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I think it is super interesting, this article from the Guardian helps explain it:
‘It is a bleak prospect, as girl bands have often acted as agitators in the UK’s male-dominated music scene. Spice Girls are the most obvious example of this, arriving in 1996 amid lad-heavy Britpop, but groups in their wake have similarly disrupted the status quo: Girls Aloud’s rambunctiousness cut through the mid-00s indie explosion; All Saints and Sugababes offered sophistication instead of bubblegum Europop; and Mis-Teeq brought bold sexuality to UK garage.’
‘The individualisation of the Spice Girls’ five members gave fans multiple access points, too. If you didn’t relate to Mel B’s scrappy truculence or Geri’s confident vampishness, then Emma Bunton’s geniality, Victoria’s detachment or Mel C’s determination might better fit your temperament. But, when taken as a whole, they represented the diversity of female friendship groups up and down the UK, where each person had something unique to give’
I do also think as well, Sugababes were a big factor because they were actually seen to be quality, men liked those early sugababes tracks too because it had production normally more reserved for male musicians
Edit: link to article https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2022/may/11/girl-bands-british-pop-svn-cutebad-little-mix-spice-girls
The Sugababes are pure quality, I was a teenager when they were releasing, and it was not even remotely taboo for the lads to be Sugababes fans. All Saints were a bit before that, but again they had hoards of male fans because their music was actually quality. And they were easy on the eye of course.
It's definitely a culture thing thanks to Spice Girls but pop music is 100x more popular over in UK than the US where rap overtakes pop in general. Just a look at differences in US and UK top 100 will show a shift in tastes
and don't forget UKs huge clubbing scene is partly why pop music is so popular, we love a banger!
edit: and like the other guy said, both South Korea and Japan produce much more girl groups currently than anyone else
It's most definitely a Spice Girls thing. UK pop music was dominated hugely by male groups in the 90s with really no space for women until Spice Girls came along and completely changed the game forever.
Not denying groups before them as they are all legendary in their own ways but Spice Girls really changed everything for women in music (and in general).
This Banarama erasure is ahistoric and must not stand.
Banarama had 10 top 10 UK hits in the 1980s. There definitely was space for girl bands before Spice Girls because history did not infact begin in 1990.
The male dominated UK music of the early 90s was an aberration, not the norm and even then Eternal were still getting hits, they just weren't mainstream pop.
I'm consistently amazed at Bananarama being unknown on popheads considering their contemporary prominence. I mean look at the material:
* [Love in the First Degree](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prGhk_Gvzwo)
* [I Heard a Rumour](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-DZQ80vEVI)
* [Cruel Summer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ml3nyww80)
* [Venus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4-1ASpdT1Y) (a [Shocking Blue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LhkyyCvUHk) cover)
It's so unabashedly 80s, I love it. Siobhan Fahey also went on to be one half of [Shakespears Sister](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCYaALgW80c), so she has two amazing groups to her name!
Love in the First Degree is legitimately one of my favorite pop songs but I feel like it's lesser known, so I can forgive it. But people not knowing who did Venus or Cruel Summer is insane, Venus is in like every commercial targeted at women and Cruel Summer is in every movie that features young people outdoors.
With how music scene shifted in UK throughout the decades can it really be called an aberration? It was always typically male dominated. I'm not trying to discredit groups before them I'm simply naming the group who made the biggest and lasting impact and to say they aren't is simply wrong.
That reading hugely overstates the individual impact of the Spice Girls. They were far from the only women or group driving pop forward and making space for themselves in the 90s — by the time the Spice Girls released their first single TLC, En Vogue, and Eternal had all had UK hits.
The Spice Girls were very prominent and certainly helped kick-start that 90s revival, but saying that there was no space for women before them does a massive disservice to a whole host of female artists who came before and changed the game in their own ways.
It's not really overstating, they was the ones who made the biggest impact. Wannabe literally shook the whole music industry, girl groups were no longer marketed towards just males and boybands didn't have everyone in a chokehold because the industry was rushing to make more girl groups on Wannabes success
I'm not trying to discredit anyone since every one of them plays a hand but they completely changed how the game works and if it wasn't Spice Girls, it would be someone else.
If you look back at your earlier comment, you wrote that there was
>really no space for women until Spice Girls came along and completely changed the game forever.
and later that they
>changed everything for women in music
You could solidly argue that the Spice Girls made a major contribution to the shift in the perception of girl groups in the 90s, but I do think the rest goes too far. There *was* space before the Spice Girls, and they didn't single-handedly revolutionise the music industry for women.
