Songoftheday 5/2/21 - You just walk in I make you smile, it's cool but you don't even know me...
"Stop" - Spice Girls
from the album Spice World (1997)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #16 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11
Today's song of the day comes from the Spice Girls, whose second album and movie tie-in Spice World had already spun off two hits with "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much", which reached the top ten in America in the beginning of 1998. The third release from the record here would be the retro throwback "Stop". Written by the group with producers Andy Watkins and Paul Wilson, the bubbly track takes the rhythm of 60s hits from the Supremes and the Vandellas, basically rewrites the melody from the Four Seasons' "Working My Way Back To You", and seemed to deliver yet another sassy retort to an unresponsive lover, but in fact was a veiled retort to their former manager Simon Fuller, who worked them to death to extract the most from them while they were hot. It would be the last time Geri Halliwell, who began writing the song, was on an American top-40 hit of theirs. All five women get turns in singing lead, though Melanic Chisholm (Sporty Spice) clearly dominates this in vocal ability...
"Stop" became the Girls' sixth top-40 pop hit in the U.S. in July of 1998. The remixes of the track helped the song rise to #14 on Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart. Internationally, it was their first to miss the #1 spot in their native UK, though getting to the #2 position isn't something to sneeze at. It went to #1 in Hungary, and reached the top ten in Canada (#3), Ireland (#3), Australia (#5), the Netherlands (#6), Sweden (#8), Finland (#8), Belgium (#8W/#14F), and New Zealand (#9). The song also made the top-40 in France (#12) and Germany (#35).
A final single was released from the record, "Viva Forever". Accompanied by an animated music video (most likely since Halliwell had already departed in May), the Latin-style midtempo track returned the group to #1 in the UK and New Zealand, and reached the top ten in Australia (#2), Italy (#2), Ireland (#2), Iceland (#2), Hungary (#2), Switzerland (#3), Canada (#4), Germany (#4), Austria (#4), Sweden (#6), the Netherlands (#7), Belgium (#9W/#13F), but stiffed completely in the States.
(8/10)
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Here's the Spice Girls performing the song in concert in Istanbul in 1997...
Next up, going full 1960's cosplay at the Brit Awards in 1998...
Geri reunited with the group in 2007 for their appearance on the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show...
and lastly, on their most recent tour in 2019, without Victoria Beckham this time...
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