The 2005 MTV Video Music Awards held some nice safe surprises this year, with a nice healthy dose of bleeps. Diddy did rather decently as host this year, as MTV finally seemed to give up on comedians. MTV Europe has been using artists to host their award show for years now with great success. An awards show does not have to have a lot of funny spots by a host in order to be a success, as shown by this show. And yes, I would call this show a success, even if I did miss the unpredictability that made me want to stay up late night just to see what would go wrong with the show.
The performances tonight were great - even the ones I didn't like were still great. Green Day ended up being the big winner this year, winning 7 of the 8 awards they were nominated for. On with the recap!
Green Day held the "first performance" honor this year. They sang "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." Personally I hate this song so it's difficult for me to judge how they're doing. It sounds off-key to me, but then again they ARE a punk band, does anyone really care if they are off-key? Their fans would probably care more if they were on-key every time. I do like Green Day overall, they're a cool band who really don't seem to care much about trends, they sing what they sing, like it or leave it. I loved the pyro.
Diddy opened the show with a clip of him surrounded by a bunch of lovely women. Then he looked at his watch (which I so want for my birthday, by the way - you can send that one on my way Diddy) and realized he had to go host. He dove into a pool (wouldn't that hurt my watch?) and "swam" to the VMAs. He looked very sharp dressed in all white. At the beginning of his rap, you can see the teleprompter displaying the words - not that that makes him any less of a man. Enter a bunch of women from the ceiling on scarf-ropes, dancing around (anyone care to count how many times that has been done in VMA history?). This is followed by a bunch of lovely women onstage and finally a bunch of guys. Everyone is completely dressed in white, making them all look very lovely. In the end, Diddy danced a smidge to Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl."
Then we break to the first presentation by Nelly and Lindsay Lohan, who present the Best Male and Female Video Awards. Kelly Clarkson won for "Since You've Been Gone" which seemed to surprise Kelly. She said her vote was for Gwen Stefani, who was nominated for "Hollaback Girl." Kanye West won for "Jesus Walks" and thanked some people. Overall, two very nice acceptance speeches - not long or rambling, and no bleeps (am I the only one who misses the old VMAs with nothing getting bleeped the first time? It was the only reason to stay up late on a school night to watch it!)
Beavis and Butthead made their return to MTV giving the viewer's choice nominees and numbers. They also told people to vote for them, to get them put back on the air. I'd like to see a Beavis and Butthead return, they amuse me.
The next performance was by Ludacris and Bobby Valentino. Okay, here's the disclaimer -- Hip Hop is not my thing. I can pick out the standard people like Diddy, Nelly, Ludacris, etc, but once you get into their protege's I've got no earthly clue who they are. If the name isn't announced, I can't tell you who they were. I will also have no clue what the song is they sang, so y'all will just have to live with it. Now that that is over with, I loved the performance. The dancers and steel drum band were awesome. I also love that the dancers weren't all skinny-minnys. Big people can dance too y'all! The performance was very colorful and chaotic.
Diddy changed into another lovely suit, this one with a blue jacket. He told the audience that there would be no obscenities or vulgarities on his show because he's a gentleman. Then he tells everyone exactly what words won't be allowed. He points out again that the theme of tonight is "Anything can Happen" - a woman could run across the stage naked or he could give something away. Then he gives away his watch (luckily not the one I want, he can still come drop that off at my house). Diddy reveals that the fashion challenge has been narrowed down to three men and three women. One male winner and one female winner will get $50,000 for his or her favorite charity. The male finalists are Usher, Kanye West, and Snoop Dogg. The females are Eva Longoria, Amerie, and Gwen Stefani.
Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom (who are *sob* dating *sniffle*) present the Best Rock Video to winners Green Day. Billie Jo says it's nice to know that "rock music still has a place at MTV."
Grandmaster Flash is the DJ for the night, getting the crowd going with some tunes. Diddy then apologizes to the guy he tried to give his watch to. Apparently security didn't think Diddy was serious and took the watch back from him. Diddy gave it to the guy once again. A girl on the side of the stage bugs Diddy to dance. Diddy says he won't, but eventually Grandmaster Flash gets him dancing. Eventually he's joined by Omarion and they have a short dance-off.