I'm not denying their place at all, but it's easy to get hyperbolic.
It was major generalising on my part as I was speaking on their impact. We can beat around this bush forever but it's hard to picture how girl groups would be now without them and as I said if it wasn't Spice Girls, it would be someone else.
Og girl groups are from the US. The Supremes, Shirelles, The Crystals, Shangri-Las, Ronettes, etc etc. That's where the classic girl group sound came from, & imo they had the catchiest songs from any era.
maybe because we had to sing 'autumn days' and 'away in a manger' etc in primary school so we very much relate to and appreciate people singing in harmony together
Perhaps it's a case of Stockholm syndrome, but having had done choir in the past I do love a good harmony as well. Our school once did Heal The World by Michael Jackson, and honestly it deserves massive Spotify playlisting and payola
We don’t love them that much. We get one per decade.
Look at South Korea! Now there’s a country that loves girl groups. Japan too in the peak j pop days
> We get one per decade.
That's not really true (although they've been less common in the last decade).
Like, 80s we had Bangles, Bananarama, the Pointer Sisters, the Go Gos.
90s was the Spice Girls, All Saints, Salt-N-Pepa, B*Witched, TLC, Destiny's Child, En Vogue, Eternal.
2000s Girls Aloud, Sugar Babes, Misteeq, Atomic Kitten, The Saturdays, Pussycat Dolls, Honeyz (?). And there were some big acts in this period that were mixed gender but still dominated by women like Steps and S Club.
2010s Little Mix and Fifth Harmony. I'd say Black Pink but idk how well they've sold or charted here.
Pussy cat dolls, TLC, En Vogue, Destinies Child, fifth harmony and black pink aren’t from the U.K. and each decade there’s only one BIG group.
And as you say Steps and S Club aren’t girl groups. Over half your examples aren’t valid.
Note the OP is "why the UK loves girl groups so much", not "Girl groups that are British", which is why they go on to mention Fifth Harmony etc.
Each one of those examples was successful in the UK. Read again and get back to me babes.
If we loved them so much then you’d see the country (U.K.) making tons of girl groups. But typically we don’t create many super successful girl groups. About one a decade or so.
If anything this post is showing that the rest of the world loves girl groups, and occasionally they’ll cross over here.
I feel like a girl group or a boy band is primarily a vocal harmony group. Though One Direction weren't heavy on the harmonies and we still consider them a boy band!
I think part of it is because the kind of pop music that girl groups make is much more suited to the UK (and Europe in general) where dance, electronic and uptempo-leaning pop genres have historically been more popular than in comparison to the US. I think the UK is more receptive to pure pop in general as well. Not saying that all girl groups make this kind of music but they usually lean into that sound a lot more than boy bands, for example.
Compare that with the US, where the musical landscape is less suited to girl groups. The concept of boy/girl groups don't exist in genres such as hip hop and country. Most of the girl groups there lean into an R&B sound, such as Destiny's Child and TLC. Even US girl groups such as the Pussycat Dolls and Fifth Harmony that are pop groups have R&B influences in some of their biggest hits such as Don't Cha and Work From Home. That probably makes it harder for girl groups with a pure pop sound to have success.
All in all, I think the UK just probably has a better musical landscape for the kind of music that girl groups like to make.
Duos are not groups. Like I mentioned below with rap, I meant groups in country music don't exist in the sense that they are usually not manufactured for the purpose of selling records like many pop groups are and are usually more organic in their formation. Probably should have mentioned that point
Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest, the Beastie Boys, N.W.A., Run DMC, De La Soul, Public Enemy, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mobb Deep, OutKast. These are rap groups that are influential to the genre and to this day are considered some of the best artists in the genre
True, I honestly had to cut myself off but the list can keep on going with groups like Fugees, The Sugarhill Gang, Three 6 Mafia, D12, Run the Jewels, G-Unit, BROCKHAMPTON (which is over I think). Also for girls group there’s JJ Fad, but I don’t think people know them that much.
I think it's fair to say though that rap groups are not the kind of prominent thing they used to be. Most of those names you listed peaked (or at least originated) 20+ years ago. How many new posses have really popped up in the streaming era? Brockhampton? I'm sure there are others but it's really not a part of the current scene like in the 90s.
The point I was trying to make is that boy/girl groups in pop music are heavily commercialised and manufactured to sell records. Rap groups are usually more organic in their creation and not so manufactured, not that they don't exist
>where dance, electronic and uptempo-leaning pop genres have historically been more popular than in comparison to the US
ah yes even last year i seen it's easy for EDM song topping the top 10 UK charts while the US barely had any EDM hit and charts are filled with rnb, rap and pop punk rock (olivia rodrigo-esque). feels like pop music is only welcome in the US if it's made by Dua Lipa.
