The Video Music Awards Are a Waste of Time
Tonight in Las Vegas, MTV will roll out of the red carpet for their annual Video Music Awards show. In my childhood, the VMAs were a huge deal: I would look forward to the show for at least a month. The VMAs are always over the top, and they (used to) feature some really amazing performances.
If you don’t recall or didn’t have cable way back in the day, MTV launched their first award show in 1984.
Tonight, the nominee list is completely lackluster. It makes me wonder why bands and labels even spend the money on music videos these days. MTV never plays them, and the best way to get them aired it seems is on Myspace.
Here’s the sucktastic list of nominees for best group:
Fall Out Boy
Gym Class Heroes
Linkin Park
Maroon 5
The White Stripes
The categories for awards are now stupid. “Best Rock Video” is a defunct category, replaced with such worthless titles as “Most Earthshattering Collaboration,” "Quadruple Threat of the Year,” and “Monster Single of the Year.”
Give me a break.
So, tonight while half the teeny boppers in the world are watching MTV, I’ll be using my precious TV time on something else.
Now, this isn’t to say that past VMA shows were a complete waste. The 1992 show had some killer performances, including Guns n’ Roses with Elton John and the Nirvana incident when bassist Dave Grohl smacked himself upside the head with his own instrument. Plus, Nirvana and Axl Rose got in a big fight during the show which stirred some controversy.
When Guns n' Roses were still a new band, they won the award for Best New Artist in 1988 for their video in support of “Welcome to the Jungle.” The band's performance during that show is now regarded as classic.
Most amusing is the infamous Poison debacle when C.C. DeVille showed up to the 1991 show completely blitzed and couldn’t even pull it together long enough to play the right song. Bret Michaels slugged C.C. offstage after that mess, and suddenly Richie Kotzen was in the band. If I had a time machine, I would suck myself back to 1991 (yes, at about age 11) and watch that incident from side stage.
Also in 1991, Queensryche won the Viewer’s Choice award for “Silent Lucidity.” The band was nominated for a slew of Moonmen in 1991, and were a featured performer at the awards show.
In 1996 Van Halen (with David Lee Roth) presented an award, fueling reunion speculation. Of course it didn’t happen. Much later in 2002, Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth also teamed-up to present an award.
Here’s Van Halen (with Hagar in happier times, at the 1991 VMA show)
This article contains an (unintentional) error. The bassist for Nirvana was, in fact, Krist Novoselic -- not Dave Grohl. Instead of simply correcting the error, I want to prove that the glam mistress doesn't lie about mistakes. Thanks to commenter Chey for pointing out my blunder.
