Girlbands Forever

It still just seems so odd, given GA were so big commercially, for such a long time during this whole period. Add on Cheryl, possibly the biggest UK girl band star outside of the Spice Girls ever? Surely they were left out as perhaps they are trying to do one on them themselves or something?
 
I'm sure there's enough to create a storyline for Girls Aloud other than them being just another reality TV show creation.

If none of them wanted to do it (and I've seen twitter speculation regarding them potentially doing their own documentary as well) then fair enough - I just don't understand why they didn't even get a mention in passing when at multiple points they easily could in relation to Little Mix and Sugababes particularly.
 
Last edited:
lolly said:
I'm sure there's enough to create a storyline for Girls Aloud other than them being just another reality TV show creation.

If none of them wanted to do it (and I've seen twitter speculation regarding them potentially doing their own documentary as well) then fair enough - I just don't understand why they didn't even get a mention in passing when at multiple points they easily could in relation to Little Mix and Sugababes particularly.
Click to expand...

Yes they should have been acknowledged. Boyzone didn't take part in the boyband documentary, as they had their own Sky programme, but they were covered to an extent anyway.
 
lolly said:
I'm sure there's enough to create a storyline for Girls Aloud other than them being just another reality TV show creation.
Click to expand...

We could have cut from Misteeq explaining the racism of the music industry to Cheryl decking a toilet attendant and being crowned the people's Princess.
 
Racist Cheryl's ascendency to queen of hearts should have been a warning about Brexit coming.
 
Halli said:
So ODD that Girls Aloud were not even mentioned, they went on about a Sugababes and Atomic Kitten 'rivalry' but I remember whilst not a rivalry, it being more about Sugababes and Girls aloud out at the same time and people comparing. Enjoyed this never the less. I think it would of course been more Spice Girls focused if one of them had agreed to speak on it, but they are obviously holding out for their own bigger doc on Netflix or the like
Click to expand...
They kind've were compared to them for a time. Atomic Kitten were almost dropped, Sugababes were dropped. They both went on to big things with a new member. They both released their 2nd albums about the same time.
 
I've got a feeling that the next in this series will be Reality Stars Forever.
 
Why is Melanie Blatt so angry and bitter during the entire doc?
I agree, The Girls Aloud erasure is a bit odd, but then again, if they brought up Vanilla for a couple of seconds (just to say they were shit), they could have at least mentioned B*Witched, who did have some impact!
Were All Saints really that successful, or did they heighten it? I kept thinking that perhaps if they showed All Saints under a different light, then Mel wouldn't have agreed to participate.
I didn't know Whole Again promo had already started when Kerry was still in the band; surely it wouldn't have made #1 if she had stayed with the band?
 
Pipo said:
Why is Melanie Blatt so angry and bitter during the entire doc?
I agree, The Girls Aloud erasure is a bit odd, but then again, if they brought up Vanilla for a couple of seconds (just to say they were shit), they could have at least mentioned B*Witched, who did have some impact!
Were All Saints really that successful, or did they heighten it? I kept thinking that perhaps if they showed All Saints under a different light, then Mel wouldn't have agreed to participate.
I didn't know Whole Again promo had already started when Kerry was still in the band; surely it wouldn't have made #1 if she had stayed with the band?
Click to expand...
All Saints were huge at the time.

Whole Again was a genuine organic slow burner hit. It would have likely smashed regardless of Kerry being in the band or not I feel.

In fact, my memory of it (which could be wrong) was that it came out of nowhere to debut at number 1 in January on low sales and everyone suspected it would Vanish the following week. Only For people to release it was a great little pop track and then sales increased week on week with it holding off a few tracks that were supposed to be shoe ins for number 1... or did I just rewrite history? 😂
 
Last edited:
Atomic Kitten were also huge in Germany, Whole Again was no 1 for 6 weeks. I also remember Eternal Flame and The Tide is High being played everywhere. All Saints didn't even make the top 10 with any of their singles.
 
I remember I Know Where It’s At and Never Ever being moderate hits in the US at the time. I even bought the CD singles! They already had momentum from the UK, though I recall all those “The BIGGEST girl band in the UK now coming to the USA!” taglines splashed across magazines and ads. By then, they were already promoting the Lady Marmalade single, which I remember seeing quite often on MTV Europe.


As for Atomic Kitten, I was never really a fan. I recall their album being released here with Jenny on the cover, and it was basically a mix of their three UK albums up to that point. The same approach was used with Steps around 1999, and there were even rumors Sugababes would get similar treatment when their debut was released domestically, but their follow-up was said to be a combination of Angels and Three.


Whole Again got a few spins on TRL, but that was about it. It seemed to get much more airplay on MuchMusic, so I always had the impression that Atomic Kitten was bigger in Canada.
 
passthatdutch said:
All Saints were huge at the time.

Whole Again was a genuine organic slow burner hit. It would have likely smashed regardless of Kerry being in the band or not I feel.