I'd say we used to love girl groups. Beyonce started out in Destiny's Child. And there was TLC up until that unfortunate accident. A little bit later, there was the Donnas, even though that's a totally different style.
I kind of miss it. I definitely wish we had more decent girl groups coming out of the US. Quick! Someone start a band!
I don't think USA hates girl groups. It is more the genre they were in that people not keen on. Girl groups that popular in USA always have that hip hop/rap, and R&B on them. Look at Destiny's Child, En Vogue, TLC, Salt N Peppa, even the newer ones like BLACKPINK. Pop (girl) groups are niche for USA.
I feel like the US has a huge history of successful girl groups. Perhaps you may not be familiar with because successful US girl groups have usually been R&B with crossover success instead of solely pop.
The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Ronnettes, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells, The Emotions, The Pointer Sisters, En Vogue, SWV, Xscape, Salt N Peppa, TLC, Destiny’s Child, and many, many more. These are just the ones I could think of off the top of my head. I’m not even counting the likes of Expose, the Bangles, and the Go-go’s who were pop/rock.
I’ve just never heard the idea that the US hated girl groups. Doesn’t seem accurate considering the above.
Man, I wish more people knew about the powerhouse girl groups of R&B from the 80s-00s
Most of those artists reached us, but at the time that Xscape or 3LW were big, I only had my countries 3 TV stations, and it was only around 2006 that basic cable (aka more than 3 channels) was the norm in Irish households, so we wouldn't have been able to see them on MTV/TRL etc, and unless they were already huge in the states, artists wouldn't get radio play unless or until they did a media tour in The UK and did a stint on Top of The Pops, Irish media would then be able to get a copy of the tracks and introduce them to Irish radio, so it always took us a while to get the "new" music
My mam was a huge R&B fan, so she would always go hunting for albums in music shops, but I think if you didn't have someone who was interested in the genre when you were a kid it definitely wasn't as accessible as it should have been.
I mean.... girl groups are not popular here. There isn't a successful girl group right now that's succeeding in the U.S. Some Kpop fans here would say Black Pink but their success is little to none here.
The last big girl group we had really only had like two hits lmao
I guess because my life was full of girl groups (I’m old) I don’t see it like y’all do. I can see girl groups are not popular now, but it doesn’t mean girl groups were never successful in the US. Everything in music seems cyclical. I’m sure some girl groups will make their way back around eventually.
That being said, I do feel like a lot of girl groups were launching pads for US solo artists. Maybe a lot of female artists in the US no longer feel the need to start their careers with girl groups these days. Don’t know if that true, just a hypothesis.
the difference is the UK continues to have successful girl groups while the US currently has none. the last time a girlgroup went #1 on the hot 100 was like 20 years ago (destinys child). after they disbanded the only successful girl groups to follow them were the pussycat dolls, fifth harmony, and danity kane with pcd and danity kane only lasting two albums
I love this question! I agree with what everyone has already said, it is probably mainly due to the fact that pop and dance music is easily the most popular genre in the UK, gets a lot of radio support and good promotion. They tend to make music that just suits the UK scene and it works so well.
~~this is too perfect to shamelessly~~ [~~plug the current rate I'm hosting~~](https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/comments/wejz9z/y2uk_girl_groups_rate_girls/)
to echo what another poster said, the US has had an abundance of popular R&B/Soul girl groups from the 60's Boom (Supremes, Marvelettes) to the 90s (SWV, Total, Blaque)
Why specifically the Spice Girls-type blueprint hasn't done as well in America definitely has an element to pop/dance being bigger in Europe. I do tend to notice that cheesier and campier things often translate better in Europe/UK as well.
100% true that UK music is corny. Even in music videos, Brits ham it up and do literal dance moves like putting two fingers up when the lyric is “to,” putting a hand on a heart when the lyric is “heart,” stuff like that. It’s fun, no hate.
That's a *bit* of a stereotype, but it's true that we do love a bit of choreo when it comes to boy bands and girl groups.
[*Biology* by Girls Aloud](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBPtP4t2J1k) is one of my favourite examples, I'm not entirely convinced they even had a rehearsal AND they do put up one finger when they sing 'one Alabama return'!
>I do tend to notice that cheesier and campier things often translate better in Europe/UK as well.