Diddy then introduces a surprise performance by one of his "heroes" MC Hammer. The audience was in shock, except for the Black Eyed Peas who were clearly enjoying Hammer's performance of "Can't Touch This." I loved his performance, which contained the classic "Can't Touch This" dance. It was a wonderful surprise.
Ashlee and Jessica Simpson presented the Best R&B video to Alicia Keys for her video "Karma." Alicia thanked a few people and kept her speech nice and short. Was anyone else annoyed by Ashlee and Jessica's attempt to sell themselves as two "soul" girls from the south? I'm not saying white people can't have soul, but come on - Jessica and Ashlee Simpson? Give me a break!
The next performance was by Shakira and Alejandro Sanz, "La Tortura." I love Shakira. She's so unbelievably sexy, and can carry off things that other women can't. Her performance was amazing. It's hard to believe that voice comes from that little woman.
Usher presented the award for Best Dance Video. But before he did that, he introduced a dance battle - clowning vs. crumping, which is apparently a battle that started in Los Angeles. The dancers were cool but honestly it was all a little confusing. Missy Elliot won the award for her video "Lose Control."
Eric Roberts introduced R. Kelly by starting off with a plug for his own stepson's album. R. Kelly performed all the roles of his latest movie/video thing, the second part of the "Trapped in the Closet" thing. It was interesting, as apparently the husband who caught R. Kelly sleeping with his wife is having an affair with another man. The husband, named "Rufus" has been sleeping with "Chuck." Chuck wants Rufus to leave his wife. The wife wants Rufus to stay. Personally I'd be kicking his cheating bi-ass out on the curb, but hey, she's a 'ho so she can understand it. Ultimately hubby chooses to stay with wife.
Diddy comes back onstage, this time in a lovely black suit. The man knows how to dress. He's one sharp looking man. He proceeds to make fun of himself, talking about the stages and evolution of his name. He started out as Sean Combs, and each stage has it's own photo. Sean has a picture of Diddy as a baby. Then he became Puffy, with a high school photo. Next up was the Puff Daddy stage, and we see some of his mug shots. Diddy says that guy got him into too much trouble, so he decided to change his name again. he tried out Kunta Combs, Seanye West and even went a little political and tried out Seandaleesa Diddy Rice before finally settling on just Diddy.
Joel Madden and Hilary Duff came out next. I had a horrid "Michael Jackson-Lisa Marie Presley" feeling at first, but luckily they didn't kiss. Hilary says her boyfriend introduced her to a lot of music she had never heard before, and rattles off a few names, ending up with "The Murders". Joel whispers in her ear and she says she always gets that one wrong. This all was an introduction for a performance of "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers. I love the Killers. They completely rock, and didn't need the fireworks in front of them to make their performance killer either.
Lil' Kim and some guy named Jeremy presented the Best Rap Video. Of course we had some banter, this time about Lil' Kim going to jail for "lying." Ludacris won the award for "Number One Spot." His speech was sort of longish, but still acceptable.
Beavis and Butthead had another clip, this time with Butthead as "Poseiden." Again it was a "bring us back on MTV" plug in addition to the viewer's choice award nominees.
Diddy came back up, this time not in a suit, and gave some shout outs to his friends, Jay Z, Destiny's Child, Nelly, his kids, and Notorious B.I.G.'s mom. Diddy said there were more surprises to come, and off getting a suit jacket on. Then he asked for the lights to go down. When they came back up, Diddy was conducting an orchestra as the monitors showed a clip by Notorious B.I.G. Snoop then came up from the floor and rapped with the clip. I don't generally like the whole "raping the music of the dead" trend, but this one was tastefully done and sort of nice.
