The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 13, 2009, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, honoring the best music videos from June 19, 2008, to June 29, 2009.^[1] Comedian Russell Brand hosted the event for the second time in a row. The awards were held a few months after Michael Jackson died. The VMAs dedicated the night to Jackson with a retro-music video montage as a tribute. Madonna opened the show with a speech about Jackson. Janet Jackson made an appearance at the VMAs to pay musical tribute to her late brother and honor his career. For the finale of the show, they showed the trailer of Michael Jackson's This Is It.^[2]

On August 4, the nominees were announced. Beyoncé and Lady Gaga led the pack with 9 nominations each, closely followed by Britney Spears with 7.^[3] Beyoncé, Green Day and Lady Gaga got 3 awards each, the most of the VMAs.

The show was watched by a total of 9 million people, a 17% increase over 2008's show and the biggest ratings since the 2004 award show. This year was also the first year since 2006 to return to the Radio City Music Hall for the awards and unlike in 2008, where the show was held in a warehouse, this show was at a real venue with a live audience.^[4][5]

The show was notably infamous for an incident involving Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift's speech for winning the award for Best Female Video ("You Belong With Me"), which spawned the "I'mma let you finish" internet meme.^[6]

Awards[link]

Winners are in bold text.^[7]

Video of the Year[link]

Beyoncé – "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"

• Eminem – "We Made You"
• Lady Gaga – "Poker Face"
• Britney Spears – "Womanizer"
• Kanye West – "Love Lockdown"

Best Male Video[link]

T.I. (featuring Rihanna) – "Live Your Life"

• Eminem – "We Made You"
• Jay-Z – "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"
• Ne-Yo – "Miss Independent"
• Kanye West – "Love Lockdown"

Best Female Video[link]

Taylor Swift – "You Belong With Me"

• Beyoncé – "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
• Kelly Clarkson – "My Life Would Suck Without You"
• Lady Gaga – "Poker Face"
• Katy Perry – "Hot n Cold"
• Pink – "So What"

Best New Artist[link]

Lady Gaga – "Poker Face"

• 3OH!3 – "Don't Trust Me"
• Drake – "Best I Ever Had"
• Kid Cudi – "Day 'n' Nite"
• Asher Roth – "I Love College"

Best Pop Video[link]

Britney Spears – "Womanizer"

• Beyoncé – "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
• Cobra Starship (featuring Leighton Meester) – "Good Girls Go Bad"
• Lady Gaga – "Poker Face"
• Wisin & Yandel – "Abusadora"

Best Rock Video[link]

Green Day – "21 Guns"

• Coldplay – "Viva la Vida"
• Fall Out Boy – "I Don't Care"
• Kings of Leon – "Use Somebody"
• Paramore – "Decode"

Best Hip-Hop Video[link]

Eminem – "We Made You"

• Flo Rida (featuring Kesha) – "Right Round"
• Jay-Z – "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"
• Asher Roth – "I Love College"
• Kanye West – "Love Lockdown"

Breakthrough Video[link]

Matt & Kim – "Lessons Learned"

• Anjulie – "Boom"
• Bat for Lashes – "Daniel"
• Chairlift – "Evident Utensil"
• Cold War Kids – "I've Seen Enough"
• Death Cab for Cutie – "Grapevine Fires"
• Gnarls Barkley – "Who's Gonna Save My Soul"
• Major Lazer – "Hold the Line"
• Passion Pit – "The Reeling"
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – "Heads Will Roll"

Best Direction in a Video[link]

Green Day – "21 Guns" (Director: Marc Webb)

• Beyoncé – "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (Director: Jake Nava)
• Cobra Starship (featuring Leighton Meester) – "Good Girls Go Bad" (Director: Kai Regan)
• Lady Gaga – "Paparazzi" (Director: Jonas Åkerlund)
• Britney Spears – "Circus" (Director: Francis Lawrence)

Best Choreography in a Video[link]

Beyoncé – "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (Choreographers: Frank Gatson and JaQuel Knight)

• Ciara (featuring Justin Timberlake) – "Love Sex Magic" (Choreographers: Jamaica Craft and "Marty")
• Kristinia DeBarge – "Goodbye" (Choreographer: Jamaica Craft)
• A.R. Rahman and the Pussycat Dolls (featuring Nicole Scherzinger) – "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)" (Choreographers: Robin Antin and Mikey Minden)
• Britney Spears – "Circus" (Choreographer: Andre Fuentes)

Best Special Effects in a Video[link]

Lady Gaga – "Paparazzi" (Special Effects: Chimney Pot)

• Beyoncé – "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (Special Effects: VFX Effects and Louis Mackall V)
• Eminem – "We Made You" (Special Effects: Ingenuity Engine)
• Gnarls Barkley – "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" (Special Effects: Gradient Effects and Image Metrics)
• Kanye West (featuring Mr Hudson) – "Paranoid" (Special Effects: Wizardflex and Ghost Town Media)

Best Art Direction in a Video[link]

Lady Gaga – "Paparazzi" (Art Director: Jason Hamilton)

• Beyoncé – "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (Art Director: Niamh Byrne)
• Coldplay – "Viva la Vida" (Art Director: Gregory de Maria)
• Gnarls Barkley – "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" (Art Director: Zach Matthews)
• Britney Spears – "Circus" (Art Directors: Laura Fox and Charles Varga)

Best Editing in a Video[link]

Beyoncé – "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (Editor: Jarrett Fijal)

• Coldplay – "Viva la Vida" (Editor: Hype Williams)
• Miley Cyrus – "7 Things" (Editor: Jarrett Fijal)
• Lady Gaga – "Paparazzi" (Editors: Danny Tull and Jonas Åkerlund)
• Britney Spears – "Circus" (Editor: Jarrett Fijal)