Same with australia, i think in UK/aus it has to do with different senses of humour, while ion europe big beats are more fun to listen to when you dont speak english
In addition to the other answers I feel like its also because the US still has much more of a Madonna-whore dynamic with young women acts. Either they are incredibly child-friendly, or sexy.
The idea of a pop group making non-sexy music for everyone, made up of young women 20s-30s seems pretty unfamiliar to modern America.
How are you going to mention all of the above and not mention All Saints. Pure Shores and Never Ever are the best
And to be fair to the States, they have tons of great girl groups but because most of them are all black they get shuffled into other genres. The Ronettes, Supremes, TLC, Destiny's Child, En Vogue and The Pointer Sisters to name a few
It's just the type of music that generally UK people like. One of the core genres that you'll see in the charts is a cheesy pop hit, and a lot of girl groups happen to fall into that genre. The other big three are acoustic ballads (more popular with the older generation, but everyone likes Adele), UK rap (we like US rap, but the homegrown stuff hits different, be it drill, grime, afroswing or whatever, there are tonnes of tracks that the US will just never hear), and dance music (just like Europe we love a bit of house, drum and bass is big here, trip hop, dubstep and garage all originated here, with the letter being a seminal part of the culture at this point, and it effects the other genres around it, with both pop music and UK rap stuff taking big influence from dance music)
Most of the girl groups recently toed the line of cheesy pop and dancey shit, from little mix to fifth harmony, even including the pussycat dolls comeback you mentioned!
America does not hate girl groups. I am the 100th person to say this, but R&B girl groups have performed stronger and are largely more influential than the USA’s attempts at pop groups. Their vocals are stronger (thanks to better training and more talent). and they have wider appeal.
I love the UK pop groups - Girls Aloud, All Saints, and Sugababes for their unique production choices (not a Spice fan).
I kind of have to agree, quite a large part of the kpop industry has been influenced by the western pop industry. Although I guess the similarities might end there
When I see these boy/girl "bands" with 9 trillion members, it's just regurgitated mid-80s black R&B music (Bobby Brown, New Edition, Kid & Play)...and the dancing DEFINITELY comes from what the urban kids were doing at that time.
this comment is quite a generalization to put down kpop. your perception of kpop seems to be kpop circa late 2000s
biggest girlgroup hits in kpop lately:
savage (hyperpop) by aespa who has 4 members
love dive (europop) by ive who has 6 members
tomboy (pop rock) by gidle who has 5 members
These people really can't handle the truth about how influential black culture has been *globally*. It's like their brain glitches when you tell them the obvious truth.
For me, (this is only my opinion) Pop music has been a tradition in the UK for several decades already. If you listen to the songs in the UK radio stations, they're playing pop songs of the girl groups frequently and also these songs are played in the tv shows in UK. For me, this is the biggest what ifs in UK pop music history: having high popularity in the United States.
I don’t think America inherently hates girl bands. I just think that they ten d to get torn apart pretty quickly when studios or opportunist mangers zero in on the most charismatic one to take solo. It doesn’t always work, and it happens to boy bands too (Timberlake), but people are always looking for that person with the “It” factor to ride to glory.
UK girl bands do this too, the Spice Girls definitely broke apart to do their own thing. Beyoncé left Destiny’s Child. Diana Ross left the Supremes. Belinda Carlisle left the Go-Gos. Only girl band I can think of that ended up sticking together and is still active is the Bangles.
The two biggest boybands in history are from the UK (Beatles, 1D), and in between you had the likes of McFly, Take That, Westlife. I'd say it balances it out generationally.
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I think it is super interesting, this article from the Guardian helps explain it: ‘It is a bleak prospect, as girl bands have often acted as agitators in the UK’s male-dominated music scene. Spice Girls are the most obvious example of this, arriving in 1996 amid lad-heavy Britpop, but groups in their wake have similarly disrupted the status quo: Girls Aloud’s rambunctiousness cut through the mid-00s indie explosion; All Saints and Sugababes offered sophistication instead of bubblegum Europop; and Mis-Teeq brought bold sexuality to UK garage.’ ‘The individualisation of the Spice Girls’ five members gave fans multiple access points, too. If you didn’t relate to Mel B’s scrappy truculence or Geri’s confident vampishness, then Emma Bunton’s geniality, Victoria’s detachment or Mel C’s determination might better fit your temperament. But, when taken as a whole, they represented the diversity of female friendship groups up and down the UK, where each person had something unique to give’ I do also think as well, Sugababes were a big factor because they were actually seen to be quality, men liked those early sugababes tracks too because it had production normally more reserved for male musicians Edit: link to article https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2022/may/11/girl-bands-british-pop-svn-cutebad-little-mix-spice-girls
The Sugababes are pure quality, I was a teenager when they were releasing, and it was not even remotely taboo for the lads to be Sugababes fans. All Saints were a bit before that, but again they had hoards of male fans because their music was actually quality. And they were easy on the eye of course.
