Where have all the girl bands gone?
A
Pop groups
1.
How many boy bands or mixed groups do you know? Do any of the mixed groups have female
lead singers?
2.
How many girl groups or bands do you know that are popular now?
B
All-girl groups
3. Look at the short profiles of some girl groups. Choose one group and find out more about them
from the internet. You could search for information about:
•
•
•
The name of the group
Their best-known hits
The type of music
•
•
•
The line-up (duo, trio, quartet or more; names)
When they were most popular
When and why they split up
1. The Pointer Sisters
From Oakland, California, this Rhythm and
Blues group had hit records in the 1980s.
Three or sometimes four sisters took part:
June, Bonnie, Anita and Ruth Pointer, in
varying line-ups. June died in 2006 but the
Pointer Sisters still perform with Ruth’s
daughter Issa and other musicians.
2. Bananarama
3. Spice Girls
The all-girl pop group was put together from more
than 400 girls who answered an advertisement.
They released their first record Wannabe in 1996. It
became a number 1 hit in over 30 countries. They
split up in the late 1990s but reformed briefly in
2007 for a tour. They, too, sang at the 2012 London
Olympics.
4. All Saints
Popular in the 1980s as a trio, this British
group wrote a few socially conscious songs,
e.g. against drug abuse. In the 1990s they
continued to work as a duo and performed
live in 2012 at the London Olympics.
A British-Canadian group with varying members.
They had a number of hit records, including a song
made for a film soundtrack. They split up in 2009
and members have had their own solo careers.
© Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 2012 | www.klett.de Von dieser Druckvorlage ist die Vervielfältigung für den eigenen
Unterrichtsgebrauch gestattet. Die Kopiergebühren sind abgegolten.
Autorin: Jenny Wood, Bristol
Fotoquellen: ShutterStock.com RF
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Where have all the girl bands gone?
4.
Choose another girl group (not one from question 3) and write a short profile of them.
You may find it interesting to choose a group in which the girls play instruments as well as, or
instead of, singing. If you prefer another style of music to pop, you may want to write about a
group that performs that type of music.
C
Your favourites
5.
In your opinion, does it make a difference if a group is all boys, all girls or mixed? Why (not)?
6.
What is your favourite group and why do you like them?
© Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 2012 | www.klett.de Von dieser Druckvorlage ist die Vervielfältigung für den eigenen
Unterrichtsgebrauch gestattet. Die Kopiergebühren sind abgegolten.
Autorin: Jenny Wood, Bristol
Fotoquellen: ShutterStock.com RF
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Teacher’s page: Where have all the girl bands gone?
With solo singers making most of the popular hits, the “girl band” or “girl group” seems almost to
have disappeared from the British pop scene, although they are still to be found in some niche
markets in the pop music business.
The tasks lead the pupils from their own background knowledge through a research process to
consider the more general scene and then to compare their own preferences to those of others in
the group.
Pupils may like to consider the popularity of groups like the Spice Girls and wonder why there is
no current incarnation of this type of group. They may also want to question how much
difference the gender of the people playing or singing makes to the listener’s enjoyment of the
music.
3.
4.
This task should encourage students to use the internet to look for and check details that
they may find on general reference sites, pop music pages, or fan websites. It encourages
them to check for missing details.
Pupils may choose one of their own favourites or a group that they are not familiar with in
order to compile a short text covering the basic details. This task should not be limited to
pop, but could also include folk music, classical groups, choirs, etc.
© Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 2012 | www.klett.de Von dieser Druckvorlage ist die Vervielfältigung für den eigenen
Unterrichtsgebrauch gestattet. Die Kopiergebühren sind abgegolten.
Autorin: Jenny Wood, Bristol
Fotoquellen: ShutterStock.com RF
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