc, Hot, last year. Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) has become more famous as the husband of English soccer star David Beckham, but she is working on a solo album as well.
Although Geri Halliwell's cover of "It's Raining Men" is available on the Bridget Jones's Diary soundtrack, neither her album nor Bunton's is scheduled for release in the United States anytime soon. Neither of the new Spice Girl solo records is listed on U.S. Virgin Records' website either. In England, however, and in cyberspace, their 15 minutes aren't quite up.
TOMORROW: The pedal to the metal.