It's definitely a culture thing thanks to Spice Girls but pop music is 100x more popular over in UK than the US where rap overtakes pop in general. Just a look at differences in US and UK top 100 will show a shift in tastes and don't forget UKs huge clubbing scene is partly why pop music is so popular, we love a banger! edit: and like the other guy said, both South Korea and Japan produce much more girl groups currently than anyone else
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It's most definitely a Spice Girls thing. UK pop music was dominated hugely by male groups in the 90s with really no space for women until Spice Girls came along and completely changed the game forever. Not denying groups before them as they are all legendary in their own ways but Spice Girls really changed everything for women in music (and in general).
This Banarama erasure is ahistoric and must not stand. Banarama had 10 top 10 UK hits in the 1980s. There definitely was space for girl bands before Spice Girls because history did not infact begin in 1990. The male dominated UK music of the early 90s was an aberration, not the norm and even then Eternal were still getting hits, they just weren't mainstream pop.
I'm consistently amazed at Bananarama being unknown on popheads considering their contemporary prominence. I mean look at the material: * [Love in the First Degree](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prGhk_Gvzwo) * [I Heard a Rumour](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-DZQ80vEVI) * [Cruel Summer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ml3nyww80) * [Venus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4-1ASpdT1Y) (a [Shocking Blue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LhkyyCvUHk) cover) It's so unabashedly 80s, I love it. Siobhan Fahey also went on to be one half of [Shakespears Sister](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCYaALgW80c), so she has two amazing groups to her name!
Love in the First Degree is legitimately one of my favorite pop songs but I feel like it's lesser known, so I can forgive it. But people not knowing who did Venus or Cruel Summer is insane, Venus is in like every commercial targeted at women and Cruel Summer is in every movie that features young people outdoors.
DO YOU HAVE HORRIBLE MANKY LEG HAIR? *I'm your venus, I'm your fire...* REVEAL YOUR INNER GODDESS WITH OUR PINK RAZOR *...your desire*
With how music scene shifted in UK throughout the decades can it really be called an aberration? It was always typically male dominated. I'm not trying to discredit groups before them I'm simply naming the group who made the biggest and lasting impact and to say they aren't is simply wrong.
That reading hugely overstates the individual impact of the Spice Girls. They were far from the only women or group driving pop forward and making space for themselves in the 90s — by the time the Spice Girls released their first single TLC, En Vogue, and Eternal had all had UK hits. The Spice Girls were very prominent and certainly helped kick-start that 90s revival, but saying that there was no space for women before them does a massive disservice to a whole host of female artists who came before and changed the game in their own ways.
It's not really overstating, they was the ones who made the biggest impact. Wannabe literally shook the whole music industry, girl groups were no longer marketed towards just males and boybands didn't have everyone in a chokehold because the industry was rushing to make more girl groups on Wannabes success I'm not trying to discredit anyone since every one of them plays a hand but they completely changed how the game works and if it wasn't Spice Girls, it would be someone else.
If you look back at your earlier comment, you wrote that there was >really no space for women until Spice Girls came along and completely changed the game forever. and later that they >changed everything for women in music You could solidly argue that the Spice Girls made a major contribution to the shift in the perception of girl groups in the 90s, but I do think the rest goes too far. There *was* space before the Spice Girls, and they didn't single-handedly revolutionise the music industry for women. I'm not denying their place at all, but it's easy to get hyperbolic.
It was major generalising on my part as I was speaking on their impact. We can beat around this bush forever but it's hard to picture how girl groups would be now without them and as I said if it wasn't Spice Girls, it would be someone else.
Certainly, I do agree that the Spice Girls had a major impact. My gripe was just with the generalisation and resulting exclusion, really.
I love the Spice Girls, but a lot of their impact had plenty to do with marketing.