Best Cinematography in a Video[link]

Green Day – "21 Guns" (Director of Photography: Jonathan Sela)

• Beyoncé – "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (Director of Photography: Jim Fealy)
• Coldplay – "Viva la Vida" (Director of Photography: John Perez)
• Lady Gaga – "Paparazzi" (Director of Photography: Eric Broms)
• Britney Spears – "Circus" (Director of Photography: Thomas Kloss)

Best Video (That Should Have Won a Moonman)[link]

Beastie Boys – "Sabotage"

• Björk – "Human Behaviour"
• Dr. Dre – "Nuthin' but a "G" Thang"
• Foo Fighters – "Everlong"
• George Michael – "Freedom! '90"
• OK Go – "Here It Goes Again"
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – "Into the Great Wide Open"
• Radiohead – "Karma Police"
• David Lee Roth – "California Girls"
• U2 – "Where the Streets Have No Name"

Best Performance in a Pepsi Rock Band Video[link]

Nerds in Disguise – "My Own Worst Enemy"

• Blaq Star – "Shining Star"
• One (Wo)Man Band – "Bad Reputation"
• The Sleezy Treezy – "Here It Goes Again"
• Synopsis – "The Kill"

Best Breakout Artist Awards[link]

Eight local "MTV VMA Best Breakout Artist Awards" were awarded. The table below lists the number of bands considered in each city, the three finalist nominees selected by MTV for each VMA, and the winner in bold:^[8][9] The winners were featured on MTV on local cable during the live VMAs and received featured coverage on MTV and MTV2 (or MTV Tr3́s in the case of the LA contest).^[8] The winners did not receive a moonman.^{[citation needed]} Neither the awards nor the winners were listed on the mtv.com "Winners" page, nor were they mentioned elsewhere on mtv.com.^[10]

Performances[link]

• Janet Jackson with This Is It back-up dancers – Tribute to Michael Jackson featuring "Thriller", "Bad", "Smooth Criminal", and "Scream"^[18]
• Katy Perry and Joe Perry – "We Will Rock You"
• Taylor Swift – "You Belong with Me"^[19]
• 30H!3 – "Don't Trust Me"
• Lady Gaga – "Poker Face" intro/"Paparazzi"
• Green Day – "East Jesus Nowhere"
• Beyoncé – "Sweet Dreams" intro/"Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
• Muse – "Uprising"
• The All-American Rejects – "Gives You Hell"
• Kid Cudi – "Remembering DJ AM"
• Pink – "Sober"
• Jay-Z & Alicia Keys – "Empire State of Mind"

Appearances[link]

Pre-show[link]

• Buzz Aldrin – presented Breakthrough Video
• Sway Calloway – presented Best Video (That Should Have Won a Moonman)

Main show[link]

• Madonna – opened the show and paid tribute to Michael Jackson
• Shakira and Taylor Lautner – presented Best Female Video
• Jack Black and Leighton Meester – presented Best Rock Video
• Miranda Cosgrove and Justin Bieber – introduced Taylor Swift
• Pete Wentz and Gabe Saporta – introduced Lady Gaga
• Nelly Furtado and Kristin Cavallari – presented Best Pop Video
• Megan Fox and Adam Brody – introduced Green Day
• Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner – introduced an exclusive New Moon sneak peek preview
• Chace Crawford and Ne-Yo – introduced Beyoncé
• Diddy and Jamie-Lynn Sigler – presented Best Male Video
• Gerard Butler and Alexa Chung – introduced Muse
• Jennifer Lopez – presented Best Hip-Hop Video
• Eminem and Tracy Morgan – presented Best New Artist
• Serena Williams – introduced Pink
• Jimmy Fallon and Andy Samberg – presented Video of the Year

Kanye West controversy and debated incidents[link]

While Taylor Swift was making her acceptance speech for winning Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me", Kanye West got onto the stage and interrupted her; he took her microphone, saying: "Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you and I'mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!", referring to the music video of "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". Beyoncé looked shocked, and West was then booed by the audience.^[20] Angered, he flipped off the crowd.^[21][22] During the commercial break, singer Pink walked by the rapper and reportedly shook her head in disgust.^[23] West was later removed from the remainder of the show.^[21][22] After Beyoncé won Video of the Year, she asked Swift to come on stage to complete her speech.^[24][25] Later, West wrote an apology on his blog (which he later removed).^[26] Various celebrities and industry figures, including Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, Joel Madden, Adam Lambert, Kellie Pickler, Ryan Seacrest, Chris Jericho, Jeremy Fall, and Dane Cook, spoke out about the incident through Twitter^[27] and other outlets, condemning West for the verbal outburst.^[21][28] Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton said, "Taylor Swift deserved that award, damnit [sic]. It is what THE PEOPLE voted! My heart broke for her, she looked so sad at the end of that moment."^[21] Rapper 50 Cent, who has a history of feuding with West, said winning the award was Swift's special moment that night and that West took it away. "Even an apology can't replace what it feels like for the very first time receiving that award. Now in her head, My first award was Kanye West. And it's damaging," he said.^[29] Donald Trump called for a boycott on West.^[30]

In what was an off the record part of an interview, West's behaviour even received condemnation from U.S. President Barack Obama, who had invited West to perform at the Youth Inaugural Ball in January.^[31][32][33] TMZ later obtained audio of the comment.^[34] "You know, it was like, she's getting an award and what are you butting in? ...The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person, she's getting her award and what's he doing up there? He's a jackass," said Obama.^[32][33] The "off the air" comment forced ABC, whose news anchor Terry Moran leaked the information, to issue an apology after the Internet quickly "became abuzz over the stunning remark".^[31][32][33] Additionally, West was criticized by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter for the outburst.^[35] The day following his outburst, West posted a second apology on his blog;^[26][36] he appeared on The Jay Leno Show later that night, where he delivered another apology to Swift which was met with cheers from the crowd.^[37] "Dealing with the fact that I hurt someone or took anything away, you know, from a talented artist—or from anyone—because I only wanted to help people," he said. "...My entire life, I've only wanted to do and give something that I felt was right and I immediately knew in this situation that it was wrong."^[37] He became emotional, seemingly tearing up, when questioned what his late mother would have thought of the incident.^[37][38]

