Marvel, Disney, Nick – they all don’t seem to get “it”. Everyone wants the “metaverse”, or whatever they want to call it these days, but they don’t really know what that means. Ok, so maybe that is out of the genre we are speaking about, but I feel it still as some relevance. Sometimes things can be forced, and that also means entertainment. When you get a bunch of egos in one room that have a few hours to enforce their identities while appeasing their record labels, you get a mess that is not only entertaining, but iconic. MTV‘s Video Music Awards is pushing 40, and I think its time to talk about the award show that allowed pop culture to throw up on itself. Open your mind and let’s explore the greatest award show of all time in this edition of Pop Capsule.
Make no mistake, this isn’t an origin piece. You can go Wiki the VMAs and get your history there, or by surfiing Youtube as a bunch of 20 year olds try to monetize their channels by reacting to what their parents found entertaining. This is a reflection as I remember it, a chubby kid from Arkansas who was easily influenced by whatever a television set had to offer.
My older sister was always one of the cool kids. She followed trends, listened to whatever music her friends were listening to, and I…didn’t. Or I didn’t do it well anyway. I was into video games, Xena, and drawing. When it came to music in 1997 I was still spinning the wheels of my much older parents’ favorite tunes, which included a lot of country and oldies from the 50’s and 60’s. As my sibling’s tastes got more “wild” by our household’s standards, I was introduced to MTV, and being around ten years old, it was a lot. There were full on music videos, teenagers who all seemed either angry or way too happy, and a ton of shows like Daria that kind of painted a more realistic picture of how the “real world” was outside of the little bubble I lived in. It was exciting and stupid noise and I was hooked almost instantly. I think Tom Green was the personality that got me hooked the most, but that tale of appreciation is for another day.
My sister was starting to become obsessed with the latest trend, which at the time was boy bands. In particular, she was head over heels for the Backstreet Boys, and had Tiger Beat posters covering her walls. I wanted that type of focus and obsession, and while I had my crushes (Shania Twain and LeAnn Rimes), they were not that kind of act. With that, I stumbled into TLC and the Spice Girls. Yep, that was my entry into both bands, and while TLC was rather familiar in our household due to their longstanding popularity, the Spice Girls were something else. They were over-the-top, dressed crazy, and all had personalities that reminded me of the Power Rangers but in a girl musical group form. Yes, collecting for them in the same fashion as my sister would drive me to popularity for sure, right? Well, no, but I did it anyway and honestly – it was a blast. I spent every dollar I had on stickers, magazines, cassette tapes, and so on because it was all so loud and colorful. This was music, right? That fad for myself went on for three years, by the way – and its something I don’t speak a lot about, but remember fondly as it was one of my happy places at the time.
My parents were older, and disagreed with almost everything from the current climate on all fronts. That said, my sister was a powerful force and could convince them of almost anything, and being the huge MTV watcher she was (and I was at the time), we somehow got them to put on the 1997 VMAs at the time, which was supposed to have appearances by both of the acts we followed, plus a lot more. When you’re a kid, you kind of take in everything, and I don’t think I was ready for what that show had to offer. I actually have very little memories of a lot of the show itself. I do remember Fionna Apple saying “this world is bullshit” in her now famous speech, I remember seeing the Spice Girls perform, and of course the main thing that stuck out was Marilyn Manson on stage. There was nothing like that act. It started with Manson on a podium giving a speech, condemning Christianity and fascism, which quickly lead into him singing “The Beautiful People” half naked on stage for three minutes while doing those Marilyn Manson type things on stage. It was kind of jaw dropping. I just went from eating cotton candy to gumballs laced with barbed wire, and of course my parents were not amused whatsoever. Little did I know I just witnessed my first ever live “VMA moment”, which I will talk more on as we progress.
That was the thing with this show. I didn’t know who Beck was but I instantly wanted to know more. I didn’t know anything about Fiona Apple, or anything hip hop other than Puff Daddy and TLC and all of that finally seemed accessible. Its as if combining all of these things in one room worked to get people to open up their minds and palate to allow things in that they may have not given a chance in another instance. A year later and I was hooked on the channel. I was now watching TRL daily, and forget country – I had moved on completely. The Spice Girls were now four instead of five, the Backstreet Boys were bigger than ever, and now that I finally was getting an understanding of who these artists were, and a little about how quickly fame rises and falls. VMA season was back, and I was ready to take the plunge. If viewers thought the ’97 VMAs were polarizing, ’98 VMAs were there to double down on everything.
