Spice Girls Vs Jem

Were the Spice Girls all that, or just copycats?

The UK girlgroup the Spice Girls made millions on their image, selling records and merchandise worldwide. But not many of their fans knew that the Spice Girls weren't very original at all, infact alot of it had already been done by a 9 years earlier American cartoon rockgroup called Jem & the Holograms.

So did the Spice Girls copy a cartoon? Well the Spice Girls were similar enough to Jem to break trademark laws. Ridiculous perhaps, but what's even funnier is that this Jem cartoon was a whole lot better and classier than the Spice Girls!

As the career of the Spice Girls continued, so did the similarities, eventually there were enough to make this website. You be the judge...

Here are the similarites, the big ones that break trademarks, aswell as the small ones that might be funny coincidences (or not). But continue reading and they will add up. Groupmembers!

Groupmembers amount!

Both groups have consisted of four and five members. The Spice Girls first had five members, then one quit and they became four, and later joined again and they were back to five. Jem & the Holograms were first four, then one quit and rejoined, and new member joined which made them five.

Groupmembers characteristics!

After a while, each of the members of the Spice Girls got themselves nicknames to describe their personalities. But their names also describe the members of Jem & the Holograms.

Geri:

Geri of the Spice Girls, and Kimber of Jem & the Holograms, both have red hair, have left their groups, and have a phrase they are known to over-use, Geri "Girl Power", and Kimber "Truly Outrageous".

Geri of the Spice Girls, is known for her red hair and blonde bangs. Jem/Jerrica of Jem & the Holograms has pink hair and blonde bangs as seen with in the story books, posters, doll boxes, fashions and other accessories.

The way "Geri" is pronounced in the beginning is the same as "Jerrica".

Emma:

Emma of the Spice Girls, and Jerrica of Jem & the Holograms both have blonde hair. Emma is naturally a medium blonde, but constantly colors her hair. On stage Emma has even had pink in her hair, the combination Jem is known for.

Emma's last name is "Bunton", where only one letter differs from Jerrica's last name "Benton".

Emma, and Jerrica, both have had a boyfriend with the name "Rio". Emma's Rio, was the English soccer player Rio Ferdinand, that Emma was brought togheter with by friends at a night club.

Emma of the Spice Girls, and Kimber of Jem & the Holograms, both are the youngest member of their groups and are known for having hairtufts.

Emma of the Spice Girls has had the exact same unusual hairstyle as Aja of Jem & the Holograms, as seen in the Spice Girls music video of the song "Holler".

Mel B

Mel B of the Spice Girls, and Aja of Jem & the Holograms, are known as the sporty member of their groups. Aja practises several sports all through the cartoon, she bicycles, plays volleyball, works out, and practices karate.

One at the time, Mel C has had blue, red, purple, and green hair streaks. Blue like Aja, red like Kimber, purple like Shana, and green like Pizzazz.

Mel B:

Mel B of the Spice Girls, and Shana of Jem & the Holograms, are both the black member of their groups, both have huge curly hair. Mel B has mentioned in interviews, that she suspect only being chosen for the group because of her skincolor, to create a certain image. Before Mel B joined the group, she used to have long curly hair, and has even had completely straight hair.

Both Mel B of the Spice Girls, and Shana of Jem & the Holograms play drums. Mel B is learning to play drums on her freetime. Shana is the drummer of Jem & the Holograms.

Mel B is known for her leopard skin clothes, and has entered the catwalk on several fashion shows. Shana can be seen wearing leopard skin clothes in the Jem cartoon, and is a fashion designer in the cartoon.

Victoria:

Victoria Adams (now Beckham) of the Spice Girls, and Raya Alonso of Jem & the Holograms both were the shyest member of their groups. Alonso didn't participate in the first songs of Jem & the Holograms, since she joined the band later than all the other members. Adams didn't sing a word in the first Spice Girls single "Wannabe".

Songs!

In the music video of the first single the Spice Girls released, "Wannabe", they crashed a party uninvited. Much like the Misfits do in their third music video, of the song "Makin' Mischief".

Both Spice Girls and Jem & the Holograms have a song titled "Too Much", both are ballads.

Even some of the songs that didn't have the exact same title or music video theme, are similar. Like "Who Do You Think You Are" by the Spice Girls, and "Who Is She Anyway" by the Misfits. "Goodbye" by the Spice Girls, and "This Is Farewell" by Jem & the Holograms. "Let Love Lead The Way" by the Spice Girls, "Love Will Show The Way" by Jem & the Holograms.

The Spice Girls even took part in singing the England united song "(How Does It Feel To Be) On Top Of The World", which can be compared to the song "How Does It Feel" by the Misfits.

Both groups use phrases like "wannabe", "set your spirit free", "take it or leave it", to mention some.

Dolls!

