1994 MTV Video Music Awards

So 3 Jewish Italians and a Punk walk into a Bar(Mitzvah)… 

Throwback: 8th September 1994
Event: MTV VMAs (Video Music Awards)
Location: Radio City Music Hall, Manhattan, New York City
Attendance: 6,000 guests
Back to the Future: Kidnappers threaten Bill Ray Cyrus to either chop off the mullet or baby Miley gets abducted, the mullet sadly comes off and the (online) world is set to be disturbed 20 years later at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards with the shameful introduction of ‘Twerking’.

And the nominees for the most annoying musicians are…

Reaction to Miley’s Performance. Cyrus, you don’t have to do this! (Face Palm) 2013 MTV VMAs

Growing up in the 1990’s, a lot of people seem to be forgetting that this year marks the 20^th anniversary of (one of) the most significant year(s) in alternative music (with the death of grunge, re-birth of punk and indie acts ironically hitting mainstream, while Oasis and Blur were leading the re-emergence of the Brit-Pop Invasion in the UK). In the 90’s, as most of our Generation (Y) know, MTV (the ‘M’ hopefully still stands for Music’) was arguably the only major ‘visual’ source of introducing new music to the masses. VH1 (Video Hits One) and MuchMoreMusic probably being MTV’s only main competitors, never really came close to having that same global impact in broadcasting and delivering pop culture/modern music industry to the Millennials.

MTV (R.I.P 1981 – 2001)

Since 2014 marks the 30^th anniversary of the MTV VMA’s, I thought it’s time I wrote a post about exactly what the Video Music Awards are all about. Although, I really couldn’t care less about Music Award shows as the voting systems are usually rigged and all the politics involved in electing the winners is most-likely based on which genre (and their respective artist) can cash in the most views and $ bills), plus everyone has their own opinions on who’s the King of Pop (Michael Jackson), Queen of Pop (Madonna) and the Rock n’ Roll King (Elvis), etc.

The inspiration behind MTV VMAs Moon Man Trophy

However, since 1994 was such an excitingly hectic yet tragically fragile year in alternative/mainstream music, the MTV VMAs (Video Music Awards) that year (in my opinion) were an exception. Since the VMAs were celebrating their 10^th birthday, (the first award show in 1984, was punctuated by a live performance from Madonna of Like A Virgin) the Beavis and Butthead Generation (aka Slackers) were lucky to be experiencing the channel at its peak before Carson Daly’s TRL (Total Request Live) and the ironically fake scripted bullshit Reality Show era kicked in and cursed the music channels original business model into oblivion.

Beavis and Butt-Head (1993 – 1997)

The 1994 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 8^th, honouring the best music videos between the Summers of 1993 to the Summer of that year. The show was (unfortunately) hosted by the not-so funny Roseanne Barr at the annual award show’s most common re-occurring venue Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley opened the show by the King of Pop giving a speech after receiving a standing ovation as they walked on stage hand-in-hand. Ending their introduction to the show by turning to the audience and proclaiming, “and just think, nobody thought this would last,” before kissing Elvis’s daughter in front of all the (musical) guests creating typical havoc in the pop culture tabloid industry. Everyone who still watches (or use to watch) the channel, knows that the MTV VMAs are known for their controversial moments that happen every year live at the venue (and the pre-show red-carpet) whether the guests antics are staged or not, they always seem to create publicity, regardless of it being positive or negative (mostly the later) and ultimately benefit the artist popularity.

Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley (1994 VMAs)

One controversial moment that was huge at the time, was at the 1992 VMAs. MTV had prohibited Nirvana from performing ‘Rape Me’ as the band was forced to play ‘Lithium’ to satisfy the nervous network. Nevertheless, Kurt Cobain strummed a few chords of (and sang the words) ‘Rape Me’ to piss off the execs, before launching into ‘Lithium’. As if that wasn’t enough, at the end of the song, bassist Krist Novoselic tossed his guitar in the air, only to catch it with his face, as he stumbled off the stage in a daze, while Kurt trashed the amps like a true rock star that he was and drummer Dave Grohl ran to the mic to repeatedly yell, ‘Hi Axl!’ over an altercation between Axel Rose and Kurt Cobain.