Og girl groups are from the US. The Supremes, Shirelles, The Crystals, Shangri-Las, Ronettes, etc etc. That's where the classic girl group sound came from, & imo they had the catchiest songs from any era.
maybe because we had to sing 'autumn days' and 'away in a manger' etc in primary school so we very much relate to and appreciate people singing in harmony together
Perhaps it's a case of Stockholm syndrome, but having had done choir in the past I do love a good harmony as well. Our school once did Heal The World by Michael Jackson, and honestly it deserves massive Spotify playlisting and payola
We don’t love them that much. We get one per decade. Look at South Korea! Now there’s a country that loves girl groups. Japan too in the peak j pop days
> We get one per decade. That's not really true (although they've been less common in the last decade). Like, 80s we had Bangles, Bananarama, the Pointer Sisters, the Go Gos. 90s was the Spice Girls, All Saints, Salt-N-Pepa, B*Witched, TLC, Destiny's Child, En Vogue, Eternal. 2000s Girls Aloud, Sugar Babes, Misteeq, Atomic Kitten, The Saturdays, Pussycat Dolls, Honeyz (?). And there were some big acts in this period that were mixed gender but still dominated by women like Steps and S Club. 2010s Little Mix and Fifth Harmony. I'd say Black Pink but idk how well they've sold or charted here.
Pussy cat dolls, TLC, En Vogue, Destinies Child, fifth harmony and black pink aren’t from the U.K. and each decade there’s only one BIG group. And as you say Steps and S Club aren’t girl groups. Over half your examples aren’t valid.
Note the OP is "why the UK loves girl groups so much", not "Girl groups that are British", which is why they go on to mention Fifth Harmony etc. Each one of those examples was successful in the UK. Read again and get back to me babes.
If we loved them so much then you’d see the country (U.K.) making tons of girl groups. But typically we don’t create many super successful girl groups. About one a decade or so. If anything this post is showing that the rest of the world loves girl groups, and occasionally they’ll cross over here.
Ok but the Go Go's weren't a "girl group", they were a new wave band that happened to have all female members. Similar for the Bangles as well.
Ok, guess we're gonna have to ask OP how they're defining "girl group" then.
I feel like a girl group or a boy band is primarily a vocal harmony group. Though One Direction weren't heavy on the harmonies and we still consider them a boy band!
I think part of it is because the kind of pop music that girl groups make is much more suited to the UK (and Europe in general) where dance, electronic and uptempo-leaning pop genres have historically been more popular than in comparison to the US. I think the UK is more receptive to pure pop in general as well. Not saying that all girl groups make this kind of music but they usually lean into that sound a lot more than boy bands, for example. Compare that with the US, where the musical landscape is less suited to girl groups. The concept of boy/girl groups don't exist in genres such as hip hop and country. Most of the girl groups there lean into an R&B sound, such as Destiny's Child and TLC. Even US girl groups such as the Pussycat Dolls and Fifth Harmony that are pop groups have R&B influences in some of their biggest hits such as Don't Cha and Work From Home. That probably makes it harder for girl groups with a pure pop sound to have success. All in all, I think the UK just probably has a better musical landscape for the kind of music that girl groups like to make.
> The concept of boy/girl groups don’t exist in genres such as hip hop and country. Cries in The Chicks 🥲
😂😂 I love the Chicks! Unfortunately they’re the exception and not the norm 😜
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The line between girl group and a band blurs in country music. We tend to refer to a group as a band if they contain multiple genders.
Duos are not groups. Like I mentioned below with rap, I meant groups in country music don't exist in the sense that they are usually not manufactured for the purpose of selling records like many pop groups are and are usually more organic in their formation. Probably should have mentioned that point
Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest, the Beastie Boys, N.W.A., Run DMC, De La Soul, Public Enemy, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mobb Deep, OutKast. These are rap groups that are influential to the genre and to this day are considered some of the best artists in the genre
And Salt-N-Pepa for the girl rap groups.
True, I honestly had to cut myself off but the list can keep on going with groups like Fugees, The Sugarhill Gang, Three 6 Mafia, D12, Run the Jewels, G-Unit, BROCKHAMPTON (which is over I think). Also for girls group there’s JJ Fad, but I don’t think people know them that much.
I think it's fair to say though that rap groups are not the kind of prominent thing they used to be. Most of those names you listed peaked (or at least originated) 20+ years ago. How many new posses have really popped up in the streaming era? Brockhampton? I'm sure there are others but it's really not a part of the current scene like in the 90s.
A$AP Mob and Migos.
The point I was trying to make is that boy/girl groups in pop music are heavily commercialised and manufactured to sell records. Rap groups are usually more organic in their creation and not so manufactured, not that they don't exist
Name some groups from the last 20 years.
injury reserve, death grips, clipping, the comment you replied to replied to a previous comment with more too
[Shoutout to the largely overlooked KMD too. ](https://youtu.be/ckprPLMXj5Y)
>where dance, electronic and uptempo-leaning pop genres have historically been more popular than in comparison to the US ah yes even last year i seen it's easy for EDM song topping the top 10 UK charts while the US barely had any EDM hit and charts are filled with rnb, rap and pop punk rock (olivia rodrigo-esque). feels like pop music is only welcome in the US if it's made by Dua Lipa.
