The Video Music Awards, also known as the VMAs, have been presented by the MTV network which has also broadcast the ceremony live each year, since 1984. They began as an alternative to the Grammy’s intending to target the younger demographic of MTV viewers and focus its celebration and recognition more on pop culture contributions and achievements appealing to younger adults rather than artistic merit in the grand scheme of the music industry as appealed to industry professionals.
At the debut of the Video Music Awards, Bette Midler and Dan Akroyd hosted, and Madonna performed a risque delivery of her hit Like A Virgin, clad in a bustier-wedding hybrid accented with lace tights and a belt that read “Boy Toy” as she rolled around onstage – setting the tone for the rest of her career as well as for the future controversy of the VMA awards show. Since then, she has appeared on the awards show many more times and been at the center of many more spectacles, such as performing Vogue in 1990 – clad in the likeness of Marie Antoinette in keeping with the performance’s 18th century French theme, while performing a choreographed underwear-flashing, being fondled onstage by her male dancers, and giving one a peak up her dress – and french-kissing Britney Spears onstage in 2003. She had also taken home more MTV awards than any other of the show’s winners, with a total of twenty thus far. Peter Gabriel holds the record for the most VMA’s won in a single night, winning ten in 1987 for Sledgehammer.
Tags: andrew dice clay, mtv video music, rhyme renditions