Whilst you read, remember EW dissed 'Different Class' and 'Odelay'

	Rating: B+

Spice Girls' first single, "Wannabe" -- a Number1 hit in England and 30 other countries, and the lead cut on the Brit quintet's debut album, Spice, -- is one of those unstoppable songs: perky yet tough [just out of curiousity, what the hell does this mean?], catchy yet melodically surprising [melodically surprising: keyword for crap]. A canny mix of dance, funk and Supremes-style liberationism, it defines Essence de Spice Girl with its list of what it'll take "if you wanna be my lover": "You gotta give" and "You gotta make it last forever" are salient requirements [not to mention you've gotta get with their friends, and slam your body down and zigazigah].
It's always a dicey business, this Britpop stardom; sometimes it translates into Stateside success (Oasis) and sometimes it doesn't (take that, Take That). The fact that the girls -- Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Victoria Aadams, and Melanie Chisholm -- are eager to push a teasing sexiness is no guarantee, either (Kylie Minogue, anyone?) [Kylie Minogue was just as much of a one-hit wonder Stateside as Spice Girls most likely will be -- remember "Locomotion"?].
But "Wannabe" has broken big here, and what lifts Spice Girls above female-Bay City Rollers status is that [Bay City Rollers were better?] Spice is a devilishly good pop collection, as the Girls deploy their thin, snarky voices in the service of white hip-hop that's not without soul [so 'snarky voices' and 'white hip-hop' are compliments with Yanks nowadays?]. The P-Funked "Say You'll Be There" is a bid for street cred, but it's a fearlessly corny ballad like "Mama" that will likely keep them from being one-hit wonders in America [erm. As someone who has done loadsa trend studying, I'm going to bet, oh, my entire fucking life on the idea that "Mama", if released as a single there, will get Spice Girls laughed off MTV. Americans don't take kindly to mums being in videos. They're much more 'angsty' than Brits].

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