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

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Mark Beaumont If you see the indie versus pop thing as a bit of a battle, which to some degree it was, it woke the pop world up to the potential of what could be done with the internet. Over time, they certainly weaponised that.

‘There were fist-fights down at CD:UK’ – 90s pop remembered

You won't find a more comprehensive and entertaining pop book than this.' -- Jordan Paramor, journalist and author If you're coming to Coles by car, why not take advantage of the 2 hours free parking at Sainsbury's Pioneer Square - just follow the signs for Pioneer Square as you drive into Bicester and park in the multi-storey car park above the supermarket. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. You don't need to shop in Sainsbury's to get the free parking! Where to Find Us All of this shiny, happy, factory-formed pop was catnip to critics who saw music loved by children, girls, gay men, and large amounts of the population, as inferior. Something to be grown out of." However, somewhere around the chapter covering Blue, I started to get the feeling that the narrative was incredibly repetitive. Although I appreciate that Cragg wanted to cover the length and breadth of his subject - the fact that most of these bands split after several years meant that all the chapters ended similarly. Although some of these chapters did include some intriguing titbits; such as Blue being in New York during 9/11 and the swift production of the S Club 7 movie, there were few memorable moments. I thought the smaller chapters covering the rise of Garage music and the anecdotes about being hungover on kids' TV could've been cut completely. 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.

If you're interested in pop history, I recommend this new book which explores in fascinating detail the dizzy, competitive and lost world of 'manufactured' nineties and noughties pop.' -- Neil Tennant, Pet Shop Boys The enigmatic singer, dancer and actor, who has died aged 46, was cheekily self-aware about the mechanics of his industry To have a number one, to be on Top of the Pops, to have artists I was a fan of be fans of my music, it

Reach for the Stars: The perils of being a 90s pop star - BBC Reach for the Stars: The perils of being a 90s pop star - BBC

Music journalist Michael Cragg, who interviewed key players from 1996-2006 for his new book Reach for the Stars, said: “Nearly everyone I spoke to go misty-eyed.” The Guardian review is here . Here’s a nice one from The Observer. Another from The Times , and one from its weekend sister, The Sunday Times . Classic Pop gave it 5/5, which was lovely. I wrote something about it for the Daily Express , while The Mirror ran this extract . Heat did one too . As did The Guardian . I also wrote this piece for The Guardian about how bonkers some of the pop was. Really interesting and informative. A fascinating look at what was going on behind the scenes from the people that were there, delivering these massive moments of my youth. Ritchie At the time, pop bands had always been five people, so they wanted to do something different and have four people. But they couldn’t decide which one of us to lose, so they kept it as five. Which is one of the reasons we called ourselves Five. 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.

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In the period covered by his book Reach for the Stars, Cragg said, pop stars wanted to win Brits “because it was a shot at recognition that they weren’t getting elsewhere. It was pop versus indie, and winning offered credibility.” But two decades later, pop is taken seriously by critics and every popstar can reach fans directly online. What is a Brit award worth in 2023? From Girl Power to Girls Aloud (and all the glorious points in between), the definitive study of British pop music at the turn of the millennium, told by everyone who was there. I had been touring Europe when I was nine, doing Filipino dancing and singing. I was also on Michael Barrymore’s show My Kind of People. So when we were in the Sugababes I was so comfortable performing and travelling. I didn’t have a great relationship with them because I said Nadine was the best singer. So, obviously the other four hated me. Alongside Ian Winwood’s excellent ‘ Bodies’, ‘Reach for the Stars’ acts as a love letter to music and also as a cautionary tale of how the industry consumes, adapts and sets the agenda without any regard for the artists.