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Subject: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: exodus08 on 09/20/18 at 8:18 pm

I was wondering what generation claims the Spice Girls? Gen X or Millennials since they came out in 1996.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: Tyrannosaurus Rex on 09/20/18 at 9:34 pm

Millennial; they ushered in the teen pop age that started in January of 1997 in the US.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: yelimsexa on 09/21/18 at 7:06 am

My younger sister born in 1991 had a Spice Girls Doll and Spice World VHS in the late '90s. It was certainly for "teenyboppers" that no one over 16 really would be seen as cool listening to. The only reason though that they have a song called "Generation X" is that was of course the generation that their members were from. It made a cool spinoff into a Pepsi ad as "Generation Next" though. Gen X's "Spice Girls" are The Go-Go's. By this time in the '90s, Gen X was either into post-grunge, the punk revival, Britpop, nu metal, electronica, or for the sedate, the swing revival.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: mwalker1996 on 09/21/18 at 3:38 pm


My younger sister born in 1991 had a Spice Girls Doll and Spice World VHS in the late '90s. It was certainly for "teenyboppers" that no one over 16 really would be seen as cool listening to. The only reason though that they have a song called "Generation X" is that was of course the generation that their members were from. It made a cool spinoff into a Pepsi ad as "Generation Next" though. Gen X's "Spice Girls" are The Go-Go's. By this time in the '90s, Gen X was either into post-grunge, the punk revival, Britpop, nu metal, electronica, or for the sedate, the swing revival.
Simlair to Limp Bizkit who had a song called My Generation and they mentioned Generation X. It makes sense that Early 80s borns despise being called Millennials because the songs from their youth always referred to them as Gen X ;D.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: Tyrannosaurus Rex on 09/21/18 at 3:55 pm


Similar to Limp Bizkit who had a song called My Generation and they mentioned Generation X. It makes sense that Early 80s borns despise being called Millennials because the songs from their youth always referred to them as Gen X ;D.


I never knew that.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: violet_shy on 09/21/18 at 4:05 pm

Gen X

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: ZeldaFan20 on 09/21/18 at 7:05 pm

They were members of the core of Generation X, but their target demographic were Millennials. That certainly was not atypical in the Late 1990s.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: Zelek3 on 09/21/18 at 11:22 pm

I'd say Early Millennials but people born in 82-85 get TRIGGERED at being called Millennials and prefer being Late Gen X, so most "normies" would preferably consider Spice Girls to be a Gen X thing i think.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: Zelek3 on 09/21/18 at 11:23 pm


Simlair to Limp Bizkit who had a song called My Generation and they mentioned Generation X.

Well Fred Durst was born in the 70s so it makes sense he'd call himself that.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: violet_shy on 09/22/18 at 12:48 am

1996 was mid 90s not late 90s. AND Gen X culture was still prominent in 1996 even 1997. For those of us born very early in the 80s (1980 and 1981) since this age group is considered to be part of Gen X. I listened to the Spice Girls when they first appeared and I'm not a Millennial. 1996 was definitely not a Millennial year, the music was still targeted at Gen X-ers. Ask a Millennial who Lina Santiago was? Or Rockell? Or Allure? They won't know. Those are Gen X artists who were popular in 1996, 1997. And yes they were mainstream artists.

As for the Spice Girls, I don't consider them a teeny pop/music girl band because their songs were too grown up.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: Zelek3 on 09/22/18 at 1:10 am


1996 was mid 90s not late 90s. AND Gen X culture was still prominent in 1996 even 1997. For those of us born very early in the 80s (1980 and 1981) since this age group is considered to be part of Gen X. I listened to the Spice Girls when they first appeared and I'm not a Millennial. 1996 was definitely not a Millennial year, the music was still targeted at Gen X-ers. Ask a Millennial who Lina Santiago was? Or Rockell? Or Allure? They won't know. Those are Gen X artists who were popular in 1996, 1997. And yes they were mainstream artists.

As for the Spice Girls, I don't consider them a teeny pop/music girl band because their songs were too grown up.

I'll take your word for it. You could say TRL, Britney Spears, and NSYNC in 1998-1999 started the Millennial teen culture, with 1996-1997 still leaning Gen X.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: violet_shy on 09/22/18 at 1:28 am


I'll take your word for it. You could say TRL, Britney Spears, and NSYNC in 1998-1999 started the Millennial teen culture, with 1996-1997 still leaning Gen X.


