Songoftheday 2/28/21 - Love is blind as far as the eye can see, deep and meaningless words to me...

 

 

"Too Much" - Spice Girls

from the album Spiceworld (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 9

 

Today's song of the day comes from the Spice Girls, who came back big after their hugely successful debut album Spice with not only a big follow-up album, but a feature film as well. The lead single from Spiceworld, "Spice Up Your Life", continued their #1 streak in their native England, while reaching the top-20 in America in the fall of 1997.  The next offering from the album/movie was the ballad "Too Much", written by the group with producers Andy Watkins and Paul Wilson (using the moniker "Absolute"). Trading off verses between Scary, Sporty, Ginger, Baby, and Posh, the song emulates the doo-wop vocal delivery of the 1950s and 60s, backed by a classy string section and acoustic guitars. The lyrics twist and turn on wordplay about romance, where there's either an abundance or dearth of involvement from the other partner. The music video interplays clips from the Spice World movie with each member getting their own "mini-movie" meant to copy their favorites.

"Too Much" returned the Spice Girls to the American pop top ten for the fourth (and final) time in February of 1998. The song also climbed to #23 on Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary radio chart. Internationally, the single was their sixth consecutive #1 in the UK (a perfect record so far), and also reached the top ten in Finland (#3), Hungary (#3), Ireland (#4), Denmark (#7), Spain (#9), Australia (#9), and New Zealand (#9). It also made the top-40 in Belgium (#12F/#16W), Canada (#13), Austria (#15), the Netherlands (#15), Italy (#16), Sweden (#18), Switzerland (#18), France (#20), Germany (#21), and Iceland (#31).

(7/10)

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Here's how fans saw "Too Much" in the Bond-like opening credits of the Spiceworld movie...

Next up, appearing on the British children's show Live & Kicking in 1997 going for the Christmas #1, a big thing in Britain (which they did)...

...and for the American Music Awards in 1998...

And finally, the five in concert in Istanbul...

Up tomorrow: Canadian songstress gives in.