As I sit here composing this weekend’s blog entry, I am very much aware that I am a mere four hours from the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
And I am very, very excited about that.
I am a sucker for the VMA’s. They are and always have been a twist to the average award shows and I have never once been disappointed. Like most from my generation, I felt the impact that the VMA’s had on our popular culture as I watched Madonna pull off the first and best edgy performance at any VMA:
1984: Madonna, Like a Virgin
This was huge when the show first aired. Remember, this is pre-Internet—if you missed the VMA’s running that weekend, you had to wait for the rerun whenever MTV decided to air it as there was no YouTube to run to. And MTV didn’t run the repeat directly after the original show as they do now.
Monday in school found us all struggling to concentrate; everyone was talking about how scandalous Madonna was and a good half of the student population at my high school didn’t even have cable TV yet so a lot of people never even got to see it. When they started running the video of her performance, I—like most girls at the time—was glued. What? A wedding dress? Singing about being a virgin? OMG.
Once Madonna’s performance aired, everything changed. Live acts at the VMA’s become the hottest anticipated moments in music. I could fill a blog with all the performances that are stand-outs (which you can easily view with a good search on YouTube). These are some of my favorites, based on my excitement level when I first saw the performances air:
1988: Guns N’ Roses, Welcome to the Jungle
1992: Nirvana, Lithium
1999: Fatboy Slim, Praise You
2002: Eminem, White America and Cleanin’ Out My Closet
2003: Coldplay, The Scientist
But no one—no one—can top the Queen of the VMA’s: Britney. Madonna may make better videos (Express Yourself, anyone? Wow.) but Britney is the Queen of VMA live performances:
2000: Britney, Oops…I Did it Again
2001: Britney, I’m a Slave 4 U:
and of course:
2003: Britney, Madonna and Christina Aguilera:
She just rules that VMA stage, lip-synching and all. I’m really excited to see what Britney does tonight. I know she is touring and all, but I have a hard time believing Britney will miss tonight’s show. If anything, to get us past last year’s performance of Gimme More. Which I will not post here. Because in my mind, it never happened.
10 comments
September 14, 2009 at 3:48 pm
junebugg81
Eminem is the man. He is by far the number one rapper that clearly says what’s on his mind and doesn’t give a fuck about what anyone thinks of him. You can tell in his songs too. Like the white america song and the cleaning out my closet are two songs that just grab peoples attention because your dying to hear what he has to say lyrically in them. He’s an icon and is always attacked by the public because of his lyrical content. I think its bullshit but people will always point the finger. However, I feel like Eminem is the type of artist who likes to get that attention because he feels his points of the songs he makes gets through to people. No matter where you are, if you hear Eminem on the radio or television screen, your definitely going to listen. Keep doing your thing Em!
September 14, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Michele
Junior, I think White America is one of the best songs EVER. there is such truth to it…amazing.
so, I was sad that Brit Brit didn’t show up this year. I was hoping she would surprise us as she does every year but I suppose with the focus supposedly on a Michael Jackson tribute, good thing she didn’t. Because Kanye stole the show all on his own.
if you want to discuss the whole Kanye/Swift fiasco, head on over the Intro to Women’s Studies blog as I have a post over there already started!
September 16, 2009 at 11:32 pm
gracehennigan
I would like to touch on the Britney Spears VMA craze. She is the princess of pop, and through the years she has transformed herself so many times. From 2000 until now, she has appeared many times and has wowed the crowed on every occasion.
In her “Oops I Did It Again” performance, she made her mark as an established sex symbol. It was a drastic album when comparing it to “Hit Me Baby One More Time”, because she went from sweet and innocent to sultry and sexy. She appears in a nude body suit after ripping off her tuxedo, which was very grown up. In the next performance, “Im a Slave 4 U”, she dances seductively again, but this time incorporates a snake into her dance. This was the most talked about performance, and it marked a new level that other performers could not reach. Many people thought that Brit Brit could not top herself, but when the 2003 VMA’s rolled in, history was made. The kiss between Madonna and Britney during the “Like A Virgin” performance was a ground-breaking moment.
The kiss between the two women was as if the Queen of Pop was passing her reign to the Princess of Pop , sealing the deal of Britney’s success. To watch it was amazing! I still replay it sometimes, and the fact that it was on the blog was a nice surprise!
