1997 -- a good year for bubblegum pop

For Christmas, Jeff got me two CDs that I've been meaning to get, but never did: Spice Girls and Spice World. I have to say that bubblegum pop has never sounded so damn good.

The Spice Girls were never perfect in their singing or depth of lyrics. When Scary Spice goes into the line, "I won't be hasty, I'll give you a try" from Wannabe, it's so off key that I can't help but wince. And what the hell does "If you wannabe my lover, you've gotta get with my friends" really mean?

Those flaws -- which I would've slagged off on another group for long ago and bemoaned the end of music -- make Sporty, Posh, Baby, Scary and Ginger endearing to me. It's like they knew they weren't the best group in the world, but the sheer force of their personalities made the songs work. There's something very tongue-in-cheek about their songs that makes both CDs good, mindless music to dance around to.

And I have danced around to these songs. I've cooked while shaking my ass to "Last Time Lover," driven to work singing "Stop" and I'm even choreographing a dance routine for "If U Can't Dance" (which has the bass line from the Humpty Dance -- a major plus in my mind) a la Laurie Ann Gibson from Making the Band 3.

I haven't started hollering "BOOM! KAT! BOOM! BOOM! KAT!" yet with the choreography, but I'm getting there.

Anyways, I have to say that in my quest to battle the winter blues, the Spice Girls are making dealing with the grey days a little easier. Now I need to find a bunch of people willing to create a dance routine with me. No auditions necessary.