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

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The band’s 11 UK Top 10 singles, three Top 5 albums and two arena tours spanned less than a four-year period.

Michael Cragg

While the book did gloss over some of the deeper dives into reasons for bands splitting and members leaving, this is an absolute must read for anybody who lived this era of music because, frankly, we all need to know that Geri Halliwell locked herself in a car after being informed she wasn't getting to record "Some Girls" (bop). The conversation, of course, is much wider now, not to mention more inclusive, tolerant and understanding. Even in the group’s official book, 7 Heaven, released in 2001 after the band had scored seven Top 3 singles in a row and starred in three hugely successful CBBC TV shows, Cattermole’s description of being picked for the band is matter-of-fact: “I was asked to audition for the band and I got in – it’s as simple as that!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. Told as an oral history, with each chapter focusing on an act/label/programme, it’s an exuberant read as Cragg observes everything form how the acts were put together, the tensions, the highs, the many lows and the aftermath.

Reach for the Stars by Michael Cragg review - The Guardian

Now convinced that 1996 to 2006 represents a golden age – after which, he suggests, the genre became drearily “post-ironic”, with everyone making “Billie Eilish-adjacent mope-pop” – he’s written a book arguing for its enduring cultural significance. Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal I relandand finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. And things that you had considered appalling have now been reappraised as cultural milestones by people two decades younger than you.The Spice Girls made their Brits mark thanks not only to Geri Halliwell’s’s union jack minidress (hastily fashioned from a tea towel) but Mel C offering to fight Liam Gallagher. 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. He was scouted at his musical theatre school – at a time when his first rock band were playing small shows – and thrust into the world of pop. It's bitersweet to get into the hardest moments of our favourite popstars, but also refreshing to hear the stories from their own voices. I’m sure I gave that story about Five having a fight to them because it mentioned SM:TV and CD:UK, so I’d done my job.