September 17, 2009 at 11:41 pm
lindsey9954
The VMA’s were very frustrating to watch for me. I was blown away by how rude Kanye West was to Taylor Swift. Even if you do feel like the person who won didn’t deserve it (which Taylor Swift defiantly does deserve it) that is that person’s time to shine and be happy about their accomplishments, especially at Taylor’s age. Having one of the biggest moments in your career ruined like that would be awful. It must have been embarrassing being told you didn’t deserve an award in front of millions if not billions of people. I don’t know how I would have acted in that situation. I probably would have started crying. I know he’s apologized four times for it now, but if I was Taylor Swift I would not be able to forgive him that easily. I think it is hilarious what Obama said about Kanye West. It was defiantly deserved. I personally would have had a few more choice words to say to him, but that’s just me. Other than the whole Taylor Swift thing the VMA’s were okay. Lady Gaga’s performance was a bit disturbing to me. I was afraid I was going to have nightmares from it. I’ve never liked her too much, but that performance defiantly sealed the deal for me. It was okay up until the end when she had the fake blood and then hung from her arm. It defiantly freaked me out a bit. I don’t mind her music, but she scares me.
September 21, 2009 at 12:48 am
coen22
I love how something memorable always happens every year at the VMA’s, from Madonna and Britney’s kiss, to Tim Commerford climbing on the set fixtures, there never seems to be a dull moment. I used to love watching the VMA’s back in the day, but lately I just haven’t gotten around to watching them. I’m kind of upset I missed this years though after hearing all the buzz about the latest Kayne West episode. Who in their right mind would interrupt someone during their acceptance speech? That’s just fucked up. I’ve always had mixed feelings about Kayne, I mean he’s a good musician and all but some of the things he does are just crazy. Saying that Bush doesn’t care about black people on live TV that’s whatever, showing up to concerts 2 hours later that’s kind of annoying, but this episode just puts him over the top. KAYNE WEST IS A DOUCHE.
September 21, 2009 at 1:47 am
audrey102
I didn’t actually see the VMA’s this year, or, for that matter, any other year either. So this recap of these many performances through the years was very useful, and highly entertaining for me to watch this recap of top performances in the past. It’s fun to see how things change as time goes by, and this blog post definitely did a great job of showing how some things change, and others really don’t. For instance, it’s clear to me after reading this post that MTV definitely takes the dramatic route to do things at any point possible. The least two dramatic examples given are the Coldplay video and the Nirvana video. By dramatic i mean that these performances are full of props and moving sets and costumes that are so over the top its hard to imagine who thought that that could ever be a normal decision.
It’s also clear that MTV has a reputation from the comment made in the Women’s Studies blog about the Kanye West Fiasco, and it possibly being an MTV staging, making me wonder what other huge dramas that happen on TV really do happen, especially on Reality TV.
September 21, 2009 at 9:23 pm
pcdiesel
When I was younger I thought Britney Spears was one of the best looking girls alive. Her music interested me only since I had an older sister who would be constantly playing her music all the freaking time. There was nothing else like seeing Britney Spears in her tight red clothing in the “Oops I did it again” video. Dam for me being only eleven years old when that happened just made me think about how I’d want to marry her and etc. She had a few hit songs like “I can’t get no satisfaction” “Hit my baby one more time” .However as time went on I heard news stories about her life and just made me think of her in a different way. When she started taking drugs and loss of fame that pretty much made me just not even want to think about her and her music. With the TV news showing how gross and ugly she has become is one of the biggest turnoffs. The situation with her not being able to handle/ take care of her child just makes me feel sick. She ruined her life and she’s going to be stuck with what she has done to her image, fame, and her fans. Britney Spears is just another random person in my mind today.
September 22, 2009 at 4:04 am
Ali Schreiber
I would just like to add that I love britany spears! and can we please talk about heidi montag’s terrible performance on ms. america and how she tried to knock off britany’s costume that she wore for the performance of oops I did it again? pleaseeeee, no one can replace brit! Regardless of if she lip sings or not she puts on a good performance all the time and michele I agree with you the gimme more performance, never happened. I bet she is starting to return to her old self from all the circus touring she has been doing and is getting back into the swing of things. She looks great now that she doesn’t have k-fat hanging all over her life! what a bad man. and also please note on justin timberlake in the video of madonna, brit, and christina… hilarious. so funny to see how let down he is for letting brit brit go, what a mistake justin. and by the way I would like to add I am a major supporter of taylor swift, she is my girl, so kayne if you ever come across this post I will tell you right now along with the rest of the world you’re an ass.
October 22, 2009 at 5:01 pm
rhysclarkmusic
Oh man the VMA’s. I feel like every year something absurd happens because its planned to be that way, planned to attract massive amounts of attention. Basically, a grown man interrupted a beautiful young girl during her acceptance speech, and then ran off stage. In VMAland this was funny, in real life it wasn’t. I don’t watch the VMA’s because I believe its a joke and doesn’t have anything to do with music. It’s entertainment, that’s all. =)
September 12, 2010 at 12:08 am
As if. | Grand Central Blog
[…] As if. Posted on September 11, 2010 by Michele I am not going to do a whole post about the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards because I so eloquently covered what I wanted to say last year. […]