Pick a Day

Music History Events: MTV

November 12, 1998 Madonna draws the Best Female and the Best Album (Ray of Light) honors at the 1998 MTV Europe Music Awards in Milan.

October 15, 1998 Puff Daddy plays his first-ever UK show at the official opening of the new London venue Sound Republic in Leicester Square. The invitation-only event is broadcast live by MTV UK.

September 26, 1998 MTV Russia debuts at midnight with Prodigy Live in Moscow, a concert taped in spring 1997. The first Russian video on the network is Mummy Troll's "Vladivostock 2000."

September 4, 1997 Accepting the award for Best New Artist, 19-year-old Fiona Apple rages against the machine, saying: "This world is bulls--t. And you shouldn't model your life about what you think we think is cool, what we're wearing, and what we're saying."More

August 12, 1997 MTV debuts the Fleetwood Mac reunion concert The Dance, marking the first time the five had been on stage together since 1982.

September 4, 1996 At the MTV Video Music Awards, Van Halen, who recently parted ways with lead singer Sammy Hagar, appear on stage with their founding frontman David Lee Roth for the first time in 11 years to present an award. The reunion is short lived - a month later they announce Gary Cherone (formerly of Extreme) as their new lead singer. Roth releases a statement saying, "I was an unwitting participant in this deception." Van Halen release one album with Cherone before reuniting with Roth in 2007.

March 1, 1995 Tony Bennett wins the Album Of The Year Grammy for MTV Unplugged, a collection of standards taken from his acoustic performance on the network. It's the lowest-charting album ever to win; it topped out at #69 before the ceremony and the Grammy bump only pushes it to #48. In response, the Grammys establish nominating committees for the major awards to make them more contemporary. The following year, Alanis Morissette gets Album Of The Year for the far more popular and acclaimed Jagged Little Pill.

November 24, 1994 Oasis is named Best UK Band at the first annual MTV European Music Awards.

October 12, 1994 MTV airs the reunion concert special of Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, entitled Unledded.

April 25, 1994 Eagles play the first of two identical shows at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California for their appearance on MTV Unplugged, which will promote their upcoming reunion tour and album Hell Freezes Over.

September 12, 1993 Garbage find their lead singer when they see Shirley Manson in the video for "Suffocate Me" by her band Angelfish on MTV's alternative music showcase 120 Minutes. In a leap of faith, she moves from Scotland to Wisconsin to join Garbage, pairing her visceral lyrics and understated delivery with the band's progressive musical textures.

September 2, 1993 Stone Temple Pilots win Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards for "Plush." Also at the ceremony, Snoop Doggy Dogg is arrested for his role in a shooting a week earlier. He posts bail and is found innocent in 1996.

August 1, 1987 MTV Europe makes its debut. The first video shown is Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing," a song where Sting proclaims, "I want my MTV."

July 23, 1984 MTV broadcasts the WWF Women's Championship match live from Madison Square Garden, where Wendi Richter, managed by Cyndi Lauper, takes the title. Part of the "Rock And Wrestling Connection," it's the most-watched program in the history of MTV. Lauper returns to manage Richter the following year at the first WrestleMania.

February 27, 1984 The Jacksons' Pepsi commercial premieres on MTV.

August 30, 2020 Lady Gaga is the big winner at MTV Video Music Awards, taking Artist of the Year, Song of the Year (her Ariana Grande collaboration "Rain On Me") and the Tricon Award, formerly the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. With the coronavirus lockdown still in place, two new categories are awarded: Best Music Video From Home ("Stuck with U" by Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber) and Best Quarantine Performance (CNCO: Unplugged at Home).

October 2, 2017 MTV revives TRL, the iconic music video countdown that ran from 1998 to 2008, with some pretty significant changes. First, there's no countdown. Second, there's no music. Well, there's some music, but it's part of a mixed bag of pop culture topics presented by five hosts, including Vine star DC Young Fly, dubbed the "TRL Squad." Where's Carson Daly when you need him?

August 27, 2017 Kendrick Lamar wins Video of the Year for HUMBLE. at the MTV Video Music Awards, where Taylor Swift debuts her video for "Look What You Made Me Do."More

August 17, 2016 MTV's Catfish: The TV Show introduces Spencer Morrill, a Tennessee native who insists he's been in an online romance with Katy Perry for six years. He even made a ring for her out of a family heirloom. When hosts Nev and Max lure out the catfish in England and bring him face to face with the singer, he believes the real Perry sent the "imposter" as a joke.

August 30, 2015 Taylor Swift and Kanye West make peace when Swift presents him with the Video Vanguard Award at the VMAs, where West famously interrupted Swift six years earlier. The truce doesn't last: In February 2016, West raps, "I made that bitch famous" in his song "Famous," invoking Swift's ire.

November 10, 2013 At the MTV Europe Awards, Miley Cyrus smokes a joint while accepting her Best Video award for "Wrecking Ball." The ceremony is held in Amsterdam, so it's legal.

June 28, 2012 The Flaming Lips break the Guinness World Record for the most live shows performed in multiple cities within 24 hours. The feat is part of MTV's O Music Awards which honors achievements in the digital music realm.More

October 27, 2011 MTV reboots Beavis and Butt-Head, which went off the air in 1997, for another season.

September 12, 2010 The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony is broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, on MTV, with Chelsea Handler hosting the event. Lady Gaga takes Video of the Year for "Bad Romance."More

September 13, 2009 Katy Perry and Russell Brand meet at the MTV Video Music Awards, which Brand is hosting. The pair begin dating soon after.

May 8, 2008 Crosby Loggins, son of Kenny Loggins, wins the first and only season of MTV's Rock The Cradle, a singing competition featuring the offspring of celebrity musicians. Runners-up are Jesse Blaze Snider, son of Twisted Sister's Dee Snider and Chloe Lattanzi, daughter of Olivia Newton-John.

August 29, 2004 Jet take home the award for Best Rock Video for "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" at the MTV Video Music Awards and perform the song live during the strangely un-hosted ceremony at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida.

January 9, 2002 MTV Cribs tours Mariah Carey's New York penthouse in a special one-hour episode. The pop star, who shows off her personal salon and department-store-sized closet, also demonstrates an elliptical workout in stilettos and enjoys a chaste bubble bath.

July 9, 2001 During an appearance on MTV's TRL, four of the Backstreet Boys announce their Black & Blue tour will be put on hold so their fifth member, AJ McLean, can enter rehab to treat alcoholism and depression.

March 6, 2001 MTV Cribs visits Redman's two-bedroom pad on Staten Island. Unlike the show's usual ostentatious fare, the rapper's modest crib is a testament to "keeping it real." The highlights are his makeshift doorbell (which is signaled by crossing two exposed wires), a freezer-full of Gorton's fish, and his cousin conked out on his living room floor.