.....buuuut, Millennials(those who were between 6 and 10 year olds in 1996) might have grown up listening to Gen X artists such as the Spice girls. I listened to Mariah Carey in 1990 when I was 10 and her songs were grown up. I think it's not about which generation claims anything since both Millennials and Gen Xers existed in 1996.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: mwalker1996 on 09/23/18 at 10:25 pm


.....buuuut, Millennials(those who were between 6 and 10 year olds in 1996) might have grown up listening to Gen X artists such as the Spice girls. I listened to Mariah Carey in 1990 when I was 10 and her songs were grown up. I think it's not about which generation claims anything since both Millennials and Gen Xers existed in 1996.
Your response is the reason why I start the millenal generation around late 81/82 (class of 2000). Heck mid 89s borns don't really associate themselves with being millenals. 96-97 had elements of Y music like Korn, Backstreet Boys Missy Eillot, Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, Jay Z, etc but you guys were also old enough to be into Grunge, Gansta Rap and New Jack Swing that's associated with Gen X.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: exodus08 on 09/23/18 at 10:28 pm


Your response is the reason why I start the millenal generation around late 81/82 (class of 2000). Heck mid 89s borns don't really associate themselves with being millenals. 96-97 had elements of Y music like Korn, Backstreet Boys Missy Eillot, Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, Jay Z, etc but you guys were also old enough to be into Grunge, Gansta Rap and New Jack Swing that's associated with Gen X.

My cousin '84 and brother '89 say they're Millennials.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: Knew Wave on 09/24/18 at 7:21 pm

They are in Generation X, but their music appeals to both Millennials and younger Generation X members. They were big during Generation X. Billy Idol is a Baby Boomer, but his fans largely are in Generation X, with some younger Baby Boomers. He's seen as a Generation X act, so I think the same kind of logic applies to the Spice Girls.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: Tyrannosaurus Rex on 09/25/18 at 11:45 am


All Four

Late Gen Xers
Gen XYers (1978-1982)
Early Yers (1982-1986)
Late Yers (1987-1994 )


I'm not in for another generation cutoff debate.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: exodus08 on 09/25/18 at 5:49 pm

All I was asking was what generation claims the Spice Girls and nothing about who is part of what generation. :D

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: Knew Wave on 09/25/18 at 6:22 pm


I'm not in for another generation cutoff debate.


I don't even buy the mainstream concept of generations, due to arbitrary cutoff dates (not to mention cusps). I'll leave it at that since there's no need to kick a dead horse.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: mqg96 on 09/26/18 at 10:07 am

Spice Girls is a hybrid of late Gen X and early Gen Y/Millennial. It's weird because Spice Girls started in the mid 90's in the UK but got popular in the late 90's overseas and in the U.S.

I'm not a big expert on the group or their songs, but if we're talking about teen pop music groups, the Spice Girls were already big well before Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, and NSYNC apparently, which are all music groups I consider to be Gen Y/Millennial only.

The whole Y2K teen pop craze was a MILLENNIAL thing period.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: mwalker1996 on 09/26/18 at 1:02 pm


Spice Girls is a hybrid of late Gen X and early Gen Y/Millennial. It's weird because Spice Girls started in the mid 90's in the UK but got popular in the late 90's overseas and in the U.S.

I'm not a big expert on the group or their songs, but if we're talking about teen pop music groups, the Spice Girls were already big well before Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, and NSYNC apparently, which are all music groups I consider to be Gen Y/Millennial only.

The whole Y2K teen pop craze was a MILLENNIAL thing period.
Backstreet boys also started in the mid-90s, but NSYNC and Britiney are pure Y artist for sure.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: John Titor on 09/26/18 at 3:27 pm


Backstreet boys also started in the mid-90s, but NSYNC and Britiney are pure Y artist for sure.


In other countries they did, But USA did not get Backstreet boys until The Nutty Professor album dropped in 96,
even then no one knew who they were nor cared, it wasn't until June 1997 they popped off in the USA with
Quit Playing Games (with My Heart).