Emil Wilbekin, managing editor of Essence.com, said West may have gone too far with his antics this time. "I think that it was not Kanye's place to speak for Beyoncé or to ruin Taylor Swift's moment," said Wilbekin. "It's OK for Kanye to rattle off about himself, but I think he crossed the line when he decided to speak for other people."^[21] Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times said that "from one vantage point, it was a case of chivalry gone horribly wrong" as West meant to "stand up for" Beyoncé.^[39] She added that when Swift accepted Beyoncé's invitation to return to the stage, "The two women [engaged in] a quick sisterly embrace, adding another layer of meaning to an already complicated moment. Now this controversy was about women sticking up for each other, too."^[39]

On September 15, 2009, two days after the outburst, Swift talked about the matter on The View. Asked what she was thinking the moment it happened, she stated:

Well, I think my overall thought process was something like, 'Wow, I can't believe I won, this is awesome, don't trip and fall, I'm gonna get to thank the fans, this is so cool. Oh, Kanye West is here. Cool haircut. What are you doing there?' And then, 'Ouch.' And then, 'I guess I'm not gonna get to thank the fans.'^[40][41]

Swift described how she had to get over the shock quickly. "You know, I'm not gonna say that I wasn't rattled by it," she said. "But I had to perform live five minutes later, so I had to get myself back to the place where I could perform."^[40] She said that West had not spoken to her following the incident.^[41] Following Swift's appearance on The View, West contacted her to apologize personally; Swift said she accepted his apology.^[41][42] The night of the awards show, Swift became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award.^[42]

West's outburst resulted in an Internet meme which saw images of West being superimposed onto other images alongside text in the style of his VMA outburst ("X is one of the greatest Y of all time", or variants thereon, in some cases preceded by "I'm really happy for you" and/or "I'mma let you finish").^[6]

The incident was parodied at the 2009 Country Music Association Awards, in which after Swift won the award for Music Video of the Year, Carrie Underwood, who was hosting the awards with Brad Paisley, told Paisley that she thought his video for "Welcome to the Future" was a great video as well. Paisley thanked her and then thanked his producers for the video, at which time singer Little Jimmy Dickens stepped on the stage and pushed Brad Paisley away from the microphone, saying, "Excuse me. Excuse me, sir. Excuse me, I'll let you finish later. Now, Brad Paisley, I know you had a nice video and all that, but Taylor Swift had the best video of all time. You go girl!" Swift laughed in her seat. Paisley then remarked, "What kind of security do we have if a 4'9" 88-year-old man gets by it?" Earlier in the awards show, Underwood and Paisley's monologue was a duet paying tribute to the song "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys", in which the first line was "Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Kanye". Additionally, when Taylor Swift hosted Saturday Night Live, one part of her monologue (which was done in the form of a song ostensibly about all the things that she was not going to talk about) included Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis as security men charged with preventing Kanye West from coming on stage. She closed her monologue by saying "Kanye West is not here."^[43] Additionally when Taylor Lautner, who then was rumored to be dating Swift, hosted SNL, in his monologue he beats up a cardboard cutout of West. The incident is also referenced in Eminem's single No Love, which he says "Man, get these whack cocksuckers off stage/where the fuck is Kanye when you need him?/Snatch the mic from 'em, bitch, I'mma let you finish in a minute, yeah/the rap was tight/But I'm 'bout to spit the greatest verse of all time".^[44]

In September 2010, West wrote a series of apologetic tweets addressed to Swift including "Beyonce didn't need that. MTV didn't need that and Taylor and her family friends and fans definitely didn't want or need that" and concluding with "I'm sorry Taylor." West also revealed he had written a song for Swift and if she did not accept the song, he would perform it himself.^[45] Swift said that she received a call from the rapper and accepted.^[46] She would respond in the form of a song, "Innocent" from her 2010 album, Speak Now.^[47] After the incident, West went into seclusion for months, before releasing new music in 2010. Both artists are said to have benefited from the incident, both receiving commercial and critical acclaim for their 2010 albums, Speak Now, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.^[48]

In addition to the West controversy, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys were performing "Empire State of Mind", but towards the end of their performance, Lil Mama jumped and danced on the stage uninvited. She later issued an apology.^[49]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official VMA 2009 site

MTV Video Music Awards
2012 MTV Video Music Awards
Awarded for	Best in Music videos and pop culture
Presented by	MTV
Country	United States
First awarded	September 14, 1984
Official website	mtv.com/ontv/vma

An MTV Video Music Award (commonly abbreviated as a VMA), is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category), the annual MTV Video Music Awards ceremony has often been called the "Oscars for youth", an acknowledgment of the VMA ceremony's ability to draw millions of youth from teens to 20-somethings each year.^[1] By 2001, the VMA had become a coveted award.^[2] The statue given to winners is an astronaut on the moon, one of the earliest representations of MTV.

The annual VMA ceremony is usually held in mid-September, and broadcast live on MTV. The first VMA ceremony was held in 1984 at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. Other VMAs have been held in Los Angeles, Miami, and Las Vegas. The 2012 MTV Video Music Awards will air live on Thursday, September 6, 2012.

