Episode Ep 510 March 2, 2023 38 min 6s

Was the pop boom of 1996-2006 a comedy or a tragedy?

From Word In Your Ear Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold

The teenage Michael Cragg was obsessed with the “glorious shiny ludicrous pop” of the period that began with the Spice Girls, included Hear’Say, Five, Steps, Atomic Kitten, Blue and countless others and ended with the closure of Popworld and Smash Hits ten years later, a tale less about music than the media that covered it and the machinations of the industry. All the key leading players – bands, managers, songwriters, critics – are interviewed in his sparkling and soon-to-be-published account of it all, Reach For the Stars, and our conversation with him includes …

….. why Chris Morris should make a film about it.

… why there are no groups anymore.

… Russell Brand auditioning for Five.

… the secret of the Spice Girls’ success.

… which is more cynical, the worlds of TV or music.

… why pop stars needed “bullet-proof exteriors”.

... the band that couldn’t go to gigs or football matches without security to protect them.

… why Blue would never have survived in the age of social media.

… why pop stars were like contract players in 1930s movies.

… how TV drained the fun and frivolity.

… whether girl groups appeal to 100 per cent of the audience and boybands to only 50?

… the extraordinary fall and rise of Whole Again by Atomic Kitten.