After Nirvana had previously declined Guns N’ Roses offer to support them on tour, Axel met the Nirvana lead singer and his wife Courtney Love back-stage at the 92 VMAs, where Courtney asked Axel, if he would like to be their daughter, Frances Bean’s Godfather. Axel told Kurt to tell his ‘bitch to shut up’ or he would challenge Kurt to a fight. The idea that anyone could control Courtney Love was so laughable that a giant smile came to Kurt’s face before he turned to Courtney and ordered her, ‘Okay, bitch. Shut up!’.

However, out of all the notorious, lame, shocking or cool controversial moments that have happened in the history of the VMAs in last 30 years, Kanye West’s controversial incident at the 2009 VMAs was the worst. When Taylor Swift was making her acceptance speech for winning Best Female Video for some stupid song, West got on the stage and interrupted her by grabbing the microphone from her and said, ‘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 her music video for (All the) ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)’ before a camera zoomed in on a stunned Beyoncé.

Kanye’s outburst at the 2009 VMAs was so big, that he was criticized for it by everyone, (this may have been the introductory hallmark to his delusional arrogance and huge ego), the incident was parodied by several musicians at different award ceremonies, an internet meme consisting of an image of KW imposed onto other images with his quote, ‘I’mma let you finish but…’ spread like an online virus, even President Obama got involved and gave West criticism in (an off the record part of) an interview, saying, ‘You know, it was like, she’s getting an award and what are you butting in for? 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!’ West consequently apologised to Swift several times, but we all know the Country singer wasn’t really the innocent victim, with her music hitting an all-time new low now (sex sells) just like every other (fe)male new-comer in the pop culture. On a side note, South Park’s FishSticks episode on Season 13 featuring a (mermaid) Kanye West, which aired few months before the 2009 VMAs, became a huge hit after his awards outburst and due to the simple ‘fishstick’ innuendo/joke (What are you a gay fish?). So now we know the impact of MTV controversy on the music industry.

Kanye West VS Taylor Swift (2009 MTV VMAs)

Back to 1994, on another notable controversial VMA moment, David Letterman escorted Madonna onto the stage and told the singer to watch her language, poking fun at Madonna’s controversial appearance on the his Late Show earlier that Spring.

The performances that night consisted of 12 artists ranging from an eclectic variety of genres and backgrounds:

1. Aerosmith – Walk This Way
2. Boyz II Men – I’ll Make Love to You
3. The Smashing Pumpkins – Disarm
4. The Rolling Stones – Love Is Strong/Start Me Up
5. Green Day – Armatage Shanks
6. Beastie Boys – Sabotage
7. Alexandrov Red Army & Leningrad Cowboys – Sweet Home Alabama (cover)
8. Salt-n-Pepa – Push It/None of Your Business/Whatta Man/Shoop
9. Tom Petty & the HeartBreakers –  Mary Jane’s Last Dance
10. Snoop Dogg – Murder Was the Case (Death After Visualizing Eternity)
11. Stone Temple Pilots – Pretty Penny
12. Bruce Springsteen – Streets of Philadelphia

However, I’m only discussing 3 of the above, as I’m only interested in the following;

Green Day

‘My Own Worst Friend, My Own Closest Enemy’

This was Green Day’s first live performance at a televised award show. Apparently the band was meant to perform their next big single hit/music video Basket Case but decided to be true to their ‘unpredictable punks’ ethos and treat the award show with an unreleased song called Armatage Shanks. I find it highly amusing that instead of playing a timeless catchy song about anxiety and panic disorder, the band ended up playing a new song about your life going down the drain, hence the song named after the British toilet company, Armitage Shanks. The word ‘Armitage’ would be purposefully mis-spelled to avoid using the trademark. There is a legend that Armstrong read the name of the brand in a London toilet and then decided to use it as a song title but here’s the ironic twist, they’re playing a song about his life being a failure at an award show.  Armitage Shanks ended up being the intro track to Green Day’s fourth (most aggressive/metal sounding) album ‘Insomniac’ which wasn’t released for another year until October 1995.