Overview[link]

The VMAs have been a generational pop-cultural annual award show that gathers the most popular bands and artists each year. For years, the show was noteworthy for its live controversial moments (some cut for the re-runs); it quickly gained popularity because of them, rather than the awards given.

The show starts with a prestacy-show that can last from 1 to 2 hours. That is followed by the main show which lasts up to two-three hours, and then the post-show.

Notable moments[link]

1980s[link]

Radio City Music Hall, site of 13 VMAs, including the first.

1984–1989[link]

1984: At the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, Madonna performed her iconic hit "Like A Virgin" wearing a combination bustier/wedding gown, including her trademark "Boy Toy" belt. During the performance, she rolled around on the floor, revealing lacy stockings and garter.^[3] Cyndi Lauper spoke in "Exorcist-esque gibberish" to explain the VMA rules right before winning the Best Female video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun".^[4]

1986: Whitney Houston, who was one of the first female African American artists to receive heavy rotation on the network, performed "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love of All" at the 1986 Video Music Awards. The network had received criticism for not playing enough videos by black artists.

1988: At the 1988 Video Music Awards Michael Jackson appeared for the first time. A pre-recorded live performance of Bad was shown."^[5] He was also awarded the Video Vanguard Award.^[6]

1989: Controversial comic Andrew Dice Clay's appearance at 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 that contained vulgar language and references.^[7] After performing with Tom Petty, Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin was assaulted by Mötley Crüe lead singer Vince Neil, leading to a verbal battle between Neil and Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose.^[8]

Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora turned out a stripped down acoustic performance of the Bon Jovi hits "Wanted Dead or Alive & "Livin' on a Prayer," and in the process possibly provided the inspirational spark for MTV Unplugged.^[9][10]

Paula Abdul was nominated for six awards, picking up four wins, and turned out the most notable performance of the night. She commanded the VMA stage with a seven-minute medley of her #1 hits: "Straight Up", "Cold Hearted" and "Forever Your Girl".^[9]

When Madonna won the Viewer's Choice Award for her "Like a Prayer" video, she thanked Pepsi-Cola in her acceptance speech "for causing so much controversy." Madonna had been paid $5 million by Pepsi-Cola to appear in a commercial that would predominantly feature the world premiere of "Like a Prayer". The commercial, titled "Make a Wish," depicted Madonna drinking Pepsi and watching a home video of her eighth birthday. The tone that the commercial sought to convey sharply contrasted with the music video. When Pepsi executives saw the video, they yanked the advertisement after only two airings in an attempt to dissociate themselves from Madonna. Ironically, the Viewer's Choice Award was sponsored by Pepsi-Cola.^[11] She also gave one of the most memorable performances of her hit "Express Yourself", as a preview of what would become her Blond Ambition World Tour.^[9]

1990s[link]

1990–1994[link]

1990: At the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna gave a memorable performance of her hit "Vogue," which featured Madonna and her dancers dressed in an 18th-century French theme, with Madonna bearing great resemblance to Marie Antoinette. The performance consisted of both a dramatic 18th-century reinterpretation of "Vogue" as well as her dramatically becorseted breasts.^[12]

1991: During the award show the MTV Video Vanguard Award was renamed to the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award from then on, due to his unparalleled contribution to music video by changing them from a mere promotional tool featuring musicians playing instruments and singing, to a piece of art with a storyline, or as Jackson liked to put as 'short films'. His video Thriller influenced and changed music videos into what it is like today.^[13]

A conflict between Poison's Bret Michaels and C.C. DeVille culminated in a fistfight at the Video Music Awards in 1991. DeVille was fired and replaced by Pennsylvanian guitarist Richie Kotzen.^[14] Paul Reubens had his first public appearance following an arrest for lewd-conduct 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?"^[15]

It also marked the last TV appearance of Kiss with Eric Carr, before Carr's death that November.

1992: In the 1992 show, MTV requested Nirvana perform "Smells Like Teen Spirit", while the band itself had indicated it preferred to play new songs "Rape Me" and "tourette's". Network executives continued to push for "Teen Spirit" but finally offered the band a choice to play either "Teen Spirit" or "Lithium", which the band appeared to accept. At the performance, Nirvana began to play, and Kurt Cobain sang the first few lines of the song, "Rape Me", much to the horror of MTV execs, before continuing 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. He misjudged the landing, and the bass ended up bouncing off of his forehead, forcing him to stumble off the stage in a daze.^{[citation needed]}

Backstage, before the show, Guns N' Roses vocalist Axl Rose challenged Cobain to a fight after he, his wife and Hole frontwoman, Courtney Love, and Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, egged him on. At the end of Nirvana's performance, while Cobain was trashing the band's equipment, Dave Grohl ran to the microphone and shouted "Hi, Axl! Where's Axl?" repeatedly. Guns N' Roses' video for the ballad "November Rain" won the MTV Video Music Award for best cinematography. During the show, the band performed "November Rain" with singer Elton John. Because of the dispute Rose 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.^[5] During the commercial break, the Alien 3 Pepsi commercial was shown.

Radio shock-jock Howard Stern appeared as Fartman, Stern's radio super-hero. Stern was a presenter for best hard rock/metal performance with actor Luke Perry (after several other celebrities turned him down).

Madonna has won 20 VMAs, the most for any artist. All were won in the 1980s and 1990s.^[16]

1993: At the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna opened the show in a gender-bending performance of her song "Bye Bye Baby," in which Madonna and her two back up singers, dressed in tuxedos and top hats, danced with women in corsets in a choreographed, highly sexual routine.^[17]

RuPaul and Milton Berle, who had had conflicts backstage, presented an award together. When Berle touched RuPaul's breasts, RuPaul ad-libbed the line "So you used to wear gowns, but now you're wearing diapers."^[17]

Rapper Snoop Dogg presented the Best R&B Video award with Dr. Dre and George Clinton.