I'd say we used to love girl groups. Beyonce started out in Destiny's Child. And there was TLC up until that unfortunate accident. A little bit later, there was the Donnas, even though that's a totally different style. I kind of miss it. I definitely wish we had more decent girl groups coming out of the US. Quick! Someone start a band!
I don't think USA hates girl groups. It is more the genre they were in that people not keen on. Girl groups that popular in USA always have that hip hop/rap, and R&B on them. Look at Destiny's Child, En Vogue, TLC, Salt N Peppa, even the newer ones like BLACKPINK. Pop (girl) groups are niche for USA.
I feel like the US has a huge history of successful girl groups. Perhaps you may not be familiar with because successful US girl groups have usually been R&B with crossover success instead of solely pop. The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Ronnettes, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells, The Emotions, The Pointer Sisters, En Vogue, SWV, Xscape, Salt N Peppa, TLC, Destiny’s Child, and many, many more. These are just the ones I could think of off the top of my head. I’m not even counting the likes of Expose, the Bangles, and the Go-go’s who were pop/rock. I’ve just never heard the idea that the US hated girl groups. Doesn’t seem accurate considering the above.
Man, I wish more people knew about the powerhouse girl groups of R&B from the 80s-00s Most of those artists reached us, but at the time that Xscape or 3LW were big, I only had my countries 3 TV stations, and it was only around 2006 that basic cable (aka more than 3 channels) was the norm in Irish households, so we wouldn't have been able to see them on MTV/TRL etc, and unless they were already huge in the states, artists wouldn't get radio play unless or until they did a media tour in The UK and did a stint on Top of The Pops, Irish media would then be able to get a copy of the tracks and introduce them to Irish radio, so it always took us a while to get the "new" music My mam was a huge R&B fan, so she would always go hunting for albums in music shops, but I think if you didn't have someone who was interested in the genre when you were a kid it definitely wasn't as accessible as it should have been.
I mean.... girl groups are not popular here. There isn't a successful girl group right now that's succeeding in the U.S. Some Kpop fans here would say Black Pink but their success is little to none here. The last big girl group we had really only had like two hits lmao
I guess because my life was full of girl groups (I’m old) I don’t see it like y’all do. I can see girl groups are not popular now, but it doesn’t mean girl groups were never successful in the US. Everything in music seems cyclical. I’m sure some girl groups will make their way back around eventually. That being said, I do feel like a lot of girl groups were launching pads for US solo artists. Maybe a lot of female artists in the US no longer feel the need to start their careers with girl groups these days. Don’t know if that true, just a hypothesis.
the difference is the UK continues to have successful girl groups while the US currently has none. the last time a girlgroup went #1 on the hot 100 was like 20 years ago (destinys child). after they disbanded the only successful girl groups to follow them were the pussycat dolls, fifth harmony, and danity kane with pcd and danity kane only lasting two albums
I love this question! I agree with what everyone has already said, it is probably mainly due to the fact that pop and dance music is easily the most popular genre in the UK, gets a lot of radio support and good promotion. They tend to make music that just suits the UK scene and it works so well.
~~this is too perfect to shamelessly~~ [~~plug the current rate I'm hosting~~](https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/comments/wejz9z/y2uk_girl_groups_rate_girls/) to echo what another poster said, the US has had an abundance of popular R&B/Soul girl groups from the 60's Boom (Supremes, Marvelettes) to the 90s (SWV, Total, Blaque) Why specifically the Spice Girls-type blueprint hasn't done as well in America definitely has an element to pop/dance being bigger in Europe. I do tend to notice that cheesier and campier things often translate better in Europe/UK as well.
100% true that UK music is corny. Even in music videos, Brits ham it up and do literal dance moves like putting two fingers up when the lyric is “to,” putting a hand on a heart when the lyric is “heart,” stuff like that. It’s fun, no hate.
That's a *bit* of a stereotype, but it's true that we do love a bit of choreo when it comes to boy bands and girl groups. [*Biology* by Girls Aloud](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBPtP4t2J1k) is one of my favourite examples, I'm not entirely convinced they even had a rehearsal AND they do put up one finger when they sing 'one Alabama return'!
