Spice Girls - Wannabe (Riot Grrrl Punk Version)

What if... The Spice Girls were Riot Grrrl punks? Imagine, if you will, 1994 in an alternative universe, not unlike our own. The group that will eventually be known as the Spice Girls has been brought together by Heart Management, with the goal of providing a female alternative to the wave of boy-bands currently dominating the charts. The management team of Bob and Chris Herbert explain to the girls that they hope to give the group a rebellious edge by incorporating some of the attitude and messaging of the riot grrrl movement into their songs and image. The group are unfamiliar with this largely-underground cultural phenomenon, so, to illustrate, Chris shows them a video of Huggy Bear's appearance on Channel 4's late-night show, The Word, from the previous year. They're immediately blown away by the catchy-yet-chaotic music, the raw energy and the fuck-you feminist rage of the performance, and begin to doubt the dance-pop direction that Heart have planned for them. In a private meeting, they decide to leave their management, learn instruments, and go it alone as a DIY indie-punk band.
By 1996, they have released a demo tape, featuring their signature song, 'Wannabe', a fierce call for prioritising feminine solidarity over relationships with men, and have received positive reviews in a number of fanzines. Tours supporting Linus and the Voodoo Queens help to build their fanbase, but unfortunately, the band implodes in bitter arguments and recriminations soon after, when, in their first and only interview for Melody Maker, Geri claims that 'Margaret Thatcher was the Kathleen Hanna of her generation'. Still, the band have subsequently been cited as a crucial influence by later generations of feminist musicians, and 'Wannabe' frequently appears on film soundtracks to signify a scene of female empowerment , when the musical director hasn't been able to secure the rights to 'Rebel Girl'!
Written by Spice Girls/Rowe/Stannard
I do not own the rights to the song, the original lead vocal track, or any of the clips or images used. Backing track arranged, performed and produced by me, using GarageBand and whatever instruments I had to hand.
Companion video with nerdy discussion of Riot Girl, the Spice Girls and more, as well as recording/arranging insights: • Reimagining the Spice ...
After syncing the vocal to the grid, I upped the tempo a little, then played in the drums on my midi keyboard. As with everything on this recording, I avoided tidying them up too much, as I wanted it to sound raw and spontaneous. I played on some bass and two guitar tracks. These were pretty sloppy and noisy, but it still wasn't as chaotic as I wanted, so I added another two guitars, which mainly just make feedback and horrible noises! To reassert a bit of poppiness in later choruses, I added some garagey organ, then treated just about everything with some overdrive to try to mimic that overloaded 4-track tape sound of early Bikini Kill and Huggy Bear.
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