These forgotten groups still live somewhere deep within your psyche, and today, we’re bringing them to the light.
If you came of age in the ’90s and ’00s, your Spice Girls CD probably got worn out from playing it too many times, your Spice Girls poster curling and tearing at the edges from being on your wall so long. You and your group of girl friends probably self-assigned amongst yourselves who was Baby Spice, Posh Spice, Scary Spice, Sporty Spice, and Ginger Spice. You definitely still remember which one you “are” (Posh Spice here). It’s rare for one group to dominate a genre so heavily that it’s all we seem to remember from the era, but Spice Girls was that group: the girl group of all girl groups. Others came and went, some swiftly, and some lasting a couple years before the inevitable fade into obscurity.
These are the posters that stayed up for a couple years, the CDs that got played on repeat for a time and then slowly disappeared from the rotation. These forgotten groups still live somewhere deep within your psyche, though, and today, we’re bringing them to the light. Here are 10 forgotten girl groups from the ’90s and ’00s.
10 M2M
Fire up the time machine, we’re going back to 1999. M2M, a guitar-strumming Norwegian duo made up of Marion Raven and Marit Larsen. The video for their hit single “Don’t Say You Love Me” was played on the Disney Channel approximately every 15 minutes, so it was impossible to miss. “Mirror Mirror” was an equally catchy follow-up hit.
9 Blaque
The Bring It On soundtrack would not have been complete without Blaque’s “As If,” but that’s not the only one you know of theirs. “Bring It All to Me” was a collaboration between the 3-part girl group and *NSYNC, which means it’s basically a time capsule of 1999. Don’t sleep on Blaque’s choreography and incredible outfits. These girls had it going on!
8 t.A.T.u.
Russian duo t.A.T.u. sprang onto the scene in 2002 with their hit single, “All The Things She Said,” a song and video that many took to mean the duo was a lesbian pair. Many lesbians also adopted them as valuable representation, so it was surprising when it was revealed several years later that the two were not gay or romantically linked at all. The song still slaps, though!
7 Nobody’s Angel
This video has everything you want from a Y2K music video: the outfits, the choreography, the bizarre location. Nobody’s Angel was hot stuff between 1999 and 2000, and was especially popular with movie soundtracks at the time. Their singles appeared on soundtracks for The Parent Trap, The Princess Diaries, 102 Dalmations, and The Pokemon Movie. Hard to get more 2000 than that!
6 Play
If you can listen to Play’s “Us Against the World” and not dance, we…don’t believe you. This Swedish group’s catchy song was also a staple of the Disney Channel, and its message was appealing to young girls; the song was about boys coming and going, but the friendship between girlfriends remaining strong. The “girl power” era meant female friendship in pop was having a big moment. You love to see it!
5 B*Witched
If 13-year-olds were allowed to vote, B*Witched could have run for president in 1998 – that’s how beloved they were among the kid and teen age groups. And what’s not to love? The four members are charming gals next door, the video is color-saturated to oblivion, the choreography fun, and the lyrics completely nonsensical; truly, we still have no idea what the song is about. Scholars will study this as one of history’s greatest mysteries.
4 Dream
The videos keep getting more and more iconic. Dream’s “He Loves U Not” is an exquisite specimen of Y2K girl group milieu. Turn this on and you’ll be immediately transported to shopping at Limited Too and hearing this on the in-store television. Get those zip-off convertible pants and the tattoo choker girl, you deserve it!
3 3LW
The members of 3LW were all around 15 years old when their single “No More (Baby I’ma Do Right)” climbed the charts and peaked at 23 in the US. The song was a staple of both Total Request Live and the Disney Channel. The girl power message was strong with this one: if you’re not gonna do right by me, “I can do bad all by myself.” Feminist icons, if you ask us!
2 Atomic Kitten
The British girl group Atomic Kitten experienced huge success in 2000 with singles “Whole Again” and a cover of The Bangles’ “Eternal Flame.” They also received attention for their cover of “The Tide is High,” originally recorded by Jamaican group The Paragons in 1967 and made popular in the US by Blondie in 1980. The song appeared during the opening montage of The Lizzie McGuire movie, making it a perfect artifact of the early ’00s.
1 No Secrets
Sugary sweet and unbelievably catchy, No Secrets’ single “That’s What Girls Do” pokes fun at the stereotype of teen girls and young women: changing minds, changing outfits, playing games, and keeping guys guessing. This song admittedly doesn’t age well; n retrospect, the message isn’t exactly feminist, but hey, it was 2001, we were getting there. Girl groups like No Secret walked so that The Pussycat Dolls and Little Mix could run.