Common and Johnny Knoxville came up to present the MTV2 Award. Common did a rap about Miami and mentioned 50 Cent, who didn't really look amused. But then again, 50 almost always looks like he's in a bad mood. The award went to Fall Out Boy for "Sugar We're Going Down." They gave a shout out to My Chemical Romance, who they thought should have won. Okay, this is the perfect place for me to rant about how much I detest Fall Out Boy's video. I like the song, but the video is so unbelievably stupid and moronic. The whole "people/deer" thing is just stupid. I don't get it - what is it, a video promoting beastiality? EWWW! YUCK!
Fat Joe introduced a series of performances by some people whose names I either couldn't catch or wouldn't dare to try to spell. Look it up yourselves people. Honestly it didn't interest me at all. My tip to MTV for next year - if you're trying to push some unknowns, put their names up on the screen 'cause us non-spanish speaking people don't understand a word of what's going on. I did catch that Daddy Yankee was the last performer. I know, we should all speak Spanish, but we don't. This led to the presentation of the Best Hip Hop Video. Missy Elliot won this one as well.
Diddy introduces Pharrell who introduces Coldplay performing "Speed of Sound." The crowd doesn't seem to be too into it, and Coldplay seems a bit off. I get the feeling there were technical problems in the beginning. Chris Martin races up into the crowd, and the crowd seems to come to life a smidge, but overall it didn't seem to be a hit.
B5 introduce Ricky Martin and Joss Stone who present the Best Pop Video to Kelly Clarkson, who walked through the fountain to get to the stage to deliver some short thank yous to the people she forgot earlier
Alicia Keys and John Legend introduce a performance by Kanye West and Jamie Foxx. I don't know what they're singing, but Jamie can definitely can sing. I actually sort of like Kanye, he's cool. To me too much of the Hip Hop world is so boring, because it's all the same thing over and over again. There are very few standouts in there. Kanye is one of them. But it's still not really my thing. But hey, I didn't hit mute for it.
Snoop Dogg, also looking sharp, introduces Danny Cook a comedian who does a little bit about microchipping your kids. He wants to put a detonator with it, 'cause if he can't have his kid neither can you. They present the award for Best New Artist to The Killers for "Mr. Brightside."
Diddy gives the Fashion Challenge awards to Snoop Dogg and Gwen Stefani, who each get $50,000 for their favorite charities. Gwen says she and Snoop looks good together. Gwen will give the money to the Orange Country Children's Hospital. Snoop sends his to *surprise* the Snoop Youth Football League.
Eva Longoria introduces Mariah Carey's performance. Mariah is performing over at a hotel in South Beach, not at the awards show themselves. She's got a beautiful voice. It's nice to see her coming back from her low point a few years ago. I like hearing her sing, rather than all the collaborations she had been doing for awhile.
Beavis and Butthead make yet another appearance, and Beavis talks about the importance of voting. Beavis has a fit when he hears the nominees don't include them.
Paulina Rubio and Lil' Jon present the Breakthrough Video Award to the Gorillaz for "Feel Good Inc." The Gorillaz accept their award, naturally, by video.
Fergie and Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas present a performance by 50 Cent. 50 Cent is doing a medley (note to 50, it's a medley, not a melody) of his songs. Personally I dislike 50's music, as it seems to center entirely on sex or violence. 50, there is more to life than sex and guns, truly. Find some of those things to rap about it, and then maybe we'll talk.
Diddy comes back onstage to talk about his favorite performance, including Shakira and Kanye. He says he's also a rock and roll fan and one of his favorite rock and roll bands is performing as a surprise. My Chemical Romance perform "Helena" and sound very cool doing. They are excellent performers. I particularly loved the dancer who stage dived.
Bow Wow and Paris Hilton present the Viewer's Choice award after comparing their "bling." Green Day wins this one too, pretty much like everything else they were nominated for tonight.
Jamie Foxx presented the Video of the Year award with Destiny's Child to *gasp* Green Day. Green Day were the first to mention the soldiers, and want them to be brought home safe.
Kelly Clarkson performed "Since You've Been Gone" to close out the show. She is great performer and the performance was wild. In the end she, and the crowd, ended up drenched, as they turned the water on.
