Published On August 27, 2015 »
Music Television
Let’s be real: When it comes to the MTV Video Music Awards, it’s never about who wins or loses. Everyone has long forgotten that the Cars’ “You Might Think” took top honors at the first VMAs ceremony 31 years ago, but
no one will ever forget Madonna’s career-making performance that opened that famous telecast. What are the craziest incidents in VMA history? Review them here and decide for yourself.
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![Madonna's Opening Number: A Video Star Is Born (1984) - Older generations vividly recall the exact moment when they first saw Elvis twitch his pelvis on TV or when the Beatles first performed on Ed Sullivan. But for children of the '80s, one of the most defining televised music moments was when Madonna kicked off the inaugural VMAs. And it wasn't even planned. "I lost [my shoe] and I thought, 'Oh my God, how am I going to get that? It's over there and I'm on TV.' So I thought, 'Well, I'll pretend I meant to do this,' and I dove onto the floor. And I rolled around and I reached for the shoe, and as I reached for the shoe, the dress went up, and then the underpants were showing. And I didn't mean to," Madonna told Jay Leno years later. And thus, VMAs history was made.](http://www.lyndsanity.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/vmas1-150x150.jpg)
- Madonna’s Opening Number: A Video Star Is Born (1984) – Older generations vividly recall the exact moment when they first saw Elvis twitch his pelvis on TV or when the Beatles first performed on Ed Sullivan. But for children of the ’80s, one of the most defining televised music moments was when Madonna kicked off the inaugural VMAs. And it wasn’t even planned. “I lost [my shoe] and I thought, ‘Oh my God, how am I going to get that? It’s over there and I’m on TV.’ So I thought, ‘Well, I’ll pretend I meant to do this,’ and I dove onto the floor. And I rolled around and I reached for the shoe, and as I reached for the shoe, the dress went up, and then the underpants were showing. And I didn’t mean to,” Madonna told Jay Leno years later. And thus, VMAs history was made.
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- Stern Howard Fartman VMA Moment #8: Introducing … Fartman! (1992) – One might say that Howard Stern is the original “Borat.” His alter-ego Fartman descended upon the stunned crowd in all his flatulent glory wearing a cheek-baring, “aesthetically enhanced” leotard. Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com – September 9, 2010
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- The Beasties Sabotage R.E.M.’s Speech (1994) – The Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” one of the most iconic music videos ever, ridiculously lost out in all categories in 1994. This shutout so angered Beastie Adam Yauch’s lederhosened alter ego, Nathaniel Hornblower, that Nathaniel famously bumrushed the stage during Michael Stipe’s typically P.C. speech, yodeling, “This is an outrage! This is a farce!” (over the injustice that “Sabotage” mastermind Spike Jonze had lost the Best Direction award to R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts”). Stipe just looked confused. But we think it was the VMA judges who were most confused. Spike really should have won. And Adam “MCA” Yauch, who died in 2012, really deserves a posthumous Video Vanguard Award.
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- Courtney Love Doesn’t Let Madonna & Kurt Loder Finish (1995) -The most exciting moment of the ’95 VMAs actually took place offstage, once the show was over, when loose-cannon rock widow Courtney Love hijacked VJ Kurt Loder’s perfectly civilized interview with elder stateswoman Madonna. (Courtney got Loder’s attention by tossing her powder compact into the press pit.) A lesser pop star may have been intimidated by Courtney’s crazy antics. But Courtney was no match for Madge, who in a refreshing change of pace came across as classy and totally non-controversial, smiling benignly while Courtney struggled to remain upright and babbled about Michael Stipe and Birkenstocks. This was live television at its finest.
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- Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love: Van Halen’s Botched Reunion Attempt (1996) – The reunion between Van Halen and off-on original frontman David Lee Roth on the VMAs stage — their first appearance together in 10 years — was so exciting. For about 47 seconds. Because that’s about how long this particular VH reunion lasted. Eddie Van Halen’s icy body language at the VMAs made it clear that he still loathed Diamond Dave; at times he was standing so far away from Roth, he may as well have been on a different show on another network. And Dave’s constant goofy quips about Eddie’s hip surgery didn’t help matters. Rumor has it they nearly got in a fistfight backstage.
