Over the last 12 months, we’ve taken you back to the UK charts’ biggest hits of a quarter of a century ago with The Story of Pop: 1998. But today, our series reaches its conclusion – and what better way to say goodbye than with four girls who were doing exactly the same…
- Artist: Spice Girls
- Song: Goodbye
- Released: 14/12/1998
- Writers / Producers: Spice Girls / Richard “Biff” Stannard / Matt Rowe
- Highest UK Chart Position: #1
- Weeks on Chart: 21
There were few moments in the Spice Girls‘ brief but brilliant career that were left to chance. So even as the very dynamic of the band was shaken after Geri Halliwell unexpectedly quit the band in May as we discussed on our entry for “Viva Forever” earlier on this series, this equally wasn’t overlooked.
Whilst out in America on their relentless world tour schedule, they found time to head into the studio in Nashville to record what was to be their Christmas single but also, to all intents and purposes, the formality of bringing the curtain down on Geri’s time in the band and, as it would turn out, the end of their real imperial phase.
“Goodbye” had actually started life whilst she was still in the band, but with their old songwriting partners Richard “Biff” Stannard and Matt Rowe, they decided to rework what had previously been a more relationship centric song to one that was about the departure of their former bandmate.
Speaking in the girls’ 1999 autobiography Forever Spice, Richard said: “It was about moving on and saying ‘goodbye’ to the old Spice Girls. It wasn’t ‘Goodbye’ to Geri; it wasn’t really literal. A lot of that song was written when they were touring in America. We wrote it in Nashville so I think it has that sentimental feel to it because everyone was kind of homesick and knackered.”
And although ballads were often not the immediate focus of the band, it is certainly one to rank up there as their very best. For many of their predominantly young fans, who had been their first entry point into pop music, it was also an opportunity for them to mourn the loss of what had been, and also get adjusted to the idea that all pop bands, even those as big as the Spice Girls, will only last a certain amount of time.
Vocally they all deliver here, with Emma Bunton’s reflective verses (“Just a little girl, big imagination / Never letting no one take it away”), Mel B’s emotional bridges (“Look for the rainbow in every storm / Find out for certain / Love’s gonna be there for you / You’ll always be someone’s baby”) and perhaps the most touching lines delivered by Victoria Beckham in the middle 8 that really hit home: “The times when we would play about / The way we used to scream and shout / We never dreamt you’d go your own sweet way”.
And then there’s the chorus, which says completely and utterly who it is meant for: “Goodbye my friend (I know you’re gone, you said you’re gone, but I can still feel you here) / It’s not the end (You gotta keep it strong before the pain turns into fear)” and Melanie C’s lines “So glad we made it, time will never change it / No no no (no, no, no) / You know it’s time to say goodbye”.
Indeed, the theme of overall wistfulness and time to reflect on what was – which is after all, what Christmas sometimes ends up being about, certainly in later years as loved ones move on or are passed – also pervades through to the stunning video, which captures the girls arriving at a frozen ice palace (Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire) as different scenarios gradually thaw out as the song progresses.
One thing that made it visually apparent how much had changed and how fast things had moved in Spice World in just one year was the fact Victoria and Mel B were both now visibly heavily pregnant and starting to settle down with families.
If this hadn’t been the surest sign on its own that the girls’ initial and glittering imperial phase was about to take a pause, then “Goodbye” as a song certainly was, for the next 22 months that followed saw them each go off to pursue their solo projects, whilst slowly building what became their third and final album in 2000, Forever.
The question of whether this single was going to be their third consecutive Christmas number one – thus matching a feat only achieved by one other band (The Beatles) was never really in doubt. It was more a question of just how big it was going to be. As it turns out, the answer was massive; first week sales in excess of 380,000 copies made it their biggest first week sale only behind the 429,000 copies that “2 Become 1” had sold to be their first Christmas number one exactly two years previously.
All this too, even in the face of the tight run towards the end of the chart week when Chef, the character voiced by Isaac Hayes in adult cartoon South Park put it in a first week sale of 372,000 copies of the lewd “Chocolate Salty Balls” to debut at #2. Whilst the Spice Girls were to top the chart once more with “Holler / Let Love Lead The Way“, truly they never were as big again as they were here where the UK charts were concerned. But “Goodbye” was certainly a fitting climax to their dominance of the charts of the late 90s – and to 1998 itself.
Thank you so much for reading along and following The Story of Pop: 1998 – we hope you’ve enjoyed it! Don’t forget you can revisit all the songs we’ve covered on the series any time you wish by clicking here, and listen to them all again anytime you like with our Spotify playlist above.
The Niche Reference 