As I said, overall I found the awards to be successful and interesting. I did miss some of the technical problems of past years, and unexpected things that even MTV didn't plan. It's always more interesting to see things going wrong that the producers aren't planning.
The full list of winners: Best Cinematography: Green Day "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" Best Editing: Green Day "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
Best Art Direction: Gwen Stefani "Hollaback Girl"
Best Special Effects: Gorillaz "Feel Good Inc."
Best Choreography: Gwen Stefani "Hollaback Girl"
Best Direction: Green Day "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
Best Video Game Soundtrack: Dance Dance Revolution Extreme
Breakthrough Video: Gorillaz "Feel Good Inc."
MTV2 Award: Fall Out Boy "Sugar, We're Going Down"
Viewer's Choice: Green Day "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
Best New Artist: The Killers "Mr. Brightside"
Best Pop Video: Kelly Clarkson "Since You've Been Gone"
Best Rock Video: Green Day "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
Best Dance Video: Missy Elliot f/ Ciara and Fatman Scoop "Lose Control"
man 50&fat joe music are both die'n,
they need pablicity now more then ever,
a new breed is about to walk in, and whats fat joe doing rapping in spanish, is all about the $,
and 50 is just lost right now! be real like dmx theres no inbetween.. peace from downunder.
y r y'all buggin' abt all the 50 n fat joe crap???!!!it's no good...let dem diss each other like they want...but i only got one thing on 50...he ain't worth manure as compared to nas...like nas said..."he needs 6-7 more albums" I do agree wit the guy dat says 50 raps mainly at sex n violence n all dat...we're in a world where hip hop's now for moni...they wana touch the much paper...can't judge him on just his 2 main platinum albums...lets wait n c if he's got more to talk abt than all dat
GUEST said: y r y'all buggin' abt all the 50 n fat joe crap???!!!it's no good...let dem diss each other like they want...but i only got one thing on 50...he ain't worth manure as compared to nas...like nas said..."he needs 6-7 more albums" I do agree wit the guy dat says 50 raps mainly at sex n violence n all dat...we're in a world where hip hop's now for moni...they wana touch the much paper...can't judge him on just his 2 main platinum albums...lets wait n c if he's got more to talk abt than all dat
props for the attempt at "ghetto speak" (no offense to those who live in ghetto's and don't speak like that, it's just a general term). You failed on several counts. I shall rewrite your reaction below in full ghetto speak.
y r y'all buggin' 'bout all da 50 n fat joe crap???!!!it no good...let dem diss each other lik dey want... i only gots 1 thing on 50...he ain't worth manure compared 2 nas...like nas said..."he needs 6-7 more albums" da guy dat says 50 raps 'bout sex n violence n all dat be speakin da truth...we in a world where hip hop's 4 moni...dey wana touch da much paper...can't judge him on jus his 2 platinum albums...lets wait n c if he's got more to talk 'bout dan all dat
ummm, brazilians are not really latin or latinos, they dont even speal spanish, they speak portuguese, so how can they understand reggaeton?? come on now, dont claim a language or culture u know nothing about
The performances tonight were great - even the ones I didn't like were still great. Green Day ended up being the big winner this year, winning 7 of the 8 awards they were nominated for. On with the recap!
Enter a bunch of women from the ceiling on scarf-ropes, dancing around (anyone care to count how many times that has been done in VMA history?). This is followed by a bunch of lovely women onstage and finally a bunch of guys. Everyone is completely dressed in white, making them all look very lovely. In the end, Diddy danced a smidge to Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl."
Then we break to the first presentation by Nelly and Lindsay Lohan, who present the Best Male and Female Video Awards. Kelly Clarkson won for "Since You've Been Gone" which seemed to surprise Kelly. She said her vote was for Gwen Stefani, who was nominated for "Hollaback Girl." Kanye West won for "Jesus Walks" and thanked some people. Overall, two very nice acceptance speeches - not long or rambling, and no bleeps (am I the only one who misses the old VMAs with nothing getting bleeped the first time? 
