MTV Video Music Awards

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The MTV Video Music Awards were established in 1984 by MTV to celebrate the top music videos of the year. Originally beginning as an alternative to the Grammy Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards is now a respected pop culture awards show in its own right.

The statues given to winners of the award are often called "Moon Men" because the statue is of a astronaut on the moon, one of the earliest representations of MTV.

Unlike the Academy Awards, for which the eligiblilty period begins January 1, the eligibility period for the Video Music Awards begins July 1.

The awards are presented annually and broadcast live on MTV. Past broadcasts have been held in New York, Los Angeles and Miami.

The 2005 MTV Video Music Awards were hosted by "Diddy" (Sean Combs), and were held at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida on August 28.

Diddy's 2005 after-party was attended by some of the biggest names in music, sports and in Hollywood, including: Quincy Jones, Ice-T, Eva Longoria, Fergey (of the Black Eyed Peas), and former Tennessee Titan and Dallas Cowboy running back Eddie George, and was sponsored by Bodog

Memorable Moments

  • Madonna's performance at the First Annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984 is considered to be the first controversial incident in a career that would see many more. She took the stage to sing "Like A Virgin" wearing a combination bustier/wedding gown, which included her trademark "Boy Toy" belt. During the performance, she rolled around on the floor, revealing lacy stockings and garters, and made a number of sexually suggestive moves. While such a performance would probably not raise eyebrows today, it was shocking to a mid-1980's audience. However, Madonna seemed to thrive on the controversy, and it only served to increase her popularity.
  • Controversial comic Andrew Dice Clay's appearance on the 1989 Video Music Awards to promote his new movie, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, earned him a "lifetime ban" from the network when he started performing some of his already-notorious nursery rhymes.
  • The 1991 VMAs included the first public appearance by Paul Reubens after his lewd-conduct arrest earlier that year. Taking the stage in costume as Pee Wee Herman, he received a standing ovation, after which he asked the audience, "Heard any good jokes lately?"
  • In 1992, MTV had requested Nirvana perform their smash hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit," while the band themselves had indicated they preferred to play their new songs, "Rape Me" and "tourette's". This did not go over well with network executives, who continued to push for "Teen Spirit." Finally, offering a compromise, MTV executives offered the band a choice to play either "Teen Spirit" or "Lithium," which the band appeared to accept. However, at the actual performance, Nirvana began to play, and Kurt Cobain sang the lines, "Rape me, rape me my friend," much to the horror of MTV execs. The band did finally return to their regular performance of "Lithium." Near the end of the song, frustrated that his amp had stopped functioning, bassist Krist Novoselic decided to toss his bass into the air for dramatic effect. Unfortunately, he misjudged the landing, and the bass ended up bouncing off of his forehead, forcing him to stumble off the stage in a daze.
    • Axl Rose challenged Kurt Cobain to a fight during the 1992 Video Music Awards, after Cobain and his wife, Courtney Love, egged him on.
      • When Cobain was trashing the band's equipment at the end performance, drummer Dave Grohl ran to the mic and began yelling "Hi, Axl!" repeatedly
  • Guns N' Roses' hit ballad "November Rain" became the most requested video on MTV, eventually winning an MTV Video Music Award for best cinematography in 1992. During the awards show, the band performed "November Rain" with singer Elton John. Because of the dispute Axl had with Cobain, moments before the "November Rain" performance, Cobain spat on the keys of what he thought was Axl's piano. Cobain later revealed that he was shocked to see Elton John play on the piano he had spat on.
  • On September 4, 1996, the four original members of Van Halen made their first public appearance together since their infamous break-up in 1985, presenting an MTV Video Music Award. Their appearance was greeted with a twenty second standing ovation, and fueled widespread speculation about a reunion tour. After the ousting of vocalist Sammy Hagar on Father's Day 1996, the original line-up of Van Halen, featuring vocalist David Lee Roth, recorded two new songs for a highly anticipated greatest hits album, entitled Best Of Vol. 1. Backstage, after presenting an award to Beck, the reunion soured bitterly, and reportedly, David Lee Roth and guitarist Eddie Van Halen nearly came to blows. During media interviews, Roth advised Van Halen not to talk about his personal issues, such as his impending hip replacement surgery. Van Halen claims that Roth said, "tonight is about me, man, not your fucking hip!" Van Halen, infuriated at what he perceived as Roth's egotism, lunged at Roth and told him, "if I ever see you again, you'd better be wearing a cup, pal!" Van Halen also fumed about Roth's behaviour while presenting an MTV Music Award to Beck, calling it "disrespectful," and "embarrassing." Several weeks later, the public learned that Van Halen would not reunite with Roth, to much outrage. Roth released a media statement apologizing to fans, stating that he was an unwitting participant in a publicity stunt to sell more copies of the greatest hits album, and that he had been led to believe that he was rejoining Van Halen. The following day, Eddie and Alex Van Halen released a media statement, stating that they had been honest with Roth, and never led him to believe that he had been re-hired. Many were infuriated by this situation, and largely took Roth's side in the argument. Subsequently, Van Halen's popularity declined.