1994: At the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards on September 8, shortly after a profanity-laced appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, Madonna was announced to present the award for Best Group Video. She came out, arm-in-arm with an unannounced David Letterman, to a wild ovation. At the microphone, Letterman told her, "I'll be out by the car. Watch your language," and left.^[18]

Recently betrothed couple Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley received a standing ovation as they walked on stage hand-in-hand. After turning to the audience and proclaiming, "And just think, nobody thought this would last," Jackson grabbed Presley and kissed her.^[19] Near the end of the awards, Michael Jackson played "Thriller" in honor of Kurt Cobain, who had died recently before the awards. Jackson stated later that "Thriller" was Kurt's favorite song by him and his death deserves his favorite song to be played.^[20]

1995–1999[link]

1995: At the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, Courtney Love's band Hole perform the song "Violet" from their major-label debut album Live Through This. This was one of the first major televised performances given by Love following the death of her husband Kurt Cobain and the death of her band's bassist Kristen Pfaff in 1994. Before beginning the song, Courtney announced, "This is for Kurt, and Kristen, and River, and Joe, and today Joni Abbott, this is for you." The song ended with Love throwing her guitar, knocking the microphone stand into the crowd and pushing over speaker-boxes with bandmate Eric Erlandson before exiting the stage.^[21] Love also caused a stir when she interrupted a post-ceremony interview with Kurt Loder and Madonna by throwing her make-up compacts at the singer as they broadcast outside the awards venue.^[22]

Michael Jackson performed for over fifteen minutes to a medley of his main songs, including "Scream.", and danced his signature moves, including the robot, moonwalk and the relatively unknown "Bankhead Bounce". While Slash accompanied Jackson and played guitar on "Black or White and the beginning of Billie Jean."^[23] This performance was voted by the public as the Best VMA Pop Performance in 2011 with more than half the votes.^[24]

TLC was the biggest winner of the night winning four awards, including "Viewer's Choice", "Best Group Video", and "Video of the Year".

1996: On September 4, at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, the four original members of Van Halen received 20-second standing ovation when they made their first public appearance together since their break-up in April 1985. Backstage, after presenting an award to Beck, the reunion soured bitterly, and reportedly, David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen nearly came to blows.^{[citation needed]}

Several weeks later, the public learned that Van Halen would not reunite with Roth. Roth released a statement apologizing to fans, stating that he was an unwitting participant in a publicity stunt to sell more copies of the greatest hits album, Best Of Vol. 1, and that he had been led to believe that he was rejoining Van Halen. The following day, Eddie and Alex Van Halen released a statement, stating that they had been honest with Roth, and never lead him to believe that he had been re-hired.^{[citation needed]}

Oasis performed 'Champagne Supernova', with lead vocalist Liam Gallagher making rude gestures at brother Noel as he was playing his guitar solo, then spitting beer all over the stage before storming off.^[25]

Alanis Morissette performed "Your House", a hidden track from her bestseller album "Jagged Little Pill". The performance had nothing to do with her 1995 one. The beginning and the ending of the song were sung a cappella, while the rest was played with only one guitar on stage. At the end Morissette was close to tears.^{[citation needed]}

The recently reunited Kiss closed the show with a special concert aired from the Brooklyn Bridge.^[26]

1997: In 1997, Pat Smear announced that he was leaving Foo Fighters half way through their performance and presented his replacement, Franz Stahl, who had been a member of the band Scream with Dave Grohl.^[27]

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.^[28]

The odd pairing of presenters Martha Stewart and Busta Rhymes that year drew much talk in the press.^[28] They presented the best dance video award to the Spice Girls for their music video "Wannabe," who wore a black strap on their left arms as a sign of grief because of Diana, Princess of Wales's death prior to the event.

While accepting the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist Video that year for "Sleep To Dream", Fiona Apple appealed to her audience not to be enamored of celebrity culture. She proclaimed, "this world is bullshit" and quoted Maya Angelou, saying "go with yourself." Though her comments were generally greeted with cheers and applause at the awards ceremony, the media backlash was huge. Some considered her remarks to be hypocritical, seeing a contradiction between her appearance in a risqué 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."^[28][29][30]

Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson performed the song "The Beautiful People", as the grand finale, and the video for this song was nominated for "Best Rock Video" and "Best Special Effects", marking one of the most significant performances for the band.^[31]

1998: At the 1998 VMA's, Brandy and Monica performed "The Boy Is Mine" together live for the first time, putting an end to the media speculation that the two were rivals.^[32]

During the original broadcast of the show, a commercial faded in the Nine Inch Nails NIN logo on a black screen while playing a combination of music that started as a solo piano piece and morphed into an electronic/industrial beat (which would later found out to be the songs "La Mer" and "Into the Void," which share many melodic components and can be considered variations on a theme) and ended with Trent Reznor screaming "Tried to save myself, but myself kept slipping away" and the word "ninetynine" in the trademark NIN reversed-N font. This was only shown once during the original broadcast, was edited out of all repeats, and generally seen as a sign that the long-awaited follow-up to The Downward Spiral would be released early in 1999. Work was continued on the album through the first half of 1999, and Nine Inch Nails performed the title track "The Fragile" off the double-CD at 1999 MTV Video Music Awards almost one year to the day of the "ninetynine" commercial. It can be found as an Easter Egg or on the "Beneath The Surface" menu on the live NIN DVD And All That Could Have Been.^{[citation needed]}

Geri Halliwell attended the event, one of her first public appearances since she left the Spice Girls in May. She presented the video of the year award to Madonna for "Ray of Light."^{[citation needed]}