Marilyn Manson was now a huge act for the channel and celebrated often. At that time he still was a bit too much for me as I wasn’t even allowed to listen to his music, but if you had friends, you knew the legends that were starting to pop up. “He doesn’t have ribs!” and “He was born a woman” and so may other myths kind of made him into an enigma. It didn’t help that he showed up to the red carpet with fake boobs and a naked Rose McGowan at his side, wearing a completely see-through outfit. Back on the more grounded level, we got acts like Beastie Boys, who were on a high from making a huge comeback that summer as “Intergalactic” was everywhere. Backstreet Boys were of course still my sister’s thing so there was that, but now the cynicism in music was dying, being replaced by something louder on multiple fronts. Instead of Beck and Fiona Apple, we were getting more pop music than ever with acts like NSYNC. Hip Hop had started to rise up again with Missy Elliot and Outkast, and rock was going through a change with punk re-entering the mainstream, along with another genre branded Nu Metal that was becoming strong amongst everyone due to acts like Korn and Limp Bizkit breaking out. Regardless of trends, I do remember the now “one hit wonder” song Torn (by Natalie Imbruglia) being a big thing at that particular show, winning her Best New Artist. Weird memory out of that whole show, but alas, all of these things were spun up and spit out in three hours of entertainment that kept the ball rolling along.
By the next year, my music tastes were turning teen. Finally, right? I was super into Limp Bizkit and Blink 182, secretly still loved some pop music, and a lot of the trends from years before were dying down. The ’99 show was a lot more “pop”, but still had a fair bit of controversy. While a fairly innocent Britney Spears debuted on that stage, we also had a lot of hi jinks that would continue a trend for news reporters the day after as artists started utilizing this stage to get noticed and become household names. I haven’t mentioned this much yet, but Madonna was always a mainstay at most shows that I had seen to date, and this was the year she was celebrated with a tribute of sorts. That wasn’t the talk of the show though, as Diana Ross would bounce Lil Kim’s exposed breast in a shocking moment that was talked about for years afterwards. Its those little things, right?
Forget Tupac and Biggie’s moms coming out on stage together, the loudest in the room went home with the headline, and in an age before social media, this was the way to get attention that would keep your fame clock running even longer. I know a lot of people say “MTV isn’t about the music anymore”. They said it back then, too – and looking back as an adult they were sort of right. Music was still being played, but it was all about fame in excess, and celebrating all these genres by putting them on one stage. Someone would explode within those circumstances, and MTV knew that. The show was getting bigger every year, and would only continue to try to top itself as the years passed.
If you followed the show on a yearly basis or even tuned in, it wasn’t about what we would hear, it was “what will happen?”. That is what attracted viewers, and the “moments” began to be more produced. In 2000, we saw that first hand with the explosion of Britney Spears. Before “the kiss”, it was all about Britney stripping down to a flesh colored outfit and singing “Oops! I did it again” in a spinning…thing. We also watched the rise of Eminem and that is kind of hard to re-watch. I’ll admit it, I was an Eminem fan of sorts back then, but I find his whole act much more cringey these days as he kind of reminds me of those kids who would randomly flip off people and be angry at everything for no reason. Not trying to insult his fans by any means, I just think that phase of music has aged a bit poorly, even in comparison to the goofy pop acts of the time.
If you were to ask about the peak for this entire awards show in my memory, it would be 2001. This was the year Britney had the snake, so I guess that was the moment, but I still don’t see how that is still so memorable for so many. It was just a snake. It was also a celebration of Aaliyah, who just died in a tragic plane crash. The world was now acquainted with Beyonce through Destiny’s Child and those VMA moments could write themselves. We had Andy Dick doing random comedy bits on Christina Aguilera, NSYNC basically battling Fatboy Slim on nomination and award counts, and acts like Pink and Alicia Keys finally getting a foothold in pop music, which they would eventually act as a change in the tone of pop as viewers began to mature, looking for artists with substance. I still remember Gwen Stefani and her “ROCK STEADY” rings she had on each hand, as that marketing trick worked and I bought that CD shortly after its release due to the hype that band made for the album that night.
It was probably the greatest VMA set to date honestly, and five days later – things would change drastically. The September 11th attacks kind of brought us all together, but it also shifted music a little more as viewers looked towards sentiment. That 2001 show for some reason sticks out to me as it was just such loud, care-free fun, followed by something so horrific in just a days time, and in the same city, no less.
