What the Heck Were the VMA’s About, Anyway?
News
Lil Wayne and Kid Rock / Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com
After 25 years, it's finally happened: There's essentially no relation between actual music videos and MTV's annual VMA extravaganza.
Who's even seen the video for 2008 Best New Artist winner and German emo-glam quartet Tokio Hotel? Wait… who? Exactly.
Regular music video play has long been absent from MTV proper's formatting, and with the network's specialty channels, from rock to rap, it's tough to get everyone on the same page. And the 2008 awards ceremony seemed to be the apex of a year's worth of confusion. So what exactly are the VMAs about these days? It seems no one knows. Whatever, look! There's Heidi Montag!
As usual, MTV went the celebrity route, opening the show with Britney Spears and Superbad’s Jonah Hill. And it was hard to turn without spotting Lauren Conrad (LC!) or other shiny stars from The Hills. Thankfully, there were a few saving graces -- notably Britain’s Russell Brand and his Cockney gutter-mouth.
Oh! And as expected Kanye played a fresh song -- the excellent "Love Lockdown." And, off screen, indie rock earned its place in the fine print: "I Will Possess Your Heart" by Death Cab For Cutie won for best editing, while "Conquest" by White Stripes took the prize for best cinematography.
MTV seems to know it’s backed into a corner, and appears to have a backup plan: Mix drama with music. Just have a look at Pink, the Jonas Brothers, and TI's appearances. Each song's performance, drawn out on a movie set replete with inner-city scenes, flaunted theatric, plot-like qualities. What's next, VMA the musical as hosted by Chris Brown? Actually, hopefully it's Best Hip-Hop Video winner and universally nonplussed Lil Wayne instead. Onstage collaborator Kid Rock could make an appearance, too. And if that fails, well, at least there's that Verizon advertising partnership.
Essentially, the VMAs are like a wake for the art of the music video. And 2008's installment is the last drunkard's slurred, superfluous anecdote that trails off into numbing chatter. It was a good ride while it lasted. Proposal: Revive Headbangers Ball with regular MTV play featuring Russell Brand as host.
Have a look at the, ahem, highlights below:
MTV rock bottom: The Jonas Brothers
Kid Rock featuring Lil Wayne
Russell Brand's VMA intro
Kanye West's show-closing performance
- Posted By j3s2b3w
02.14.09 7:08 AM
The VMAs was months ago and I don't want to sound like a defensive fan but when people assume someone else is nobody just because they hadn't heard of them is one of my pet peeves. Tokio Hotel's video was on TRL and was played whenever MTV played videos (which wasn't very often...). They also were guests on TRL 4 times and performed twice. The video was one of the most viewed on MTV's website. I saw it long before MTV started playing it (early 2007). But they probably won because they had a lot of European fans voting for them. "Übers Ende der Welt" (the original version of the song) was a #1 hit in Germany and Austria and the album has gone at least platinum in both countries, as well as in many other countries, so I think a lot of people had heard of them.2*** is supposed to be two thousand seven, as in about 2 years ago
- Posted By tokiotasha
05.01.09 5:53 PM
Yea ok Tokio Hotel might be new to North America but trust me they arn't new in Europe they are huge and have taken over the European market and have been famous for 3 and a half years now will be 4 on August 5th 2009 .. Tokio Hotel , Tokio Hotel are taking over even more countries as we speak including North America so get used to it. Tokio Hotel have gone platinum and Gold in manies of countries and are now famous in 141 countries and there are only 149 countries in the world. So THATS HUGE!! plus i am a die hard hardcore TH fan and i love them so much and they are my everything so watch what you say :)
ICH LIEBE TOKIO HOTEL FüR IMMER<3
- Posted By tokiotasha
05.01.09 5:54 PM
ahh i meant August 15th not 5th woops typo
11.18.08 9:09 PM
CNN had a field day with the host as well. It really doesn't matter if he bashes Bush, that's really nothing new since people have been doing that all over television and radio over the long years of his presidency anyway. Honestly, who cares?