In fact, my memory of it (which could be wrong) was that it came out of nowhere to debut at number 1 in January on low sales and everyone suspected it would Vanish the following week. Only For people to release it was a great little pop track and then sales increased week on week with it holding off a few tracks that were supposed to be shoe ins for number 1... or did I just rewrite history? 😂
Click to expand...
I think you're misremembering. Its first week sales were very big IIRC.
 
Never Ever (which Mel might misremember as Black Hole or A Few Questions had she been a member of N-Tyce) was huge in America. I just watched a reel that said it was January's biggest pop hit there in 1998, followed by Celine in Feb and Madge in March. It was a good reel until the Offspring finished things off in December supposedly.
 
I remember going to America at the time of All Saints first album and it was the most displayed album in the record stores, I remember thinking I knew they were having some success in America but wasn't expecting them to be that 'visible'

I always found it quite sad that they didn't capitalise with the second album and Pure Shores, especially given the Beach connection and that it is legit good enough to be a proper worldwide international transatlantic bubbling over adult contemp cross over sure fire HIT.
 
Halli said:
I always found it quite sad that they didn't capitalise with the second album and Pure Shores, especially given the Beach connection and that it is legit good enough to be a proper worldwide international transatlantic bubbling over adult contemp cross over sure fire HIT.
Click to expand...
The annoying thing was that, at the time, to "own" Pure Shores in the US, you had to buy the whole Beach soundtrack. It's a good thing that Saints & Sinners was eventually released in Latin America. I remember buying it the very same day as Forever:basil:
 
Also by the second album, as successful as they still were, they were at each others throats so I think getting them to promote/perform in the UK was tough enough, no way were they able to do the old skool travel across America promoting in person for that ALBAM. But Pure Shores was a missed opportunity, I guess it didn't even get to radio there?
 
Yeah weird they never pushed Pure Shores in the States, given the success of Never Ever and the movie. Could’ve been a hit I’d have thought?

Whole Again opened with 60k something. Nothing huge, but the biggest of the year at that third or fourth week point. It did however increase for each of the next three until it was over 100k something definitely a grower as well.
 
I presumed Whole Again snuck in on a quiet week and built momentum too. I bought it as it was dropping down the charts. It had a long old run for 2001.

At the time I paid it no attention and then it crept up on me in a manner I was NOT expecting. It's definitely a classic within the genre.
 
It held off U2 (Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of) Wheatus (Teenage Dirtbag) and Outkast (Ms Jackson) during its tenure at #1.

I'd say it crossed over as much as pretty much any girl band song ever did. And compared to most other big girl band hits, nobody saw it coming as a fifth single release where the 4th single had barely scraped the top 20 after three top 10s, and a flop album.
 
passthatdutch said:
All Saints were huge at the time.

Whole Again was a genuine organic slow burner hit. It would have likely smashed regardless of Kerry being in the band or not I feel.

In fact, my memory of it (which could be wrong) was that it came out of nowhere to debut at number 1 in January on low sales and everyone suspected it would Vanish the following week. Only For people to release it was a great little pop track and then sales increased week on week with it holding off a few tracks that were supposed to be shoe ins for number 1... or did I just rewrite history? 😂
Click to expand...
As far as I remember you're right. It debuted with slighly above average January sales for a #1 & the sales did keep going up for it's next 2wks at least. I do think Kerry leaving definitely helped propell it to #1.
 
I think Melanie Blatt thought she was better than she was. Did their 2nd album even sell a fraction of the debut. Also All Hooked Up looked like a bomb to me. Debuting at #7 & dropping really quickly in January.
 
From my memory Atomic Kitten were all over every tabloid newspaper at the time saying they were ready to be dropped if Whole Again wasn’t a hit. Kerry was still part of the band then but I think she left maybe a week or so before it was released. That was certainly not new info to me when watching the documentary.
 
I did enjoy Natasha saying that she wonders what would have happened if they didn’t split when they did. The sales were dwindling terribly, and I probably would have said they left it an album too late to go out on a high. 🤷‍♀️
 
Whole Again, Last Goodbye and Be With You are all very good. The rest is all MoR BILGE to these ears.
 
I love It's OK too.

And I love Eternal Flame and The Tide is High but acknowledge that I was 8 and had never heard the originals so wasn't comparing.
 
Rita said:
I did enjoy Natasha saying that she wonders what would have happened if they didn’t split when they did. The sales were dwindling terribly, and I probably would have said they left it an album too late to go out on a high. 🤷‍♀️
Click to expand...
Well their last album went platinum on the back of just 2 singles.They decided to split after that & released the the Greatest Hits. I do think they probably had another album in them with a proper Greatest Hits with a few new songs on it.
 
I always feel quite sorry for Kerry and I don’t quite know why. Most of her misfortune is very much her own doing and she has made very little go a very long way but she does seem likeable and had a very rough childhood which would probably link to her later mistakes. Brian McFadden was an absolute TOSSER to her and seemed to be the start of her issues coming to the fore.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top Bottom