Real pop stars are more than just popular; they are barometers for an era, providing the images for the world's memories of a particular time. Look back to the 1960s and we see those Beatles smiles and monochrome suits. Cast your mind back to the late 1990s and it is those Girls, those songs, that dress. Music snobs might sniff at the comparison to the Fab Four but all those Beatles dolls, Beatles annuals and movies that made John, Paul, George and Ringo such omnipotent beings in the 1960s were re-created in the 1990s with just as much fervour around Emma, Geri, Mel B, Melanie C and Victoria.