1995 MTV Video Music Awards
DateThursday, September 7, 1995
LocationRadio City Music Hall, New York, New York
CountryUnited States
Hosted byDennis Miller
Most awardsTLC & Weezer (4)
Most nominationsMichael Jackson & Janet Jackson (11)
Television/radio coverage
NetworkMTV
Produced byAndy Schuon
Directed byBruce Gowers

The 1995 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 7, 1995, honoring the best music videos from June 16, 1994, to June 15, 1995. The show was hosted by Dennis Miller at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. David Sandlin was commissioned to design the program catalogue.

TLC and Weezer were the biggest winners of the night, with each taking home four awards. TLC's music video for "Waterfalls" won the two main awards of the night: Viewer's Choice Award and Video of the Year, becoming the first African-American act to win the latter award. Weezer's video for "Buddy Holly" took home the two main technical awards: Best Direction and Breakthrough Video. Meanwhile, the sibling pair of Michael and Janet Jackson was right behind both groups in terms of wins, as their video for "Scream" earned them three moonmen. Also Michael performed for over fifteen minutes to a medley of his main songs at the ceremony.

As mentioned above, TLC's "Waterfalls" won both Video of the Year and Viewer's Choice, becoming the third and last video to accomplish this feat in a single year. Ironically, this occurred on the first year that MTV decided to have different sets of nominees for these categories (as until 1994 the practice had been to have both categories have exactly the same set of nominees). Curiously, though, the award for Breakthrough Video would end up having the same four nominees as Video of the Year in 1995, marking the only time this ever happened in VMA history.

In terms of nominations, the four videos and acts that were up for Video of the Year dominated the night. Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream" was the most nominated video of the night, earning a grand total of eleven nominations, including a nomination in each of the seven professional categories. The night's big winner, TLC's "Waterfalls," was also the second most nominated video that night, earning ten nominations. Green Day's "Basket Case" came in third place with nine nominations, while Weezer's "Buddy Holly" came in fourth with five nominations. There would not be a situation similar to this one at the VMAs until the 2009 edition. In addition, all four videos were nominated for Best Direction.

Background

MTV announced on February 29 that the 1995 Video Music Awards would be held at Radio City Music Hall for the second consecutive year on September 7.[1] Nominees were announced at a press conference hosted by Rudy Giuliani and Michael Jackson on July 25.[2] Dennis Miller was announced as host in late August.[3] The ceremony broadcast was preceded by the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards Opening Act. Hosted by Kurt Loder and Tabitha Soren with reports from Chris Connelly, Juliette Hohnen, and Alison Stewart, the broadcast featured red carpet interviews, pre-taped features on a day with White Zombie and the filming of Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" music video (as well as the video's world premiere), a pre-taped interview with Bob Weir, and performances from Silverchair.

Performances

List of musical performances
Artist(s) Song(s)
Pre-show
Silverchair "Tomorrow"
"Pure Massacre"
Main show[4]
Michael Jackson Medley
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"Scream"
"Beat It"
"Black or White" (featuring Slash)
"Billie Jean"
"Dangerous" (with elements of “Smooth Criminal”)
"You Are Not Alone"
Live "I Alone"
TLC CrazySexy Medley
"Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg"
"Kick Your Game"
"Creep"
"Waterfalls"
R.E.M. "The Wake-Up Bomb"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Warped"
Bon Jovi "Helter Skelter"
"Something for the Pain"[lower-alpha 1]
Alanis Morissette "You Oughta Know"
Hootie & the Blowfish "Only Wanna Be with You"
Hole "Violet"
Green Day "Stuck with Me"[lower-alpha 2]
White Zombie "More Human than Human"
  1. Live from Times Square
  2. Live "via spit-cam" from Stockholm

Presenters

Winners and nominees

Nominees were selected by members of the music industry. Winners in all categories, except the Viewer's Choice awards, were selected by over 700 members of the music industry.[5] Winners in the Viewer's Choice categories were selected by viewers, with the U.S. winner chosen via a phone poll conducted in the days prior to and during the ceremony.

Winners are in bold text.

Video of the Year Best Male Video
Best Female Video Best Group Video
Best New Artist in a Video Best Metal/Hard Rock Video
Best R&B Video Best Rap Video
Best Dance Video Best Alternative Video
Best Video from a Film Breakthrough 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 International Viewer's Choice: MTV Asia
International Viewer's Choice: MTV Brasil International Viewer's Choice: MTV Europe
International Viewer's Choice: MTV Japan International Viewer's Choice: MTV Latin America
International Viewer's Choice: MTV Mandarin
Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award
R.E.M.

See also

References

  1. Huff, Richard (March 1, 1995). "MTV again dials up Radio City for 12th annual music awards". New York Daily News via Newspapers.com.
  2. "New York, New York!". The Santa Clarita Valley Signal. July 26, 1995 via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Dennis Miller". The Advocate. Newark, Ohio. Associated Press. August 25, 1995 via Newspapers.com.
  4. Onishi, Norimitsi (September 8, 1995). "MTV Awards Show Rocks Midtown". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 26, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  5. McShane, Larry (September 7, 1995). "Awards unplugged: MTV's night to howl". The Sacramento Bee via Newspapers.com.


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