  • In 1997, Puff Daddy released his debut album No Way Out, featuring the successful tribute single "I'll Be Missing You", dedicated to the recently murdered Notorious B.I.G. The song featured Puff Daddy, Biggie's widow Faith Evans and R&B group 112. The song sampled the melody of The Police's hit song "Every Breath You Take." All these artists performed the song with former Police vocalist Sting during the 1997 Video Music Awards.
  • While accepting the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist Video of 1997 ("Sleep To Dream"), Fiona Apple appealed to her audience not to be enamored of celebrity culture. Referring to the MTV/Music Industry she proclaimed "this world is bullshit" and quoted Maya Angelou: "Go with yourself." Though her comments were generally greeted with cheers and applause at the awards ceremony, the media backlash was huge; host Chris Rock made a derisive comment about her speech, which only added to the backlash. Some considered her remarks hypocritical, seeing a contradiction between her appearance in a risque music video in only her underwear, and her telling young women to ignore celebrity culture. However she was unapologetic: "When I have something to say, I'll say it."
  • Lil' Kim showed up at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards with an entire breast exposed and only a tiny piece of fabric over the nipple. Kim's outfit became even more controversial later that night, when she appeared on stage with Mary J. Blige and Diana Ross to present an award, and Ross reached over, cupped her hand under Kim's exposed breast and jiggled it while both laughed heartily. It was later described as Ross getting to second base with Kim on national television.
  • At the 2000 Video Music Awards, the award for Best Rock Video went to Limp Bizkit. As Fred Durst was making his speech, Tim Commerford, the bassist for Rage Against the Machine, climbed onto the scaffolding of the set and threatened to jump. Fred Durst responded by saying Limp Bizkit was "the most hated band in the world." The show soon went into a commercial break. Commerford, along with his bodyguard, was sentenced to a night in jail, though he later claimed the stunt was intended as a joke.
  • The next year, at the 2001 Video Music Awards, Britney Spears again shocked the nation when she took the stage to give a lip-synched performance of her then-new single, "I'm a Slave 4 U". Along with dancing in a very revealing outfit while wet, the performance is probably most remembered for featuring the singer 'charming' a flesh-colored snake. A media frenzy ensued, and involved criticisms against Spears by the PETA organisation.
  • Also at the 2001 awards, Michael Jackson made a surprise appearence at the end of NSYNC's performance and, surrounded by members of the group, performed some of his trademark dance moves to the beatboxing of member Justin Timberlake.
  • Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog appeared at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards and had a confrontation with Eminem (which MTV later removed from rebroadcast airings). Eminem also had a confrontation with Moby, who had called the rapper's music misogynistic and homophobic. Eminem challenged Moby to a fight while he was on stage with which the audience gave a downpour of boos.
  • At the 2003 Video Music Awards, Madonna provoked the public once again by portraying a groom and kissing her brides, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, on stage. The gender role-reversal and lesbian theme instantly made front page headlines. The three singers performed a medley of her early hit, "Like A Virgin", and her then latest release, "Hollywood", with a guest rap by Missy Elliott. The design resembled Madonna's performance of "Like A Virgin" at the 1984 VMA's: the same wedding cake set, wedding dresses and "Boy Toy" belt worn by Madonna in 1984 now adorned Aguilera and Spears.
  • At the 2005 the MTV Video Music Awards, Beavis and Butt-head appeared in a couple of Viewers Choice award skits, saying to "Vote to put Beavis and Butt-head back on MTV!" This may be a sign that the show is coming back soon, but was more than likely a promotional appearance for the November 8, 2005 retail release of The Best of Beavis and Butt-Head Volume One: The Mike Judge Collection.
  • At the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, Fat Joe made a disparaging comment about G-Unit during a performance: "I'd like to tell the people home I feel so safe tonight with all this police protection courtesy of G-Unit. . ." Later in the show, after G-Unit's performance, 50 Cent addressed the crowd with a profanity-laden criticism of Fat Joe — much of which was edited before being shown on television. Kanye West was shown, making sure nothing else would happen.
  • The 2005 MTV Video Music Awards was the first to have a performance in Spanish, when Shakira performed her hit song "La Tortura" featuring Alejandro Sanz. It was also the first time that a Latin video was nominated at the awards.

MTV Video Music Award Host Cities

Award categories

The following awards are no longer given out.

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