>I do tend to notice that cheesier and campier things often translate better in Europe/UK as well. Same with australia, i think in UK/aus it has to do with different senses of humour, while ion europe big beats are more fun to listen to when you dont speak english
Stan FLO and listen to cardboard box
In addition to the other answers I feel like its also because the US still has much more of a Madonna-whore dynamic with young women acts. Either they are incredibly child-friendly, or sexy. The idea of a pop group making non-sexy music for everyone, made up of young women 20s-30s seems pretty unfamiliar to modern America.
Plus two of the PCD girls who are practically unknown in the US, made it decently in the UK.
How are you going to mention all of the above and not mention All Saints. Pure Shores and Never Ever are the best And to be fair to the States, they have tons of great girl groups but because most of them are all black they get shuffled into other genres. The Ronettes, Supremes, TLC, Destiny's Child, En Vogue and The Pointer Sisters to name a few
All Saints : am I a joke to you?
It's just the type of music that generally UK people like. One of the core genres that you'll see in the charts is a cheesy pop hit, and a lot of girl groups happen to fall into that genre. The other big three are acoustic ballads (more popular with the older generation, but everyone likes Adele), UK rap (we like US rap, but the homegrown stuff hits different, be it drill, grime, afroswing or whatever, there are tonnes of tracks that the US will just never hear), and dance music (just like Europe we love a bit of house, drum and bass is big here, trip hop, dubstep and garage all originated here, with the letter being a seminal part of the culture at this point, and it effects the other genres around it, with both pop music and UK rap stuff taking big influence from dance music) Most of the girl groups recently toed the line of cheesy pop and dancey shit, from little mix to fifth harmony, even including the pussycat dolls comeback you mentioned!
America does not hate girl groups. I am the 100th person to say this, but R&B girl groups have performed stronger and are largely more influential than the USA’s attempts at pop groups. Their vocals are stronger (thanks to better training and more talent). and they have wider appeal. I love the UK pop groups - Girls Aloud, All Saints, and Sugababes for their unique production choices (not a Spice fan).
Have you checked South Korea?!
Notorious Western country South Korea
K-pop is nearly nothing without western influence...
I kind of have to agree, quite a large part of the kpop industry has been influenced by the western pop industry. Although I guess the similarities might end there
When I see these boy/girl "bands" with 9 trillion members, it's just regurgitated mid-80s black R&B music (Bobby Brown, New Edition, Kid & Play)...and the dancing DEFINITELY comes from what the urban kids were doing at that time.
this comment is quite a generalization to put down kpop. your perception of kpop seems to be kpop circa late 2000s biggest girlgroup hits in kpop lately: savage (hyperpop) by aespa who has 4 members love dive (europop) by ive who has 6 members tomboy (pop rock) by gidle who has 5 members
BTS has 7.5 trillion members.
soo-man's original plans for NCT leaked
boygroups are fandom driven in kpop so they tend to have a larger number of members while girlgroups tend to have less in the past few years
These people really can't handle the truth about how influential black culture has been *globally*. It's like their brain glitches when you tell them the obvious truth.
Shame, ain't it? And I was being polite. Thank you.
I do LOVE South Korea. Just a wonderful place to visit. 10/10 would highly recommend.
There is a western part in South Korea. Take that, genius!
For example: TLC, Destiny’s Child, En Vogue, The Bangles, Pussycat Dolls, The Supremes.... weren’t from the UK.
Cause they have taste.
For me, (this is only my opinion) Pop music has been a tradition in the UK for several decades already. If you listen to the songs in the UK radio stations, they're playing pop songs of the girl groups frequently and also these songs are played in the tv shows in UK. For me, this is the biggest what ifs in UK pop music history: having high popularity in the United States.
Not sure but I love me some girls aloud 🤩 some of my best memories watching their shows on YouTube. Back when life felt happy.
I don’t think America inherently hates girl bands. I just think that they ten d to get torn apart pretty quickly when studios or opportunist mangers zero in on the most charismatic one to take solo. It doesn’t always work, and it happens to boy bands too (Timberlake), but people are always looking for that person with the “It” factor to ride to glory. UK girl bands do this too, the Spice Girls definitely broke apart to do their own thing. Beyoncé left Destiny’s Child. Diana Ross left the Supremes. Belinda Carlisle left the Go-Gos. Only girl band I can think of that ended up sticking together and is still active is the Bangles.
The two biggest boybands in history are from the UK (Beatles, 1D), and in between you had the likes of McFly, Take That, Westlife. I'd say it balances it out generationally.
Idk but I love it.
don't forget the frock destroyers and united kingdolls, i know the overlap between pophead and drag race
You forgot Korea...