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: bchris02 on 09/26/18 at 11:58 pm

I was in elementary school when the "Wannabe" was popular.  I've always looked back on them as the very beginning of the Y2K teen pop wave.  They were kind of the "Carly Rae Jepsen" of that teen pop era.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: 80sfan on 09/29/18 at 4:01 pm

Both.  :D

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: John Titor on 11/01/18 at 5:50 pm


I was in elementary school when the "Wannabe" was popular.  I've always looked back on them as the very beginning of the Y2K teen pop wave.  They were kind of the "Carly Rae Jepsen" of that teen pop era.
Same as soon as that song hit y2k era started

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: Todd Pettingzoo on 11/01/18 at 10:37 pm

XY: 1977-1983

Pure Y: 1984-1994

YZ: 1995-2001

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: exodus08 on 11/02/18 at 12:40 pm


I was in elementary school when the "Wannabe" was popular.  I've always looked back on them as the very beginning of the Y2K teen pop wave.  They were kind of the "Carly Rae Jepsen" of that teen pop era.

I was in first grade when the Spice Girls became popular in the U.S in Early 1997.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: Jaydawg89 on 11/02/18 at 3:50 pm

I honestly think that 1999 was the only year of the 1990s that actually leaned more towards millennials, 1998 had far too much mature music/Adult Contemporary, Ballad music and slow R&B to lean towards Millennials at the time. The music trends were the exact same as 1997, it wasn't until like November 1998 when music started to shift again.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1998

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: TheEarly90sFan on 11/02/18 at 4:07 pm

Blake Lively (Gossip Girl) was a fan in ‘97, too:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.today.com/today/amp/tdna135200

It’s all coming back to me, now. My friend’s younger sister used to beg him for change all of the time in the summer of ‘97 to get some Spice Girls fantasy ball gum lollipops from the ‘Mr. Softee’ ice cream truck. There were 24 stickers to collect from those lollipop wrappers, IIRC.

I guess I will have to change the response I made earlier. ‘97 and ‘98 were good years in music for late Yers the same way ‘88 and ‘89 were for late Gen Xers.


XY: 1977-1983

Pure Y: 1984-1994

YZ: 1995-2001



I hope my cousin doesn’t see this. While my cousin is a Millennial (early Millennial), he prefers not to be grouped with late Millennials.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: Tyrannosaurus Rex on 11/02/18 at 4:45 pm


I honestly think that 1999 was the only year of the 1990s that actually leaned more towards millennials, 1998 had far too much mature music/Adult Contemporary, Ballad music and slow R&B to lean towards Millennials at the time. The music trends were the exact same as 1997, it wasn't until like November 1998 when music started to shift again.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1998


I'm going to guess this:

1990-1996: X
1997-1998: The transition years between X stuff and Y stuff
1999: Y

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: exodus08 on 11/03/18 at 12:57 pm


The only real iffy year is 1980; you'd see them get labeled as both Gen Xers and Millennials. However, they are most likely viewed as the former rather than the latter.

Most people and sources seem to agree though that 1977-1979 is X and that 1981-1983 is Y.

Anybody born in 1980 on here? We can ask them.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: Tyrannosaurus Rex on 11/03/18 at 9:30 pm

And I contradicted myself like an idiot, yet again.

Subject: Re: Spice Girls: Gen x or Millennial music?

Written By: yelimsexa on 11/04/18 at 5:06 pm


I'm going to guess this:

1990-1996: X
1997-1998: The transition years between X stuff and Y stuff
1999: Y


Michael Bolton though would be Boomer, and even stuff like Mariah Carey and Celine Dion was more "family music" aimed at Millenial kids and their parents, and was too humdrum for Gen Xers unless if it was their first dance song at a wedding. Aerosmith's "Crazy" also had a lot of Boomers enjoying them, as was Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel's 1993 comeback albums. Even my boomer mom liked Shania Twain. Some Xers like certain 2010s things (like The Goldbergs and documentaries on their favorite '80s/early '90s band) the same way that some Boomers like certain '90s things (like '70s retro films like The Brady Bunch Movie and Boogie Nights, as well as what the classic hit stations played at the time, and with things like the Swing Revival, even the grandparents of some kids who listened to it also digged it). Your mini-chart just focuses on what generation the TEENS at the time (specifically, the senior class in high school) were a part of and not the entire demographic picture. Another name for that "transition" would be Xennial. And NOT all music/films/shows are targeted at teenagers!

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