Who Is More Universally Recognisable/Famous?

[oligopoly]

To settle a debate with my friends please:

Who would you say today is more famous and/or more recognisable worldwide, the Beatles or the Spice Girls.

Please support your answer with reasons.

Thank you

[cheyenne]

THE BEATLES.firstly they conquered the world way back in the Sixties,and they still sell millions of records,cds every year.So people have and still do listen to Beatles music for the last 40 years.last xmas their cd 1 sold over 20 million copys.Do you know one year they had 7 singles in the top 10 in america!!so spanning 40 years they are bound to be more famous than any other group the world has ever known.my daughter use to love the spice girls,and i thought they were pretty good to.but the other night all her mates were in her room having a bit of a party(shes 16 now) and guess who they were playing,yes the Beatles old stuff!!

[oligopoly]

Well i am a HUGE fan of the beatles, and quite knowledgeable about music in general. Whilst I would agree with the Beatles being one of the most famous (and best!) artists of all time, could the spice girls not be more recognisable, particularly worldwide, meeting Mandela, releasing Spice World (yes I know the beatles had a few films, but not as famous) The fact that the spice girls were a very colourful group in terms of albums and promotion - i know sgt peppers is similar, but for a third of their career the beatles dressed in similar and dull colours. Food for thought perhaps. For the record, I felt the beatles to be the answer of the question, but I can see how the spice girls are not too far behind....

[cheyenne]

They say somewhere in the World a Beatles record is played every 2 minutes.that speaks for it self.when the spicegirls were at there peak they were the tops,but fame does tend to fade quickly im afraid.In 20 years time i bet the beatles are still being played.As for the hall of fame on channel 4 the spice girls were much more famous than robbie williams,he couldnt even make it in the states.they missed out on so many brilliant artists.the shows a joke!!

[andy hughes]

I think The Beatles have it, on the twin aspects of the sheer size of their fame, and its longevity. the Spice Girls are a generational thing - in pop, most crazes are lucky to last five years, or one pop 'generation. The SG's may scape two if they are lucky, the fabs are on eight, and counting. That says it all really.

[smudge]

It has to be The Beatles - Yeh Yeh Yeh!

[Tweed]

Has to be The Beatles. Practically everyone who's heard of The Spice Girls has also heard of The Beatles. And then some. I don't think you could say vise versa, to such a degeee. If you consider the music only, then The Beatles, by far, are more recognisable.

[oligopoly]

I see what your saying, but on the recognisable side of things, if you showed a group of kids, say aged under 12 to try and identify a spice girl or a beatle from a picture, would it be the same answer as you are saying? I would agree that most people who have heard of the spice girls have also heard of the beatles in the UK, but im not sure on a world wide basis...

[Tweed]

..but if you take the population as a whole?

[oligopoly]

using the under 12 age bracket was just offering the suggestion that there will be many segments (age or location perhaps) who would pick out the spice girls over the beatles as being more recognisable/famous

[Numbers]

The Spice Girls are so 1998...

[Oneeyedvic]

Show me a load of photographs and I am unsure that I caould pick out the beatles in their early years if I didnot know the context, but I reckon I would know the spice girls. Although the Beatles are far better and outsold the Spice Girls they have not been on tv consistently for the last few years where as the spice girls (as a group and individually) have been.

 

Thus, I reckon the Spice Girls are more recognisable though not more famous!

[Bangkok]

Who are the Spice Girls?  A modern beat combo, I'll be bound.  Pah!

[Greedyfly]

I would suppose it also depends on the age group recognising.  But I wouold say the Beatles by a long shot because they were and are great icons in music and always will be.  They stand out from the crowd because they were fantastic at what they did and they influenced so much more.