August 31, 2012
It's sometimes the best part of the show - and can certainly be the most important part of the show.
Looking at the past openings in VMA, it's easy to pick no.1 -- but 5 through 2 was difficult.
So what is the top-5 VMA openings ? Let's begin.
At the time, it was looked as the past and present performing in the opening of the '99 VMAs.
Kid Rock was in his peak in this time, and to have him perform with Run-DMC and Steve Tyler was huge.
Kid Rock -- most will say -- is a combination of hip-hop and rock. Saying that, and having the pioneers of rock (Aerosmith) and hip-hop (Run-DMC) was amazing to witness. It was like the student or the son performing with mentor/teacher or father.
The performance was outstanding. This was the most upbeat openings in VMA history. The way they performed, is the way you open up the MTV Video Music Awards. Amazing.
I remember this being the first day of school and eager to get home to watch this VMA opening. Because I knew P.Diddy was going to do it big for his friend, Biggie Smalls.
One of the memorable and emotional VMA moment; forget that it was one of the greatest rappers of all-time that this tribute was for. It was a man (Diddy) giving it his all for a tribute to his best friend that passed away. That's the way I looked at it.
Sting making the surprise appearance made this performance even more memorable. Having the man who sang the original "Every Breath You Take", and sing the chorus in this performance was genius. Sting can bring that somber mood with his voice, and it fit so beautifully for that particular moment.
Losing Biggie Smalls earlier that year (1997) was a shock in the music world and a terrible feeling after just losing Tupac Shakur in 1996. It was a dark moment in the music world.
It was an opening I'll never forget.
After the most horrific attack in the United States of America in 2001, the 2002 VMAs started off with a tribute to 9-11, with Bruce Springteen & The E Street Band singing their new song "The Rising".
I was too young at the time to know anything about Bruce Springteen. But that song "The Rising" was so great and inspirational after what New York City went through, I became a fan right then and there.
It was 2002 -- it was a year later after 9-11, and it was perfect time to say: 'We're in the rise; we're coming back'. That's what the song meant. It felt uplifting and powering. Bruces' 'americana' voice is so perfect for the song and moment, and Springteen being from New Jersey, made it easy for him to feel it.
Well, there was really nothing great about this; yes, it was the iconic Madonna who revolutionized female pop-music, and two female singers in Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were on the same stage, who -- you can make the case -- took after Madonna.
Though, it wasn't the greatest performance -- but it was the most controversial moment in pop-culture history.
'The kiss' that was seen and heard, all around the world. When you see those 'music shocking moments T.V shows they'll have on MTV or VH1, this one is always on top. I remember everyone going ballistic over this. And it wasn't even a real kiss. Madonna just nudge the inside of Britney's mouth.
And t'll this day, nine years later -- almost ten -- I still haven't seen Madonna and Christina's kiss. It is unbelievable how the media just slips that one under the table and focus on Britney. Christina must get pissed, because she's always been a better singer than Britney has ever been, and gets highly overlooked, kisses Madonna, and still gets overlooked.
But you know why we didn't see Christina's kiss more ? : Because at the moment, in this performance, right after Britney kissed Madonna, the camera quickly turned to Justin Timberlake. Justin and Britney just broken up at the time, so MTV had to catch Justin's reaction in the audience -- and they caught him good. He had that look of: 'This fucking bitch' - look.
So, Christina was just unlucky.
MTV made the brightest move by having Michael Jackson open the 1995 VMAs. Because that was last time we'd see Michael perform in the highest level.
This was really the last time we saw Michael in his peak on national T.V. After that, he hardly made any appearances on award shows. That was a big opening for MTV; not just because he is the King Of Pop, but MTV has the last piece of M.J in his prime. I know in 2001 he made that Madison Square Garden appearance -- although, he was starting to lose his step. He was not on point like he was in '95.
His medley of great songs mixed into one in this performance was incredible. Going from "Scream" to "Black & White then "Billie Jean" was amazing. His moonwalk in this Bille Jean performance was probably the best one I've ever seen him do.
I wish he was still around, because I think we would've seen him have one more performance and appearance at the VMAs ... Just Sad.
To me -- this VMA opening will never be topped. Because no one will ever top the King Of Pop.