It was the only reason to stay up late on a school night to watch it!)
The next performance was by Ludacris and Bobby Valentino. Okay, here's the disclaimer -- Hip Hop is not my thing. I can pick out the standard people like Diddy, Nelly, Ludacris, etc, but once you get into their protege's I've got no earthly clue who they are. If the name isn't announced, I can't tell you who they were. I will also have no clue what the song is they sang, so y'all will just have to live with it. Now that that is over with, I loved the performance. The dancers and steel drum band were awesome. I also love that the dancers weren't all skinny-minnys. Big people can dance too y'all! The performance was very colorful and chaotic.
Diddy changed into another lovely suit, this one with a blue jacket. He told the audience that there would be no obscenities or vulgarities on his show because he's a gentleman. Then he tells everyone exactly what words won't be allowed. He points out again that the theme of tonight is "Anything can Happen" - a woman could run across the stage naked or he could give something away. Then he gives away his watch (luckily not the one I want, he can still come drop that off at my house). 
Diddy reveals that the fashion challenge has been narrowed down to three men and three women. One male winner and one female winner will get $50,000 for his or her favorite charity. The male finalists are Usher, Kanye West, and Snoop Dogg. The females are Eva Longoria, Amerie, and Gwen Stefani.
Grandmaster Flash is the DJ for the night, getting the crowd going with some tunes. Diddy then apologizes to the guy he tried to give his watch to. Apparently security didn't think Diddy was serious and took the watch back from him. Diddy gave it to the guy once again. A girl on the side of the stage bugs Diddy to dance. Diddy says he won't, but eventually Grandmaster Flash gets him dancing. Eventually he's joined by Omarion and they have a short dance-off.
Diddy then introduces a surprise performance by one of his "heroes" MC Hammer. The audience was in shock, except for the Black Eyed Peas who were clearly enjoying Hammer's performance of "Can't Touch This." I loved his performance, which contained the classic "Can't Touch This" dance. It was a wonderful surprise.
Ashlee and Jessica Simpson presented the Best R&B video to Alicia Keys for her video "Karma." Alicia thanked a few people and kept her speech nice and short. Was anyone else annoyed by Ashlee and Jessica's attempt to sell themselves as two "soul" girls from the south? 
I'm not saying white people can't have soul, but come on - Jessica and Ashlee Simpson? Give me a break!
She's so unbelievably sexy, and can carry off things that other women can't. Her performance was amazing. It's hard to believe that voice comes from that little woman.
But before he did that, he introduced a dance battle - clowning vs. crumping, which is apparently a battle that started in Los Angeles. The dancers were cool but honestly it was all a little confusing. Missy Elliot won the award for her video "Lose Control."
It was interesting, as apparently the husband who caught R. Kelly sleeping with his wife is having an affair with another man. The husband, named "Rufus" has been sleeping with "Chuck." Chuck wants Rufus to leave his wife. The wife wants Rufus to stay. Personally I'd be kicking his cheating bi-ass out on the curb, but hey, she's a 'ho so she can understand it. Ultimately hubby chooses to stay with wife.
Diddy comes back onstage, this time in a lovely black suit. The man knows how to dress. He's one sharp looking man. He proceeds to make fun of himself, talking about the stages and evolution of his name. He started out as Sean Combs, and each stage has it's own photo. Sean has a picture of Diddy as a baby. Then he became Puffy, with a high school photo. Next up was the Puff Daddy stage, and we see some of his mug shots. Diddy says that guy got him into too much trouble, so he decided to change his name again. he tried out Kunta Combs, Seanye West and even went a little political and tried out Seandaleesa Diddy Rice before finally settling on just Diddy.
Joel Madden and Hilary Duff came out next. I had a horrid "Michael Jackson-Lisa Marie Presley" feeling at first, but luckily they didn't kiss. Hilary says her boyfriend introduced her to a lot of music she had never heard before, and rattles off a few names, ending up with "The Murders". Joel whispers in her ear and she says she always gets that one wrong. This all was an introduction for a performance of "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers. I love the Killers. They completely rock, and didn't need the fireworks in front of them to make their performance killer either.
