Steps
One of the bands of The Nineties (at least if you were British), Steps was a multi-chart topping pop band that lasted from 1997 - 2001. The line-up from start to finish was Lisa Scott-Lee, Lee Latchford-Evans, Claire Richards, Faye Tozer and Ian Watkins. Watkins was known as "H", which stands for "hyperactive".
While their songs were good (and catchy as hell), their main draw was, as their name implies, that each single had a unique, simple dance to go with it. These dance steps were included with most of their single releases which meant their fans could easily learn the dance.
Their biggest hit was Tragedy - a cover of the Bee Gees song, and the success of Steps' version means that Tragedy is largely Covered Up in Britain.
Steps provides examples of the following tropes:
- Camp: And how!
- Celebrity Resemblance: Claire to Cameron Diaz. Lampshaded in Say You'll Be Mine where Lee and Claire reenact the hairgel scene from There's Something About Mary.
- Concept Video
- Cover Version: Tragedy (Bee Gees), Chained Reaction (Diana Ross) and Last Thing on My Mind (Bananarama)
- Dancing Is Serious Business: Of course.
- Fan Service: Most of the outfits worn by both the male and female members of the band in any of their music video.
- Five-Man Band
- The Hero: Claire, whose soprano voice reigns over the others.
- The Lancer: Faye, who alternates with Claire in the main vocals.
- The Smart Guy: H, the hyperactive comic.
- The Big Guy: Lee, the main hunk of the group.
- The Chick: Lisa, who usually sings the last verse or bridge. Also the token Ms. Fanservice girl.
- Homage: Say You'll Be Mine has the members play various scenes of films like There's Something About Mary, Austin Powers, Romeo and Juliet, Armageddon, Batman Returns and Titanic.
- It's the Way You Make Me Feel reenacts scenes from Dangerous Liaisons. Set in 1800s France wherein Lisa wears dental braces at the time.
- Hospital Hottie: The Chain Reaction music video where Claire and Faye have Hello, Nurse! outfits, while "Doctor" Lisa's plunging neckline predates Dr. Cuddy's outfits.
- Keet: H. It does stand for Hyperactive, after all.
- Known Only By Their Nickname: H
- Lyrical Dissonance: While "almost" every single one of their songs have upbeat, danceable tunes, some of their singles have depressing themes like heartbreaks. The music video One for Sorrow has a disco version which serves as the best example.
- Name's the Same: This unfortunately marred H's reputation at one time when he was mistaken for the now-disgraced Lostprophets frontman who also went by the name Ian Watkins, whose sexual offences towards young children are so heinous that we won't be elaborating it here.
- The Nineties
- Sampling: Stomp is well known to have derived its riffs and portion of the chorus from Everybody Dance by Chic.
- Split Personality: Deeper Shade of Blue features the members having their good side in blue spandex, while their dark alter-egos are in futuristic alien costumes.
- Summer of Love also has the "good" members in brightly colored clothes battling their "evil" personas clad in Goth style black leather.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Tensions apparently arose within the group when Claire's powerful soprano voice overshadowed the others, making her like the Face of the Band while the others are relegated as back-up singers.
- Surreal Music Video: Quite a few of their music videos. A Deeper Shade of Blue and Heartbeat (which involves the other band members rescuing H when he gets kidnapped by midgets) do stand out as being especially weird, though.
- Wedding Deadline: The music video for Tragedy.