Wannabe (song)
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"Wannabe" was the first single from the Spice Girls' first album, Spice. Released in 1996/1997, the single peaked at number one in the UK becoming the Spice Girls' first number one single; it also peaked at number one in the USA.
Song information
"Wannabe" was co-written by Richard Stannard, Matt Rowe and the Spice Girls. It was co-produced by Stannard and Rowe. The song depicts the girls explaining what someone has to do "if you wannabe my lover". With its choruses, the song is also famous for placing "zig-a-zig-ah" into the lexicon. The song is considered to be the Spice Girls' signature song.Chart performance
"Wannabe" is one of the most recognisable and successful songs of the 1990s. It climbed to the top of the charts in thirty-seven nations, before becoming the best-selling single by a female group in the history of recorded sound, shifting over six million copies worldwide.Released in the UK on the July 8, 1996, "Wannabe" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number three, before climbing two places to number one. It then spent seven weeks at the top: a record by a female group. With twenty-six weeks in the top forty, it sold over 1.27 million copies, becoming the second biggest selling single of the year, the twelfth best selling single of the decade and at the time of its release, the thirty-fifth best selling single ever in the UK. It is still the biggest selling single by a female group in the UK.
When the impact of "Wannabe" began to wear away in the UK and the track slowly slipped out of the top forty, the song was still popular around the globe. "Wannabe" was number one in Australia for eleven weeks and number one in Canada for five weeks, during which the time "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1" were number one back in the UK.
In the US, the song was number one simultaneously with the girls' fourth single ("Who Do You Think You Are"/"Mama") being at number one in the UK. "Wannabe" became the only Spice Girls single to top the Billboard Hot 100. It was a successful number one single, becoming a huge hit on radio (topping the Hot 100 Airplay chart) and selling well (topping the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart). It became very successful as a dance single, topping both the respective Hot Dance Club Play and Hot Dance Singles Sales charts. It became the only Spice Girls single to top every Billboard chart on which it was eligible.
Music video
When the music video for "Wannabe" was released and first appeared on UK cable satellite network "The Box", it was selected so frequently that the promo was being aired up to six times per hour at its peak and still remains the most requested track in the channel's history. The clip appears to be one continuous shot (although there were two barely noticeable edits) of the girls' creating mischief at the Midland Grand Hotel in St. Pancras. Among their antics is Melanie Chisholm's back handspring on one of the tables.
Live Performances
"Wannabe" was usually introduced by Melanie Brown. During the bridge ("here's the story...") Mel C did some acrobatics as in the video, always earning a big ovation from the public. After Geri Halliwell left the band, her parts were replaced by the other four.In Pop Culture
A September 1996 episode of TFI Friday featured a skit entitled, "Peter O'Toole Reads Lines That are Quite Clearly Beneath Him," in which O'Toole read the song's lyrics, finishing with the comment that he really really wanted a "zigazig ha." Ronald Fraser replied, "Do you really?"The song was parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic in "Polka Power!" on his album, Running with Scissors.
In the Simpsons episode Maximum Homerdrive, Homer plays the song in the truck and refers to it as the ultimate truck-driver song.
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[Listen to a twenty second sample of "Wannabe"] ([file info])
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