Actress Rose McGowan, who had arrived with then-boyfriend Marilyn Manson, was wearing a see-through dress, no bra, and a thong,^[33] while Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston poked fun at their rumored rift by wearing look-a-like chocolate brown dresses by Vera Wang. In an attempt to outdo each other, the singers tore off pieces of their dresses to reveal minidresses then staged a faux catfight that left the audience in disbelief. "People thought Whitney and I had some kind of beef," explained Carey.^[34]

1999: 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 when she appeared on stage with Mary J. Blige and Diana Ross to present the Best Hip-Hop Video award, and Ross reached over, cupped her hand under Kim's exposed breast and jiggled it while Kim laughed.^[35]

During the following acceptance speech by the Beastie Boys, group member Ad-Rock addressed the instances of rape and sexual assault that occurred in the crowd at the recent Woodstock 1999 concert event. He pleaded to other musicians in the room to make a change in the way they treat fans at concerts; to pledge to talk with promoters and security to ensure "the safety of all the girls and the women who come to our shows."^[36]

Afeni Shakur and Voletta Wallace, the mothers of the recently slain Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., met for the first time at the ceremony.^[37]

TLC won Best Group Video for "No Scrubs" beating the favorite boy bands of that time Backstreet Boys and 'N SYNC. The female group received a standing ovation from the audience and artists.

When The Backstreet Boys came up to receive their award for winning Viewers Choice for "I Want It That Way". A stranger came up and stated "Wake up at 3".

Before presenting the final award, a group of drag queens paid tribute to Madonna wearing her most iconic outfits with a medley of her hit songs. Madonna herself then appeared onstage and remarked, "All I have to say is that it takes a real man to fill my shoes." She then introduced McCartney, who presented the Video of the Year to "some guy named Laurence Hill" (Lauryn Hill).

2000s[link]

2000–2004[link]

2000: At the 2000 Video Music Awards, D'Angelo and Jennifer Lopez presented the award for Best Rock Video to Limp Bizkit. As Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst spoke, Rage Against the Machine bassist Tim Commerford climbed onto the scaffolding of the set. Durst egged Commerford on, saying "Stage dive, dude" and "Take a dive," finally ending his speech with "and [Commerford]'s a pussy 'cause he won't jump." Commerford and his bodyguard were sentenced to a night in jail. RATM vocalist Zack de la Rocha reportedly left the awards after Commerford's stunt. RATM guitarist Tom Morello recalled that Commerford related his plan to the rest of the band before the show, and that both de la Rocha and Morello advised him against it immediately after Bizkit was presented the award.^[38][39]

Eminem performed his two singles "The Real Slim Shady" and "The Way I Am", the performance began with Eminem's single "The Real Slim Shady" which started outside the Radio City Music Hall on 6th Avenue, Manhattan. Eminem continued his performance into the arena and was followed by a hundred Eminem 'clones' wearing white tank tops and baggy jeans with dyed bleach blonde hair.^[40]

Britney Spears performed "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and her hit "Oops!... I Did It Again" which became one of the VMA's most controversial performances mostly due to Spears' ripping off a tuxedo to reveal skin-colored performance attire.^[41]

At the end of Christina Aguilera's performance, Durst walked onstage and performed part of his band's song "Livin' It Up" with Aguilera. After eliciting charged reactions from his fans, Durst stated: "I already told you guys before, I did it all for the nookie, man."^[42] The feud died weeks later. Aguilera denied Durst's statement, saying Durst "got no nookie."^[43]

Aguilera and Spears disproved rumors of a rivalry when they came onstage, holding hands, and introduced Whitney Houston. Houston, who had been targeted by the media for erratic behavior, canceled appearances, drug use rumors and being busted for carrying marijuana at a Hawaii airport just a few months prior, came out to a standing ovation and introduced an award to Eminem with husband Bobby Brown, who was recently released from jail. Houston showed more erratic behavior, jumping up and down saying "free" in reference to Brown's recent jail release.^{[citation needed]}

2001: At the 2001 Video Music Awards, Britney Spears gave another memorable performance when she took the stage to sing her new single, "I'm a Slave 4 U." Along with dancing in a very revealing outfit, the performance is probably most remembered for featuring the singer in a cage with a tiger and briefly dancing with a live albino Burmese Python on her shoulders. The inclusion of a tiger and a snake in the performance bought a great deal of criticism from PETA.^[41][44]

U2 had been set to perform a medley including "Elevation", "Beautiful Day" and "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of." The riser they were performing on lost power and MTV had to cut to several minutes of promos while everything was set up again. They lost power again and finally the band was lowered to the ground and performed without the riser. Lead singer Bono made reference after the performance that MTV "forgot to pay the electricity bill."^[45]

Michael Jackson made a surprise appearance at the end of 'N Sync's performance of "Pop" and, surrounded by members of the group, performed some of his trademark dance moves to Justin Timberlake's beatboxing.^[45]

The show paid tribute to the R&B singer/Actress Aaliyah, who was supposed to present an award but died the weekend before from a small plane crash. U2 paid tribute to Punk-Rock singer Joey Ramone, who died of lymphoma 4 months before.^[46][47]

2002: In 2002, the VMAs took place on Michael Jackson's birthday, and as a tribute, Britney Spears introduced him saying she "considered him the artist of the millennium." Jackson said, "When I was a little boy growing up in Indiana if someone told me I'd be getting 'the artist of the millennium award,' I'd have never believed it."^[48] A year later, at the 2003 VMAs, this was parodied by presenters Fred Durst and Jack Black, with Durst stating that Black was the "funniest man alive." ^[41][49] This year was special because it was the first time that a Latino artist performed; Shakira sang her single "Objection" live, becoming the first Latin artist in these awards.

Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog appeared and had a confrontation with Eminem. Eminem had a confrontation with Moby, who had called the rapper's music misogynistic and homophobic. By that time, there were various boos from the crowd. The Best Male Video award was given to Eminem right after the confrontation with Triumph and Moby, and when Eminem went to stage to pick up the award, in the middle of his speech, he challenged Moby to fight if he continued to boo him.^[50]

Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, the surviving members of the top-selling R&B trio TLC, made their first television appearance since the death of bandmate Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes.^[50]

Christina Aguilera shocked the audience by wearing a revealing outfit and heavy make-up, with a sexual image contrasting her previous good-girl persona.^[51] She was part of an awkward moment at the awards when presenting the Best Male Video Award to Eminem, who had insulted her in 2000.^[52]

Avril Lavigne won her first award ever as Best New Artist in a Video, getting the record for the youngest artist so far to win this award at the age of 17. She kicked off the 2002 VMAs with a "Complicated / "Sk8er Boi" pre-show performance and together Lisa Marie Presley they gave the award for Best Female Video to P!nk who was under the effects of alcohol during her acceptance speech.^[50]

Axl Rose unveiled the new lineup of Guns N' Roses. The band's set was the show's finale, and although the performance was meant to be kept a secret, some New York radio outlets announced the performance earlier in the day. The band played a set consisting of "Welcome to the Jungle", "Madagascar", and "Paradise City".^[53]

2003: At the 2003 Video Music Awards, Madonna portrayed a groom 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 VMAs: the same wedding cake set, wedding dresses and "Boy Toy" belt worn by Madonna in 1984 now adorned Aguilera and Spears.^[54]

Beyoncé made a memorable entrance, descending upside down from the rafters at Radio City Music Hall. Knowles performed "Baby Boy" as she was gently lowered to the stage, dressed in harem pants. She was later joined by Jay-Z as they performed their duet "Crazy in Love." The performance marked Knowles's solo debut.^[55]

2004: The 2004 MTV Video Music Awards were held at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. This was the first time the awards show was held outside of New York City and Los Angeles. It was the first video music awards to not have a host.^[56]

2005–2009[link]

2005: At the 2005 show, Green Day returned, taking home the Best Rock Video, Best Group Video, and Video of the Year Moonmen for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," which they performed during the broadcast.They also took the Viewer's Choice award for "American Idiot."

Also at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, while introducing the Reggaeton spot, Fat Joe made a disparaging comment about G-Unit: "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 directed profanities at Fat Joe which were edited out before the shows airing although some broadcasts played the uncensored version of the show.^[57] R.Kelly performed his rap opera, "Trapped in the Closet."^[58]

Actress Eva Longoria caused a stir when she appeared barely dressed to introduce Mariah Carey.^[59]

Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dogg won best dressed female and male and received prizes to donate to a charity of their choice.^[60]

The 2005 VMAs were the first to have a performance in Spanish, when Shakira, performed her single "la Tortura" ft Alejandro Sanz. Till the moment she has been the only Latin artist to sing a song in Spanish in this awards. It was also the first time that Spanish videos were nominated at the awards.^[58]

Kelly Clarkson performed a high energy version of her song "Since U Been Gone" barefoot wearing a torn up halter top and Capri pants. Clarkson moved through the crowd during the performance, which culminated in the singer getting sprayed with water. By the end of the song, she and a portion of the audience were soaking wet.^[61]

Beavis and Butt-head appeared in several Viewer's Choice award skits, saying to "Vote to put Beavis and Butt-head back on MTV!".^[62] Rather belatedly, the TV show returned to MTV in 2011.

2006: During the 2006 Video Music Awards, after Jennifer Lopez announced the Video of the Year (Panic! at the Disco for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"), a man jumped from the audience, took the microphone, and identified himself as "Sixx".^[58] Shakira performed "Hips Don´t Lie" ft Wyclef Jean. There were also performances of Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Beyonce. It was hosted by Jack Black.

2007: The 2007 Video Music Awards is best known for Britney Spears's performance of her comeback single "Gimme More". Spears failed to live up to the pre-show hype about her appearance. She appeared to be intoxicated, with poor lip-syncing and dancing, and showing off an out-of-shape physique after reportedly tossing aside her costume, appearing wearing only a black, sparkly bra and panty set.^[63][64] The performance was dubbed "career crippling".^[35]

Kid Rock and Tommy Lee were involved in an altercation during Alicia Keys's performance. Lee was sitting with magician Criss Angel when the two went to visit Diddy, who was sitting close to Kid Rock. Kid Rock allegedly punched Tommy Lee in the face. The two were broken up, and both were escorted from the resort. Angel was removed a short time later.^[65]

2008: The 2008 Video Music Awards were opened by Britney Spears which welcomed everybody to the 25-year anniversary of the Video Music Awards. Rihanna opened the show with her then number one hit song "Disturbia" in a black leather outfit . After 16 nominations, Britney Spears finally won her first VMA, taking Best Female Video, Best Pop Video, and Video of the Year for "Piece of Me"marking the beginning of Spears' comeback.^[66]

Host Russell Brand commented on Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, begging the audience to vote for him. Brand called President George W. Bush a "retarded cowboy" and claimed Bush "wouldn't be trusted with a pair of scissors in Britain."^[67]

Russell Brand also made comments on the Jonas Brothers for wearing purity rings. Brand later faced criticism for his swipes at the trio. He confirmed his apology at the MTV Video Music Awards 2009 by saying "I upset the Jonas Brothers last year, I had to say sorry to them and they forgave me. They had to, they're Christians." During her introduction of T.I. and Rihanna's performance, Jordin Sparks, who also wears a purity ring, defended the Jonas Brothers by saying "It's not bad to wear a promise ring because not everybody, guy or girl, wants to be a slut." Sparks was in turn criticized for implying that those who do not wear purity rings or do not abstain are promiscuous.^[68]

