MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative | |
---|---|
Awarded for | Alternative rock music videos |
Country | United States |
Presented by | MTV |
First awarded | 1991 |
Currently held by | Benson Boone – "Beautiful Things" (2024) |
Most awards | Nirvana (3) |
Most nominations | Various (3) |
Website | VMA website |
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative (also known as Best Alternative Music Video) was first given out at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. Prior to being called Best Alternative Video, it was known as Best Post-Modern Video in 1989 and 1990.
After the 1998 ceremony, this award was eliminated, and it was not presented until over two decades later, when it was brought back for the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, under the name Best Alternative. During its discontinuation, artists and videos who would have normally been eligible for this award became eligible for other genre categories, including Best Rock Video.
Nirvana is the biggest winner of this award, winning all three of their consecutive bids for the Moonman from 1992 to 1994. In terms of nominations, though, there are a multitude of artists all with three nominations. These include Green Day, Nirvana, Willow, Machine Gun Kelly, Imagine Dragons and Twenty One Pilots.
Year [lower-alpha 1] | Winner(s) | Video | Nominees | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1991 | Jane's Addiction | "Been Caught Stealing" |
| [1] |
1992 | Nirvana | "Smells Like Teen Spirit" |
| [2] |
1993 | Nirvana | "In Bloom" |
| [3] |
1994 | Nirvana | "Heart-Shaped Box" | [4] | |
1995 | Weezer | "Buddy Holly" | [5] | |
1996 | The Smashing Pumpkins | "1979" |
| [6] |
1997 | Sublime | "What I Got" |
| [7] |
1998 | Green Day | "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" |
| [8] |
1999 | — | |||
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