 | September 14, 1984The First MTV Video Awards |
Barely three years old, MTV launched its first video music awards in 1984. They handed out the awards on September 14 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall in a show hosted by Bette Midler and Dan Aykroyd. Surprisingly, the big winner of the night was not one of the beloved ‘80s superstars who owed a debt to the power of visual presentation, but a jazz artist born in 1940 who started making music in the 1960s. Herbie Hancock’s ground-breaking and unusual video for “Rock-It” received eight nominations and won Best Concept Video, Most Experimental Video, Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, and Best Editing. The other most-nominated video of the night was “Every Breath You Take” by The Police. It would only take home the prize for Best Cinematography. The song, however, would go on to rank in the top 5 of all time according to Dave’s Music Database and tops the list of Radio’s Most Played Songs in History. Cyndi Lauper was the most nominated artist of the night with nine nominations – six for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and three for “Time After Time.” She took home the prize for Best Female Video for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” The Cars received six nominations for “You Might Think.” They only took home one Moon Man award (the nickname for the astronaut statuette inspired by MTV’s then logo), but it was the biggie – Video of the Year. Michael Jackson – the man who may have most benefited from MTV – was nominated for six awards for “Thriller,” winning for Best Overall Performance, Best Choreography, and Viewers’ Choice. It tops the Dave’s Music Database list of The Top 100 Videos of All Time. Other awards went to David Bowie (Best Male Video for “China Girl”), the Eurythmics (Best New Artist for “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This”), and Van Halen (Best Stage Performance for “Jump”). ZZ Top took home the prizes for Best Group Video (“Legs”) and Best Direction (“Sharp Dressed Man”). Bowie and ZZ Top were among the night’s performers, which also included Huey Lewis & the News, Ray Parker Jr., Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, and – most notably – Madonna. She launched her first single, “Like a Virgin,” from her sophomore album with a much-talked about performance in which she emerged from a wedding cake and writhed on the floor in a risqué wedding dress. It was arguably the moment when she became a superstar. Note: six of the videos which won awards that night appear on the DMDB list of the top 100 videos of all time: “Thriller” (#1), “Every Breath You Take” (25), “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (29), “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” (34), “You Might Think” (40), and “Rock-It” (43). For more important days in music history, check out the Dave’s Music Database history page. Resources and Related Links:
First posted 9/14/2012; updated 9/10/2023. |
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