Lil' Kim and some guy named Jeremy presented the Best Rap Video. Of course we had some banter, this time about Lil' Kim going to jail for "lying." Ludacris won the award for "Number One Spot." His speech was sort of longish, but still acceptable.
Diddy came back up, this time not in a suit, and gave some shout outs to his friends, Jay Z, Destiny's Child, Nelly, his kids, and Notorious B.I.G.'s mom. Diddy said there were more surprises to come, and off getting a suit jacket on. Then he asked for the lights to go down. When they came back up, Diddy was conducting an orchestra as the monitors showed a clip by Notorious B.I.G. Snoop then came up from the floor and rapped with the clip. I don't generally like the whole "raping the music of the dead" trend, but this one was tastefully done and sort of nice.
Common and Johnny Knoxville came up to present the MTV2 Award. Common did a rap about Miami and mentioned 50 Cent, who didn't really look amused. But then again, 50 almost always looks like he's in a bad mood. The award went to Fall Out Boy for "Sugar We're Going Down." They gave a shout out to My Chemical Romance, who they thought should have won. Okay, this is the perfect place for me to rant about how much I detest Fall Out Boy's video. I like the song, but the video is so unbelievably stupid and moronic. The whole "people/deer" thing is just stupid. I don't get it - what is it, a video promoting beastiality? EWWW! YUCK!
Fat Joe introduced a series of performances by some people whose names I either couldn't catch or wouldn't dare to try to spell. Look it up yourselves people. Honestly it didn't interest me at all. My tip to MTV for next year - if you're trying to push some unknowns, put their names up on the screen 'cause us non-spanish speaking people don't understand a word of what's going on. 
I did catch that Daddy Yankee was the last performer. I know, we should all speak Spanish, but we don't. This led to the presentation of the Best Hip Hop Video. Missy Elliot won this one as well.
B5 introduce Ricky Martin and Joss Stone who present the Best Pop Video to Kelly Clarkson, who walked through the fountain to get to the stage to deliver some short thank yous to the people she forgot earlier
To me too much of the Hip Hop world is so boring, because it's all the same thing over and over again. There are very few standouts in there. Kanye is one of them. But it's still not really my thing. But hey, I didn't hit mute for it.
Diddy gives the Fashion Challenge awards to Snoop Dogg and Gwen Stefani, who each get $50,000 for their favorite charities. Gwen says she and Snoop looks good together. Gwen will give the money to the Orange Country Children's Hospital. Snoop sends his to *surprise* the Snoop Youth Football League.
Eva Longoria introduces Mariah Carey's performance. Mariah is performing over at a hotel in South Beach, not at the awards show themselves. She's got a beautiful voice. It's nice to see her coming back from her low point a few years ago. I like hearing her sing, rather than all the collaborations she had been doing for awhile.
Beavis and Butthead make yet another appearance, and Beavis talks about the importance of voting. Beavis has a fit when he hears the nominees don't include them.
Fergie and Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas present a performance by 50 Cent. 50 Cent is doing a medley (note to 50, it's a medley, not a melody) of his songs. Personally I dislike 50's music, as it seems to center entirely on sex or violence. 50, there is more to life than sex and guns, truly. Find some of those things to rap about it, and then maybe we'll talk.
Diddy comes back onstage to talk about his favorite performance, including Shakira and Kanye. He says he's also a rock and roll fan and one of his favorite rock and roll bands is performing as a surprise. My Chemical Romance perform "Helena" and sound very cool doing. They are excellent performers. I particularly loved the dancer who stage dived.
Bow Wow and Paris Hilton present the Viewer's Choice award after comparing their "bling." Green Day wins this one too, pretty much like everything else they were nominated for tonight.
Kelly Clarkson performed "Since You've Been Gone" to close out the show. She is great performer and the performance was wild. In the end she, and the crowd, ended up drenched, as they turned the water on.
