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

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Yet whether you like the music of Sugababes, Five and Blue or not, Reach for the Stars comes over as a terrific piece of social history. Subtitled "and Advice for Life's Journey" this graduation, retirement, or continuation little book uses figurative language (aka figures of speech) illustrated with pen and ink drawings with photography. I will happily devour music books of all sorts as I am fascinated by the music industry and am a music obsessive. I swear all these bands (Steps, Spice Girls, Westlife, etc) were two decades or more older than me, not barely a few years.

There’d been a misunderstanding, it later emerged: Blur were her favourite band, not Blue, the “r” and the “e” so perilously close on a keyboard. I try to reach for the stars because if you say you want something small and it happens, you don't believe it. Serge Bloch’s first children’s book, I Can’t Wait by Davide Cali, is an IBBY award winner and has sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide.Each bookmark features a cute design that we hope will help to inspire your children and encourage them to read even more often! Remember that you can always manage your preferences or unsubscribe through the link at the foot of each newsletter. More than that though, it dug right into some really thoughtful aspects when it comes to the treatment of pop; the inherent sexism and homophobia that is attached to the critical snobbery when it comes to music genres that predominantly appeal to women and gay men. I’m not a music expert, but I will be looking at people like Mutya (Sugababes) and Tom Fletcher (McFly) plus many others with a new found respect having read how their talents are respected so much by professionals in their field.

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. There were points where a couple of us would be recording and then we’d go and the other three would come in. It’s through the eyes of a parent talking about how the child is growing and wondering where the child will be in the future.In the opening prologue, he recounts making a pilgrimage to Dublin to see Scottish rockers Travis when, really, he wanted to gorge himself on Spice Girls memorabilia. At the time, Cragg was a "closeted teenager" who hid his love of pop music behind a veneer of indie cool. and THE NORTH STAR, this appealingly illustrated book by Serge Bloch fits right in, giving you another great gift choice for graduates and the like. Scott J was breakdancing, which is hilarious because he went on to really not like fame and stuff like that.

You could include anything you wanted to by using the editable version of our cute printable bookmarks. Elsewhere, it’s revealed that Russell Brand once auditioned for the boy band 5ive, but has denied it ever since, “which is funny”, says member Scott Robinson, “because he’s done some dodgy things in his career, and auditioning for 5ive isn’t the worst”. Several interviewees mention things "you wouldn't get away with now" - and not in a people-just-don't-have-a-sense-of-humour-anymore kind of way. Pop's burnout, a fate which was so closely entwined with that of Woolworths, came as the well-oiled machine of the pop industry stalled in the face of the digital age. Sugababes’ Mutya Buena recounts the papers not only making digs at her appearance, but constantly getting her Filipino ethnicity wrong.She also talked about how the era of the adverts in the stage, open auditions and TV talent shows provided a gateway for people without connections in the industry to get their big breaks - even if they didn't have the advice and support that they needed to navigate the world that they found themselves in - and that the pendulum has now swung the other way and that music is the poorer for it. The Spice Girls talk fondly about the house they all shared before they made it, assigning Victoria bathroom cleaning duty and taking care of Emma who was living away from home for the first time.

We strive to recommend the very best things that are suggested by our community and are things we would do ourselves - our aim is to be the trusted friend to parents. Their success was so sudden and all-consuming, with three No 1s by Christmas 1996, that a UK music industry geared to guitars and pale boy bands had to build rivals from scratch. 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. Photograph: Dave Tonge/Getty Images Hear’Say, featuring Myleene Klass, far left, and Kym Marsh, third left, in 2001.

It's really well edited, unafraid to be savage at times, although I feel with a little more time and prodding that some interviewees might have been even more savage (looking at you, Louis Walsh and Pete Waterman). The exception to this rule is the chapter on Sugababes; an act that the author clearly has a love for and could've probably written an entire book about.