Happy Spice Day!

Today (well, yesterday where I am) is the 10th anniversary of what was then the greatest UK number one single since the Beatles -- though that honour belongs to Eminem now -- and, incidentally, one of the ten best songs of the Nineties: the Spice Girls "Wannabe" (released July 7th, 7 weeks at #1 starting the week of July 21st, 1996). I thought it was genius the first time I saw the video, yet pussed out into slipping it into my year-end list at #252. It's formally perfect, from the way the Girls' statement of desire devolves into the non-verbal, to the way they turn Posh's inability to carry a tune into colour.

Funnily enough, the second best UK number one of the Nineties (with due respect to "Praise You", "Brimful of Asha" and "Let Me Be Your Fantasy"), the Fugees' "Ready or Not", hit the top spot just two weeks after the Spices. The #1 in between? Peter Andre's "Flava". Come on, you remember.