Continuing a look at some notable 1996 albums…

Through 17 1/2 years and 6,413 Songs of the Day, I’ve somehow managed to not feature the Spice Girls once. Well, this Decades dive into 1996 turns out to be the perfect occasion.

Formed via a classified ad placed by a management team seeking to create a girl group to compete with the era’s popular boy bands, the Spice Girls are one of pop music’s wildest success stories. The five women selected based on their voices, dance moves, and overall looks turned out to be the perfect fit. And as a bonus, they had songwriting chops, too.

On the strength of singles ‘Wannabe’ and ‘Say You’ll Be There,’ the band’s debut album, Spice, sold more than 23 million copies worldwide — a record for an all-woman group.

‘Wannabe,’ an ode to female friendship, reached #1 in three dozen countries and, in a 2014 study, was determined to be the most-recognized pop song of the last 60 years.

Therefore, it’s no surprise I’m quite familiar with that song, as well as with today’s SOTD. But the rest of this album was new to me. And I ended up liking it quite a bit.

The Spice Girls aren’t great singers, and they’re even worse rappers, but they bring an infectious charm and energy to these ten dance-pop tracks. I found myself humming several of their songs long after hearing them.

It might have taken me 30 years to appreciate “Spicemania,” and 17 to feature them on the blog, but I’m glad to finally give them their due.