Even though it was a whole year later, the next year would still have a somber feeling in the air. At the time, pop music was fading quickly. Britney and Christina were all grown up and doing much more mature content, while artists like Pink, Michelle Branch, and the newly crowned princess of punk Avril Lavigne were topping the charts as most teens preferred artists that wrote their own stuff. It was a different time, even though it was just a year later. I think as you become a teenager, which that generation was certainly doing, you move on from things. MTV in 2002 was still relevant as it had no competition, but I remember in school it was kind of starting to be looked down on to even mention the channel. Things in music shift quickly, and Eminem kind of opened the flood gates for hip hop to be more accessible, with artists like Nelly and Ludacris blowing up and taking over the airwaves. After a soft year, the VMAs would come back bigger than ever by paying tribute to its 20th anniversary by opening with Madonna, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake’s reaction to Britney Spears.
That’s right. A same sex kiss on television. Just saying it now seems so silly, but that moment has to be the most talked about moment that went down at the 2003 Video Music Awards. Forget this being Beyonce’s solo debut year, or anything else that year had to offer. That little moment was gold for MTV, and they made sure it was on replay for months afterwards, as it was on every channel the next day. As bad of a reputation as Christina had for being a bit of an ego from others, I always kind of felt bad for her in a humorous way. They cut her camera while she was kissing Madonna to Timberlake, who just went through a breakup with Spears, to show him fake raising an eyebrow and trying to look interested in a performance that honestly was rather tame compared to even some of the stuff we had seen on the show to date. It was an odd infamous moment that gets a bit too much credit, but I am sure will still be talked about for years to come. Just a few months after this show, MTV may have tried to push the envelope a little too much with their Superbowl production of Janet Jackson’s halftime show – banning them from ever producing the event again and changing the way censorship would approach live events permanently. Sure, they are probably not connected in any way whatsoever, but its kind of obvious that the little controversial kiss walked so the exposed boob of Janet could run.
Years passed and I continued to watch the VMAs. I was starting to get into more rock like Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance, and other acts, which were still featured – so I had something to still tune into even though my love of pop music was starting to wane a bit with age. It was kind of like growing up with a family in a weird way, watching these artists debut, evolve, and sometimes just disappear. The VMAs would be a way for them to continue to make moments for themselves to attempt at staying relevant. Just a few years later we saw the implosion of Britney Spears with her less than stellar “Gimme More” performance. Rihanna and Taylor Swift were starting to become the household names of the show as they would seem to conquer a few years themselves, while Beyonce slowly pushed Madonna to the side and became the most celebrated artist for the network. We also saw Lady Gaga go from a random artist with a unique sound to being the political voice for a generation, with her meat dress and performance where she bled from the stomach while hanging afterwards. There was a lot in the decade that followed. MTV tried hard to keep the spirit of its show alive, but it never really lived up to its own success as the internet grew larger.
From about 2015 onward, artists didn’t need MTV anymore. If they wanted to say something controversial or garner attention, they just posted online on social media. Performances didn’t matter as much as a simple post could do the same for their careers as an entire night of drunken fun at the VMAs, and MTV never managed to keep up with the cycle of the internet. Music also changed dramatically as we all grew up and moved on. Billboard charts now just track algorithms, meaning your top 40 are just videos that are being watched, meaning it can be artists who are making a “meme” song at number one or just with a passionate fan base who build that count, so a lot more manufactured artists have come into the picture, changing what pop music even is. Music is also different as its harder for modern artists to sound better live due to the amount of production and computer modified audio that goes into both voice work and instruments. Sure, the VMAs lives on, but those are for today’s kids, and I just don’t fit the audience demographic anymore.
I’m in my mid-thirties now and prefer to just listen to Billy Joel rather than most modern artists as my tastes have went backwards a bit, and my own cynicism will probably not allow me to feel normal watching a modern VMA production. That’s fine though. I’ve gotten older and things change, but I still smile thinking about those VMA nights and how much fun they were. It was almost like everything from one entire scope of pop culture could fit into a room and somehow, for better or worse, it all worked and made the viewer feel like they were a part of something special, because lets face it, we were.
The VMAs started long before 1997 and I am sure there were older fans of the channel then who were as cynical then as I am now, and that is just growing up I guess. Either way, whether it be Britney Spears, or Green Day, Marilyn Manson, and so on – I have a lot of gratitude for MTV and all of that over-the-top fanfare that made this production sing as it truly sculpted my own musical identity and what it is today by introducing me to artists I would have never gave a chance otherwise. That’s a pretty great parting prize to walk away with from what was the greatest and most controversial awards show to ever exist.
