Reach for the Stars: 1996–2006: Fame, Fallout and Pop’s Final Party: A Times Summer Read 2023

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Formed in May 1997, Five, AKA Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson, J Brown, Sean Conlon and Abz Love, released their debut single Slam Dunk (Da Funk) just six months later and found themselves living in a house together as teenagers. The band’s 11 UK Top 10 singles, three Top 5 albums and two arena tours spanned less than a four-year period. That it ended in burnout, depression and fist-fights was hardly surprising given their light-speed ascent. In recent years, there has been a happy ending of sorts with Neville, Robinson and Conlon reuniting as a three-membered Five and releasing a new album last year. But it all started out via five lads standing out from an initial crowd of 3,000 wannabes that featured a pre-fame Russell Brand among their number … Sean The label were in a rush and they didn’t want to wait, so they convinced the band to use a cardboard cut-out of me [in the video for Let’s Dance]. It did hurt a little bit. It was like the label saying, “Well, he’s so miserable anyway and he’s not smiling and he’s so quiet that he might as well have been a cardboard cut-out.” That’s what it felt like to me.

michael cragg - reach for the stars: 1996–2006: fame, fallout michael cragg - reach for the stars: 1996–2006: fame, fallout

I was moving into my teenage years when the Spice Girls started, and so Iwas trying to work out who Iwas. But Iwas also trying to sort of hide who Iwas, and it was too revealing to talk about pop music. It was too revealing to say that you were afan of Girls Aloud, even, when they first started. And so Iwouldn’t.” Even at uni, Cragg would pretend to like Radiohead (“I kind of did… for abit”), while he was working out his sexuality and identity. ​ “I didn’t really talk about [pop music] – Ididn’t say that Iliked it.” To chat about Reach For The Stars, 1996 – 2006: Fame, Fallout and Pop’s Final Party, journalist Michael Cragg has worn aGirls Aloud T‑shirt for the occasion, from the band’s debut 2003 album. A brilliant, celebratory, gossipy history of 90s pop. Great stories and interviews. If that's your era, you'll love it.' -- Richard Osman Brian Higgins is the British mega-producer who, along with Miranda Cooper and the rest of his Kent-based pop factory Xenomania, was the brains behind some of the most celebrated, most innovative and frankly best pop tunes of the past two decades: Girls Aloud’s Biology, The Promise and the aforesaid Sound of the Underground; Sugababes’ Round Round and Hole in the Head; Rachel Stevens’ highly underrated album, Come and Get It – acommercial failure, but so good it landed on The Guardian ​ ’s list of 1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die.Cragg’s central thesis is that, essentially, they don’t make pop like they used to. It’s a convincing one. Acts today are neither quite as DayGlo nor as recognisable. There’s no Top of the Pops for them to appear on, no Smash Hits magazine to feature them. Mental health is now centre stage, and there is at last slightly less objectification. The book reminds us of the treatment towards Kym Marsh, member of reality TV band Hear’Say, about whom producer “Nasty” Nigel Lythgoe said: “Christmas is coming, and the goose is still fat.” It points out, too, that Sugababes’ Mutya Buena was required to work throughout her pregnancy, and then, in time to film a new video just a couple of months later: “I was the skinniest I’ve ever been.” The book begins with the Spice Girls, who changed everything. Their cheeky attitude and catchy tunes made pop music exciting again. They influenced so many new bands around that time - All Saints were seen as edgier version, whereas Five were imagined as a male equivalent. But we also hear from other groups that didn't make quite the same impression - the likes of A1 and Girl Thing. It's fascinating to hear them discuss their reasons for not quite succeeding.

Reach for the Stars By Michael Cragg | Used | 9781788707244 Reach for the Stars By Michael Cragg | Used | 9781788707244

From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada: You won't find a more comprehensive and entertaining pop book than this.' -- Jordan Paramor, journalist and author Using the arrival of the Spice Girls as a jumping-off point, this fascinating new narrative will explore, celebrate and contextualise the thus-far-uncharted period of British pop that flourished between 1996 and 2006. A double-denim-loving time before the glare of social media and the accession of streaming.

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If you watched The Big Reunion on television a few years ago (or any similar programmes) or read any of the many official band books from the late 90's and early 2000's then you probably won't learn anything new from this book. That's not to say that it isn't still an interesting read but most of the interview pieces with band members are taken from past interviews or books that are already published. Rather than accept that two competing ideas can both offer up positives and negatives, the pop vs indie debate became a war. Frankly, in book-form at least, it feels like the indie side has had its say. Part of why I wanted to do this book…was to add some extra weight to a hugely important period of UK music that often felt ignored in the stream of chin-stroking think pieces on Britpop, the post-Strokes UK indie resurgence or the post-MySpace Arctic Monkeys chatter.

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Having written for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue and Popjustice (as well as being a few years older than me), Michael Cragg is in the perfect position to deliver an authoritative tome on this period in pop music, as well as making sense of the pitch battles between the poptivists and the real music bores. In the introduction, he makes the case that: According to producer Pete Waterman, the proudly cheesy Steps were supposed to be “Abba on speed”, a claim to which Abba might well take offence: their debut single, 5, 6, 7, 8, was ostensibly a nursery rhyme based around line-dancing. “One of the girls who auditioned [for the band originally] was quite deep and spiritual, and said it hurt her soul to sing that song,” Steps’ Claire Richards says. “I’m not that deep.” Sean Conlon I saw Abz at my audition. He had some sunglasses on and looked a little bit like how Peter Andre used to dress. He really stood out from the whole queue.

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The definition of a “golden age” is elastic and is usually defined by whatever was going on when you were between the ages of 12 and 22. I promise you there is just as much amazing pop music being made right now. You just might not be able to truly perceive it, because your fully developed prefrontal cortex is in the way. Chris Herbert It burned them out. In hindsight, I would never do that again. We took on too much too soon. An outstanding music book. England's Dreaming for people with a working knowledge of 5ive.' -- Fergal Kinney Beyond the stories of fame, fortune and turning up to the CD:UK studios still pissed from the night before, Reach… finds itself in some pretty dark places. The music industry was far less monitored than it is now, with conversations about mental health, racism and misogyny barely audible within the four walls of the music industry, let alone in the tabloids.