2005 Video Music Awards
Host: Diddy
Venue: American Airlines Arena
City: Miami, FL
Date: September 1, 2005
Video of the Year: Green Day "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
2005 Video Music Awards
That's right, we tapped the D. The I. The D. The D. The Y. Diddy. And Diddy did it with style.
He's not a joke cracker, so Diddy used the tools at his disposal and made good on a promise that the show was going to be BIG. In his opening statements to the audience, he said anything could happen. And that's when he took the $10,000 Jacob the Jeweler-designed watch from his wrist and handed it to a lucky audience member (who, hopefully, hocked it immediately and paid off a student loan and a few credit card bills). The former Puff Daddy also held a dance-off with himself that was very anti-climatic because it was, well, with himself. (He won.)
A more mature Green Day showed that they were back and better than ever, taking home the Best Rock Video, Best Group Video, and Video of the Year Moonmen for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," which they performed during the broadcast.They also took the Viewer's Choice award for "American Idiot." And we love them.
The Killers won the Best New Artist Moonman for "Mr. Brightside," and performed the hell out of the song on the Miami stage. Meanwhile, Gorrilaz won the Breakthrough Video award for "Feel Good Inc." and accepted the award via satellite because they are fictional animated characters and can not actually appear anywhere in a real physical form. See, it's all two dimensional. Well, the music is likely a third dimension, but, oh, um ... just keep reading, please.
In related "people who won things" news, Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dogg were each awarded $50,000 for the charity of their choice when they won Diddy's Fashion Challenge. No Moonmen, just cash.
The 2005 VMAs were notable for Latin music, as Shakira and Alejandro Sanz performed their hit song "La Tortura" entirely in Spanish and video for the song was nominated for two awards. It marked the first time in MTV Video Music Awards history that either had occurred.
Other performers included Ludacris and Bobby Valentino, Snoop Dogg, Coldplay, Kayne West and Jamie Foxx, Mariah Carey, 50 Cent with Mobb Deep and Tony Yayo, My Chemical Romance, Kelly Clarkson, Tego Calderon, Daddy Yankee and Don Omar.
M.C. Hammer made a return from The Surreal Life to the VMA stage with his surprise performance of "U Can't Touch This," complete with dated dance moves and his unforgettable ballooning pants. Not to be outdone, R Kelly gave quite possibly the weirdest performance in VMA history when he played every single one of the characters in his R&B opera "Trapped in the Closet" and it was odd on so many different levels. Just like the VMAs should be.
