60 - The Spice Girls with Michael Cragg (Maidenhead)

60 - The Spice Girls with Michael Cragg (Maidenhead)

Author: Rock n Roll Book Club April 19, 2025 Duration: 49:00

In this episode of Music Maps we are joined by Penderyn Prize winning writer Michael Cragg to dig into the history and impact of the Spice Girls.


We explore their formation in 1994 via an audition process & their early days sharing a house in Maidenhead. Originally they are known as Touch & original member Michelle Stephenson leaves after 3 months & Emma Bunton completes the lineup.


They part company with original handlers Chris & Bob Herbert (also known for Bros, 5ive, Bewitched & Hearsay) & bring in Simon Fuller.


The Spice Girls sign to Virgin Records in 1996 'Wannabe' becomes their debut single. The subsequent debut album quickly breaks 20 million in sales.


We also touch on the concept of 'Girl Power', who came up with 'zig-a-zig-ah', the BRIT Awards appearance, the huge tours, their significant success in America, the Spice World movie, Geri Halliwell's departure, the struggles surrounding their final album 'Forever' & more.



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Hosted by Mark Hart & Simon Cardwell

Written & Produced by Simon Cardwell

Edited, mixed & spruced up by Andy Maxwell 



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The Music Maps Podcast from the Rock n Roll Book Club isn't your typical music show. It's an audio expedition where geography is the guide. Every episode starts with a specific location-a city, a venue, a forgotten roadside attraction-and uses that place as a launchpad to explore the sounds, stories, and scenes connected to it. You might find yourself deep in the blues clubs of Chicago one week and tracing the underground punk threads of a small European town the next. The conversations are wide-ranging, connecting the dots between iconic artists and obscure movements, all anchored to a point on the map. Listening to this podcast feels like adding a new, richly detailed pin to a global atlas of musical influence. It’s about the context behind the chords and the cultural soil from which genres grow. The result is a continuously evolving, deeply human portrait of how music and place are inextricably linked, one fascinating destination at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Music Maps Podcast
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