The Spice Girls wanted to be available as dolls, and the toycompany that made it possible was Galoob. By the dolls, the Spice Girls really went into Jem's homeground. Many of the similarities the members of the Spice Girls have to the members of Jem & the Holograms, were reflected on the Spice Girls dolls, but there are also several additional similarities. The difference is that the company that made the Jem dolls, Hasbro, owns the trademarks of the usage of several phrases on the doll boxes, and trademarks are illegal to break.

Here is the exact text that appears on the first edition Spice Girls dolls: "Join us on the adventure of a lifetime! We're ready to spice up the world with GIRL POWER! Watch us sizzle on stage and off in our smashin' fashions that are truly outrageous!"

"Truly Outrageous" is the actual trademarked catchphrase which Jem is most known for. It appeared on the Jem doll boxes. It's also the title of a Jem doll fashion, the first Jem cartoon video, a Jem song, and a phrase spoken many times by the characters in the Jem cartoon.

"Smashin' Fashions" is the trademarked name of a line of Jem doll fashions which was released two years.

Flash 'n Sizzle is an edition of the Jem doll.

"On Stage" (also an edition of Spice Girls dolls), is a trademarked edition of Jem fashions titled "On Stage".

There is an edition of Spice Girls dolls titled "Superstars", aswell as there is an edition of Jem dolls titled "Superstars".

There is a Spice Girls doll stage titled "Sound Stage", similar to the Jem doll stage titled "Star Stage".

The "On Tour" and "Spice It Up" Mel C dolls have red hair streaks, so does the "Concert Collection" Mel C doll which also came with an extra red hair piece. Both editions of the Kimber doll from the Jem doll line has red hair.

Doll fashions!

The Spice Girls dolls may have "truly outrageous" or "smashin' fashions", just like the Jem doll fashions. But that's because the fabrics are made by very similiar, if not the exact same sort of fabrics as the Jem fashions.

The dress of the first edition Emma doll is the same color, light metallic pink, and very similar to the dress of the first edition Jem/Jerrica doll.

The outfit of the "On Tour" Mel B doll is in black and white tigerpattern fabrics, like the outfit of the Pizzazz doll from the Jem doll line.

The "Spice It Up!" Spice Girls dolls each came with an extra outfit in gold to change to. The "Glitter 'n Gold" Jem/Jerrica came with an extra outfit to change to.

The "Spice It Up!" Emma doll has an outfit much similar to the Jem fashion titled "Gettin' Down To Business".

Cartoon!

Cartoon in the works!

The Spice Girls have appeared in 3D form, in their music video of the song "Viva Forever", aswell as the video game for Playstation. On top of that a cartoon was planned. Wasn't it enough with the dolls? Well they sure would fit as cartoon characters, don't you agree?

The Spice Girls were in contact with a company that was interested in creating a cartoon about them. In an interview by Sally Stratton in Famous, the Spice Girls were asked "There's rumours about a cartoon TV-series about the Spice Girls, is that correct?" Mel B: "Oh, that's something we've always been wanting to do, and Disney has actually contacted us. That would be cool. It's pretty flattering that people are so interested in our image. It feels a bit wow." But when the company learned about the Spice Girls' uncertain future togheter, the plans were put on hold.

Spice World movie Vs. Jem cartoon!

In 1997 the Spice Girls recorded a movie called Spice World. The story of the Spice Girls' movie has several similarities to the Jem cartoon itself.

In the movie Spice World, a man in charge of a newspaper says he is tired of having the Spice Girls on the front page every day, so he hires a detective to get some dirt about the Spice Girls. Aswell in the Jem movie, the owner of the record company Starlight Music, Eric Raymond, is tired of reading about Jem & the Holograms in the newspapers, and hires a detective to get some dirt about Jem & the Holograms.

In the end of the movie, the Spice Girls haven't showed up for their performance, and everyone almost give up hope that the Spice Girls will make it in time, but they manage to make it in the last seconds. This is also the ending of the first Jem movie.

In the movie, Spice Girls are in a hurry to their concert but take time to visit one of their fans in the hospital, they perform songs for him and manage to wake him up with the sound of their voices. All just the same as in one of the Jem story cassettes released only in the UK.

On top of Jem being available as a movie, the story in the Jem three-parter cartoon episode is that the Jem and the Holograms characters are recording their own movie.

Solo projects!

Solo project with a member of another three part girlgroup!

The Spice Girls member, once partly bluehaired Melanie C has recorded a duet with the TLC member, partly redhaired Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes. The Misfits member, the bluehaired Stormer has recorded a duet with the Holograms member, the redhaired Kimber. The songs have a very similar theme.

Geri's pinkhaired dancers!

In the music video and cover of Geri's fourth single "Bag It Up", the male dancers all have pink hair, the quite unusual haircolor which is Jem's most known characteristic feature, and also Raya of the Holograms have pink hair. But why, does Geri just like pink hair or something?

Mel B song title!

Mel B's single "Word Up" included a song titled "Sophisticated Lady", which was the title one of the Jem doll fashions.

[mailto:copyspice@go.to copyspice@go.to]