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- Fiona Is One Sour Apple (1997) – When waify songstress Fiona Apple was only 20 years old, she was presented with a Best New Artist Moonman by none other than Elton John, beating out frontrunners like Hanson, the Wallflowers, and Jamiroquai, the latter of whom won a ton of VMAs for “Virtual Insanity” that year. This was every young artist’s dream. But not for Fiona. Instead she took her time at the podium to denounce the entire awards show. “Everybody out there who is watching this world, this world is bulls—,” she ranted, adding a Maya Angelou quote just to keep things classy. Where was Kanye in ’97, to interrupt this?
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- Diana Ross Gives Lil’ Kim a Hand (1999) – When Motown legend Diana met queen bee Kim (when they presented an award together with Mary J. Blige), a simple handshake just wouldn’t do. Dirty Diana instead took a very hands-on approach, and enthusiastically jiggled Kim’s purple-pastie’d left bosom onstage. Talk about a boob-tube moment!
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- Rage Against the Machine’s Bassist Rages Against… Something, We’re Just Not Sure What (2000) – Rage Against the Machine were known for their organized protests, but there was nothing organized about the 2000 VMAs, when RATM bass-slinger Tim Commerford (who was calling himself “Tim2K” at the time, in honor of the new millennium) climbed on top of some stage scaffolding during the broadcast and refused to come down. No one was really quite sure what he was protesting, either — although we’re going to guess it was the fact that Limp Bizkit had just won an award. Regardless, it was later revealed that rabble-rousing documentary director Michael Moore had encouraged Tim2K to “follow his heart” and go through with this stunt.
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- Michael Jackson Wins Non-Existent “Artist of the Millennium” Award (2002) – The King of Pop was once of the king of MTV. So it’s understandable that when Michael appeared on the VMAs — with Britney Spears presenting him with his 44th birthday cake and saying he was the “artist of the millennium” in her eyes — he thought he was getting a well-deserved lifetime achievement. The truly embarrassing part was that he mistook a cheap Styrofoam cake decoration for a trophy, then delivered an emotional acceptance speech that name-checked David Blaine. Oh well. After his death, MTV’s Video Vanguard Award was renamed after Michael.
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- Eminem Feuds With Moby, Puppet (2002) – Marshall Mathers really needs to pick on people his own size. While Kid Rock at least had the decency to brawl with an equal opponent that year (Tommy Lee), in 2002 Eminem flipped off bookish, bespectacled techno star Moby (whom the rapper ridiculed in “Without Me”), then later called Moby a “little girl” in one of his acceptance speeches and warned, “I will hit a man with glasses.” He also shoved Conan-affiliated canine hand puppet Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, when Triumph attempted to interview Eminem about the Moby incident. Despite being the big VMA winner that year, Shady’s shady behavior elicited rounds of audience boos. Where was Kanye to interrupt Eminem’s nasty speech, when Moby and Triumph needed him most?
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- Miley Cyrus Can’t Stop (2013) – The big performer at last year’s VMAs was supposed to be Lady Gaga, who opened the show singing “Applause” in a tiny seashell thong. But then Miley and her famous foam finger hit the stage, and everyone instantly forgot about Gaga. Twerking up a storm in plastic panties, letting that foam finger do the walking, and grinding up on Robin Thicke (a married man 16 years her senior), Miley definitely blurred the lines of good taste. Everyone from concerned parents to the actual inventor of the foam finger complained about this shocking performance, but Miley’s career totally took off after this. The same can’t be said for Robin: Not long after this embarrassing public display, his wife of nine years, Paula Patton, filed for divorce, and Robin’s subsequent breakup album, Paula, was a massive flop.
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- Britney’s “Gimme More” Performance: Gimme Less, Please (2007) – Don’t call it a comeback. Because it wasn’t. Yes, the big hype in ’07 was the fact that Britney Spears, a woman who’d made VMA history in the past by performing with Madonna and a live albino snake, would be kicking off that year’s Vegas ceremony with a performance of her supposed comeback single, “Gimme More.” But with worse lip-synching than SNL-era Ashlee Simpson, clodfooted choreography that in no way reflected the hours of rehearsal time she’d reportedly logged at the Millennium Dance Studio… seriously, Kevin Federline probably could have done a better job opening the VMAs. Thankfully, Britney recovered at the following year’s VMAs (when she was the big winner), but at the time, it seemed like her career was over.
