Where It's At: A Short History of Girlbands

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Where It's At: A Short History of Girlbands - Mollie King dives into girlband history.

Girl Power: A token or a defining musical moment? Mollie King dives into the great British girlband history.

Where It's At: A Short History of Girlbands: 1. So Here’s the Story

1. So Here’s the Story

BBC Radio 1 - Where It's At: A Short History of Girlbands, 1. So Here’s the Story

How Spice Girls achieved global success and still inspire generations of music artists.

Mollie King explores how the girlbands of the 90s and 00s are a cornerstone of pop music history and kick-started a girlband revolution, from Spice Girls and All Saints to Sugababes and Mis-Teeq, all the way through to Girls Aloud and Little Mix. After all, they have given us some of the best videos, outfits, dance routines and singers known to pop music. And they have released some of the best pop hits ever. 
 
In the 90s, the Spice Girls brought girl power and high-kicked boybands out of the way. They had an anarchic spirit reminiscent of Bananarama in the 80s and even The Slits in the 70s. Suddenly, the pop world woke up to music made by groups of women – which was way more exciting than the music sung by floppy-haired boys on stools. 
 
Now girlbands’ place in pop history is being reassessed by a new generation of writers and musicians, and they have been a huge inspiration for many artists in the charts today.
 
Mollie hears how Spice Girls became a world-beating success and how girlbands are the underdogs of pop music, how they stuck it to a male-dominated music industry, and why they are more radical than you might think. 
 
It’s time that girl groups properly got their dues.

Presenter: Mollie King
Producer: Kate Hutchinson
Written by: Kate Hutchinson
Assistant Producer: Nadine Peters
Additional production: Holly Fisher
Script consultants: Owen Myers, Sharon O’Connell
Mix Engineer: Gareth Isles
Executive Producer: Joe Haddow
Commissioning producers: Jonathan O’Sullivan, Sarah Gosling
Commissioner for BBC Music: Will Wilkin

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Where It's At: A Short History of Girlbands

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