After performing her song "Keeps Gettin' Better" at the awards with a futuristic look and sound, Christina Aguilera was accused by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton of copying the style of then-debuting singer Lady Gaga.^[69] Although Lady Gaga has after commented she did not consider Aguilera copied her, and Aguilera admitted she did not know who Gaga was. The two singers have often been compared and placed by the media as rivals ever since.^[70]

2009: At the 2009 Video Music Awards, country singer Taylor Swift won Best Female video for "You Belong with Me." During her acceptance speech, rapper Kanye West unexpectedly showed up on stage. Taking the microphone from Swift, he announced "Yo Tay, I'm really happy for you, and Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!"^[71][72] MTV cut away from the stage (showing Beyonce with an embarrassed look) after West gave the microphone back to Swift and giving the middle finger to the audience as they started booing him off stage, and so Swift did not finish her speech. West was removed for the rest of the show. However, when Beyoncé won Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," she called Swift back on stage to "have her moment" (finishing her speech from winning Best Female Video). In an off-the-record portion of an interview the following day, President Barack Obama called West a "jackass" for his antics.^[73] During a post-interview, Jay-Z admitted West was wrong to go on stage, but he thought people were overreacting to the incident.^[74]

Beyoncé performed her song "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" in 6 inch heels. Onstage, she performed her well-known choreography for Single Ladies with over two dozen female dancers dancing with her.^[75]

Lady Gaga later performed her song "Paparazzi" and shocked the audience when she appeared to bleed out on stage. It was actually a contraption in her outfit.^[76]

Madonna opened the show talking about her experiences with Michael Jackson. After her speech, a Michael Jackson tribute commenced, including Janet Jackson performing the duet "Scream". The show closed with a sneak preview of Michael Jackson's "This Is It" movie.^[77]

Rapper Lil' Mama jumped on stage as Jay-Z and Alicia Keys performed "Empire State of Mind."^[78] Lil' Mama later apologized.^[79] During an interview with New York Radio DJ Angie Martinez, Jay-Z said that he thought the unrehearsed move was something similar to the West and Swift incident.^[79] Lady Gaga and Beyoncé each received 9 nominations winning three each, with Beyoncé bringing home its highest honor, the Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)".^[75] Green Day also won three awards for their song "21 Guns".^[75]

2010s[link]

2010-2012[link]

2010: At the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, Lady Gaga broke the record for most nominations in a single show with 13, and took home eight awards (seven for "Bad Romance" and one for "Telephone"). She accepted the Video of the Year award for "Bad Romance" wearing a controversial dress made from cuts of meat. During her speech she revealed her upcoming album's title, Born This Way and sang a portion of the title track. Her win tied a-ha's "Take on Me" in 1986 for the second highest number of wins. (Peter Gabriel previously won 10 in 1987).^[80] Justin Bieber won Best New Artist, making him the youngest person to ever win a VMA.^[81]

A year after an incident in which Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech, Taylor Swift performed her song "Innocent", while West performed "Runaway" with Pusha T giving a stellar performance on the MPC2000. Eminem, who performed at the show, did not receive his awards in person, due to leaving immediately to go perform with Jay-Z at The Home & Home Tour in New York City the next day.^{[citation needed]} Additionally, Will.i.am's "blackface" outfit sparked controversy among African-Americans.^[82] Overall, the show grabbed an impressive 11.4 million viewers — the largest audience for an MTV Video Music Awards since 2002.^[83]

2011:

Perry at 2011 MTV Video Music Awards

The 2011 MTV Video Music Awards returned to the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. MTV president Steven Friedman said in a statement, "We are thrilled to return to Los Angeles where the energy of the city will help power the creative spirit of the 28th annual VMAs. The city is the perfect backdrop for all the musical moments, mayhem and magic that make the VMAs such a notorious celebration." On August 11, 2011, it was stated in a promo that there would be a tribute to Britney Spears during the ceremony.

The show was opened by Lady Gaga dressed as her alter ego, Jo Calderone, performing "You and I" with Queen guitarist, Brian May. Her costume and mannerisms mimicked the late comedian, Lenny Bruce. During her performance she slipped on spilled beer but quickly recovered and finished the performance.

Lady Gaga as "Jo Calderone" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards

The tribute to Britney Spears contained performances by young talents, who danced to various hit singles by Spears including "...Baby One More Time" and the recent hit "Till the World Ends". After the tribute, Lady Gaga went on stage to present Britney the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.^[84] While accepting her award she and Gaga teased a kiss. Britney rejected the exchange saying, "I've done that already," referring to her infamous liplock with Madonna and Christina Aguilera at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.

Chris Brown gave a performance which included him dancing to "Yeah 3x", "Protect Ya Neck", "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and "Beautiful People". While performing "Beautiful People" he started to fly across the stage and into the audience.

During Kanye West's and Jay-Z's surprise performance of "Otis", a man ran on to the stage but was quickly taken off by security.

Prior to her performance, Beyoncé announced on the red carpet that she and husband Jay-Z were expecting a baby. Straight after Beyoncé finished performing her song "Love on Top", she also revealed again that she is pregnant by showing off her baby bump and rubbing it.

Adele gave a performance of her single Someone Like You which earned her a standing ovation.

A tribute to late singer Amy Winehouse also took place; Russell Brand delivered a monologue on his thoughts on her, and after that, Tony Bennett previewed his collaboration with her for his album Duets II. Afterwards, Bruno Mars performed "Valerie" in honor of her, which received a standing ovation.

Jessie J served as the house artist, performing several of her own songs from her debut album Who You Are as well covers of many popular songs right before commercial breaks.

2012: The 2012 MTV Video Music Awards will air live on Thursday, September 6, 2012.

Host cities[link]