Armatage Shanks is a great introduction to Insomniac, an album that was written during the Dookie World Tour when the band were going through some harsh confusing criticism for supposedly selling-out to the mainstream by signing to a major record label in 1993. Therefore, Insomniac is filled with songs about insecurity, panic disorder and doubt. In Armatage Shanks, Billie Joe is saying that he doesn’t trust anyone, let alone himself and calls himself a ‘loner in a claustrophobic mind’. He expresses his distrust and irritation by saying ‘I must insist on being a pessimist’. There’s no one to trust, nothing makes sense, so being pessimistic is not just a current state of mind, it ultimately becomes an ideology.

The Fernandes Stratocaster which Armstrong received at the age of 10 before his father died in 1982

‘When I wrote that song it was right before Dookie came out in 1994 and I was really at odds with myself. I was like, man, do I really want to do this? A lot of the time I was thinking about suicide, how it’s so easy to kill yourself, but so hard to stay alive. I was in a break-up with my then-girlfriend, a total raving punk rocker, who didn’t approve of me being on a major label. She moved down to Ecuador, saying she couldn’t live in a world with McDonald’s and such. It was fucking me up pretty bad’.

– Billie Joe Armstrong (Geek Stink Breath)

This is allegedly the same ex-girlfriend who inspired the global hit ballad Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) a.k.a Go Fuck Yourself, She and Stuart and the Ave.

I must insist on being a pessimist…

Beastie Boys

‘Can’t Stand It, I Know You Planned It’

1994 was a huge year for these 3 Jewish Italians from New York City as their fourth album, Ill Communication released a bunch of great singles, most notably, ‘Sabotage’ whose music video was directed by Spike Jonez which was a homage to, and parody of 70’s Crime Drama shows such as Starsky & Hutch, SWAT, etc. presented as the opening credits of a fictional 1970’s style police show called Sabotage. The music video became an iconic timeless piece of art and was nominated 5 times for a number of ‘Best Of’ Categories but lost them all to R.E.M’s ‘Everybody Hurts’ and AeroSmith’s ‘Cryin’.

The Beastie Boys

Most people probably don’t know but the Beastie Boys started off as an underground punk band in the early 1980’s and watching the video of them performing this at the VMAs as a 3 Piece (Guitar/Bass/Drum) rock band is just amazing. I read somewhere online few years ago that Billie Joe had requested the Beastie Boys, if Green Day can perform before them, because he was so intimidated to follow up after such an iconic 80’s Hip-Hop group.

The Smashing Pumpkins

‘The Killer in Me, is the Killer in You, My Love’

The band, apparently wanted to perform a different song from their 1993 sophomore album, Siamese Dream, but was forced by the Music Channel’s Executives to play and promote the gloomy MTV hit, Disarm. Burnt receding hair lined Billy Corgan and Co. ended up playing a heavier version of the song (which was actually the original/demo version) to piss off the VMAs organisers and left the stage making a scene leaving an irritated/satirical impression on the viewers by trashing their instruments like true rock stars.

Billy Corgan live at the 1994 MTV VMA rehearsals

At the end of the day, I think some of the performers that night had a grey cloud of bleakness and a sense of aggressiveness in their performances and attitudes due to Cobain’s death in April which pretty much broke down the whole house Grunge had built and brought a frown in the alternative scene in 1994.

Nirvana accpted an award for Best Alternative Video and a Tribute was paid to Kurt Cobain.

Other than that, the MTV VMA’s have pretty much gone downhill since the past decade and have sort of lost their novelty since the 90’s as now it’s all about what the next controversial moment is going to be, whether it’s staged for publicity or not, the quality of pop culture is deteriorating year after year, decade after decade.

2009 Video Music Awards