the beat
ILLUSTR ATION BY ANTON EMDINMALONE: JASON LAVERIS/FILMMAGIC. KYGO: ROY ROCHLIN/FILMMAGIC. SIGRID: FRANCESCA ALLEN.their histories with Lee’s ex, Pamela Anderson, who
attended with Rock: “Tommy went over to them, and it
escalated pretty fast.”
KANYE AND 50’S BAD BLOOD Leading up to the
same-day release of West’s Graduation and 50 Cent’s
Curtis in September 2007, the two MCs went head-to-
head (literally) during the telecast. “They had them
square up against each other like boxers,” recalls
Calloway. “Kanye got on his tippy-toes [to match 50’s
height] and said, ‘What’s up?’ The crowd went crazy.”
WINEHOUSE’S BIG UPSET While Amy Winehouse
cleaned up at the 2008 Grammys, she lost the VMA to
Gym Class Heroes for best new artist. “It was the first
award they ever won,” says Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz
of GCH, which was signed to his Decaydance label at the
time. “It meant a fuck-ton to [singer] Travie [McCoy]. He
didn’t give a speech. He just took a drink and stood there.”
RIHANNA REIGNS The night ended with a 19-year-old
Rihanna’s shocking victory over Beyoncé, Timberlake,
West and Winehouse for video of the year for her summer
smash “Umbrella.” “I don’t know if this was an upset
so much as a sign that something was coming,” says
Calloway. “It showed it was a year of change.”A
FTER PING-PONGING BETWEEN NEW YORK
and Los Angeles for years, MTV rolled the
dice on Sept. 7, 2007, by broadcasting its
Video Music Awards live from Las Vegas. The
format-shattering night included Justin Timberlake, Fall
Out Boy and Ka nye We st performing within confined
hotel suites; a mid-show fracas between Kid Rock and
Tommy Lee; and Britney Spears’ clunky “comeback”
performance. With the VMAs taking place in L.A. on
Aug. 27 this year, we look back on the five most defining
moments from the Vegas bash 10 years ago.
BRITNEY BOTCHES HER COMEBACK The
endlessly hyped return of Spears — a VMAs staple since
her “Oops!... I Did It Again” days — opened the show. The
combination of clear lip-syncing and woozy choreography
during “Gimme More” was another low point in the midst
of Brit’s mid-’00s breakdown. “She definitely wasn’t
ready,” says MTV red-carpet host Sway Calloway. Adds
former MTV News senior writer James Montgomery,
“It seemed like she didn’t rehearse at all ... a lot of us were
surprised by how ill-prepared and hazy she was.”
ROCKERS THROW BLOWS Mötley Crüe’s Lee got
into a fist fight with Rock in the audience during Alicia
Keys’ performance. Calloway alleges it was sparked byBritney, booze and brawls made MTV’s 2007 Video Music Awards one of its
most memorable. A decade later, some of the key insiders recount the madness
BY GIL KAUFMANOne
Iconic
Night In
Sin City
FLASHBACK
ASK THE STARS
What are you looking forward
to most at the 2017 MTV
Video Music Awards?
Post Malone “No better
way to end the summer than
this year’s VMAs. Looking
forward to getting weird.”
Kygo “Super excited about
this year’s show, and even
more excited about my
nomination for ‘It Ain’t Me’
[with Selena Gomez].”
Saint Motel’s A/J Jackson “I’m
most excited to see if anyone shows
up wearing the same outfit as the
VMA Award itself. That’d be dope.”
Fitz & The Tantrums’ Noelle
Scaggs “I am really looking forward
to Harry Styles’ shirt choice.”
Sigrid “I’ll be watching from
my computer. Watching live
performances is probably
my biggest hobby.”
—ROB LEDONNE38 BILLBOARD | SEPTEMBER 2, 2017