1984 MTV Video Music Awards

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1984 MTV Video Music Awards
1984-mtv-vma-logo.png
DateFriday, September 14, 1984
Location Radio City Music Hall, New York City
CountryUnited States
Hosted by Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler
Most awards Herbie Hancock (5)
Most nominations Cyndi Lauper (9)
Website mtv.com/vma/1984
Television/radio coverage
Network MTV
Produced by Don Ohlmeyer
Bob Pittman
Edd Griles
Directed by Edd Griles
MTV Video Music Awards ·  1985  →

The 1984 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 14, 1984. The inaugural ceremony honored the best music videos released between May 2, 1983 and May 2, 1984, and was hosted by Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. [1] [2]

Contents

Herbie Hancock was the show's most-awarded artist, taking home five awards, followed by Michael Jackson, who won three. [3] The main award, Video of the Year, went to The Cars for "You Might Think". [4] This was the first instance of only a few in the show's history where the video of the year did not win any other awards. Hancock's "Rockit" and The Police 's "Every Breath You Take" were the most-nominated videos, receiving eight nominations apiece. [5] [6] Cyndi Lauper was the most-nominated artist of the night, with nine overall for two of her videos: six for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", which eventually won the Moonman for Best Female Video, and three for "Time After Time". [6] [7]

Other major nominees included Jackson and The Cars, both of whom received six nominations each for their videos "Thriller" and "You Might Think" respectively; [8] [6] ZZ Top, who received six nominations among their videos for "Legs", "Sharp Dressed Man", and "Gimme All Your Lovin'"; [6] and Billy Idol, who garnered five nominations for "Dancing with Myself" and "Eyes Without a Face". [7] Lastly, David Bowie earned four nominations for his "China Girl" and "Modern Love" videos, [6] and was also one of the honorees for the Video Vanguard award. [4]

Background

MTV announced that it would host the first annual Video Music Awards in June 1984. [9] Don Ohlmeyer was hired to produce the ceremony in a similar energetic fashion to his work in sports broadcasting. [10] Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler were announced as the ceremony's hosts in mid-July 1984. [11] Nominees and winners were selected by 1,500 individuals representing the record industry. [10] Following its initial MTV airing, the ceremony was syndicated to broadcast television. [12]

Performances

List of musical performances
Artist(s)Song(s)Ref.
Rod Stewart "Infatuation" [13]
Madonna "Like a Virgin" [14]
Huey Lewis and the News "I Want a New Drug" [13]
David Bowie "Blue Jean"
(Pre-taped from London)		 [15]
Tina Turner "What's Love Got to Do with It" [13]
ZZ Top "Sharp Dressed Man" [14]
Ray Parker Jr. "Ghostbusters" [13]

Madonna 's performance of "Like a Virgin" has been referred to as one of the most "unforgettable" and "iconic" moments in both pop culture and VMA history for the singer's fashion and her "provocative moves". [16] [17] [18] [19] She emerged from a 17-foot tall wedding cake wearing a "racy", "risque", see-through wedding dress and bustier, with a silver belt buckle that read "BOY TOY". [20] [21] While descending the steps of the cake, one of her high heeled shoes slipped off, prompting her to dive to the floor and roll around to cover up the wardrobe malfunction. [22] Her attempt to retrieve the shoe inadvertently led to her flashing her underwear on live television [21] — Rolling Stone listed the moment as the sixth-most outrageous in MTV VMA history. [23] Madonna later told Billboard after the incident, "So I thought, 'Well, I'll just pretend I meant to do this,' and I dove onto the floor and I rolled around. And, as I reached for the shoe, the dress went up. And the underpants were showing". [22] In 2017, the outlet ranked her performance as the second-greatest award show performance of all time, saying that after her they "became the historical record; the way we remember stars at their most iconic, and the way they demonstrate their immortality". [24]

Presenters

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.

Video of the Year Best Male Video
Best Female Video Best Group Video
Best New Artist in a Video Best Concept Video
Most Experimental Video Best Stage Performance in a Video
Best Overall Performance in a Video Best Direction in a Video
Best Choreography in a Video Best Special Effects in a Video
Best Art Direction in a Video Best Editing in a Video
Best Cinematography in a Video Viewer's Choice
Video Vanguard Award
The Beatles [39]
David Bowie [39]
Richard Lester [39]
Special Recognition Award
Quincy Jones [4]

Other appearances

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References

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