Tina’s Top 5 Most Memorable VMA Performances
Today is the day! The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards air tonight, and like every year, I am buzzing with excitement! This is the night (along with the Grammys) that music nerds and bloggers look forward to the most! Whether we’re overly critical about MTV (just call me Grandma) or if you’re in the midst of growing up and making memories of your own, the VMAs always leave us with something to talk about and remember for years to come.
As a music and pop culture fanatic since forever, I’m finding it to be crazy that I have this platform to share my commentary on these things. However little my opinions mean to anyone, social media and this lovely blog right here give me the opportunity to be my quirky self and ramble on about things I’m sure nobody cares about…because that’s what it’s all about! If I told 12 year-old me that I would get to do this all because of the internet, I would have died. If I could have live-tweeted during the 2000 VMAs, I probably would have annoyed every single person on the planet.
Anywho, enough of my rambling! Here are my top five absolute favorite performances of VMAs past!
5. Eminem – “The Real Slim Shady/The Way I Am” at the 2000 VMAs
– I thought this performance was so cool! I remember watching intently on when he would pass Carson Daly in the audience and of course my 12 year old heart melted when he did. Eminem always has something interesting to add to the mix and this performance has always stuck out in my head. The whole aura of Radio City Music Hall and the VMAs just go so well together and I wish they’d bring them back! They just don’t do stuff like this anymore.
4. Spice Girls – “Say You’ll Be There” at the 1997 VMAs
– GIRL POWER! I was a MASSIVE Spice Girls fan growing up – and when I say “massive” I mean I was obsessed! My room was pretty much a Spice Girls haven. I even got to see their reunion tour in 2008 and my mouth was hanging open throughout the entire show due to utter shock! This performance (and those outfits) are forever implanted in my mind and I love how they broke so many boundaries! They were definitely a force to be reckoned with. Sporty was always my favorite. She killed this performance! Just call me Katrina Highkick. 😉
3. NSYNC – “It’s Gonna Be Me” at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards
– Okay I know this isn’t a VMA performance but it really should have been! After the Spice Girls craze, I was NSYNC obsessed all the way (with a soft spot for the Backstreet Boys as well) and this will forever be my favorite live performance of theirs! Here’s the thing: boy bands of the 90’s were innovative. Not to say that boy bands of the present aren’t talented (One Direction’s “Story of My Life” gets me every time) but you don’t see performances like this anymore. I loved how they incorporated their music video for “It’s Gonna Be Me” (which was the cutest idea EVER) and broke out of those boxes. It was a way of saying that they might be a boy band, but there’s more to them; you can’t box them in. Plus, let’s just take a minute to take in JT’s cornrow faze.
2. Christina Aguilera – “Come On Over (All I Want Is You)” at the 2000 VMAs with Fred Durst
– Back in 2000, Christina Aguilera was known as “the little girl with the big voice,” but at the 2000 VMAs, she showed the world that she also has attitude! Due to dirty speculation over whether Aguilera was romantically involved with Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst and TRL’s Carson Daly (you can thank Eminem for that one) the two decided to come together and fight back. I remember watching this and being shocked over seeing them on the same stage together. It was like TRL at it’s finest – two genres merging to shock the masses! It was freaking glorious! Don’t mess with X-Tina. But I think we all know that by now. 😉
1. Britney Spears – “I’m A Slave 4 U” at the 2001 VMAs
– Whenever I think of the VMAs, I think of this performance. Maybe it’s because I was 13 and impressionable at the time, but I remember watching this for the first time and thinking, “this is groundbreaking.” 2001 was a killer year for Miss. Spears. Her third album, Britney, (which is my fave album of her’s) was unleashed in November of that year and it really started a new era for the pop princess. This performance started a fire and it continues to be a favorite for fans around the world. I heard a rumor that Aaliyah was to supposedly perform with the snake that year, but unfortunately she died a few weeks prior. Imagine what that would have been like.
BONUS: Britney Spears – “Satisfaction/Oops!…I Did It Again” at the 2000 VMAs
– I had to add this one in for good measure. This is the moment when the world realized that Britney wasn’t our little girl anymore. I remember how everyone thought it was so shocking. Just wait 13 more years, world! This is nothing compared to what’s to come. That’s all I will say on that matter.
As you can tell, the 2000 VMAs were my favorite and nothing will ever top it for me. But that’s not to say that we won’t have any great performances this year!
I want to hear who you guys are excited to see at this year’s VMAs! I will be live-tweeting throughout the show tonight, so follow me on Twitter @TinaTweetsAlot and join me in my nutty couch commentary! Let’s share our opinions as if they were snacks! 😀
