Katy gets 9 nods from MTV Awards

Katy Perry is the new darling of music television. The pop sensation garnered nine nominations in this year’s MTV Video Music Awards (VMA). I fully understand why this happened. Perry does not only create commercially appealing songs that easily lend themselves to wonderful videos. She is also pretty and a competent performer. You can bet that she will bring home several Moonmen when the prizes are handed out on Aug. 28.

Perry got nods for Video of the Year and Best Female Video for Firework; Best Pop Video for Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F); Best Collaboration, Art Direction, Direction, Editing and Special Effects for E. T. featuring Kanye West and Best Cinematography for Teenage Dream. Next in line is Adele with seven nominations for Rolling in the Deep. These are for Video of the Year; Female Video; Pop Video; Art Direction; Cinematography; Direction; and Editing.

The VMA’s infamous Kanye West, remember the Taylor Swift incident, got six this year. Best Male Video, Hip-Hop, Collaboration and Editing for All Of The Lights featuring Rihanna and Kid Cudi and Art Direction and Special Effects for Power featuring Dwele. Bruno Mars might also go home with one or two Moonmen for Video of the Year, Male Video and Pop Video for Grenade and Choreography for The Lazy Song.

A scary thought. The nominees at the MTV VMAs have been released. This means that the awards night, which will be held at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, will officially bring to close the award giving for last year’s best. This means that the race for awards for this year’s releases has began.

This also means that the nominations for the 2012 Grammys will have its usual cut off date on Sept. 30. All releases after that go into the next year’s 2013 batch. And when September comes, can Christmas and 2012, be far behind? It gives me the shivers thinking of how fast time flies when you get to the ber, ber months.

Another thought. Not so scary but also about how time flies so fast. MTV turned 30 years old last Aug. 1. Three decades have passed since MTV aired the video of Video Killed The Radio Star by the Buggles and Music Television was born. Video did soon kill the radio star as MTV turned into a most influential star maker.

I do not think that anybody was thinking of how prophetic that song would turn out to be when it was chosen for MTV’s debut. MTV totally changed popular music forever as artists became the stars of their own short films. No artist worth his salt nowadays will think of ever coming out with a new release without the accompanying videos. And they did make a lot of great ones in the ensuing years.

To celebrate MTV’s 30th anniversary, Billboard magazine asked readers to vote for the Best Videos of the past three decades. They came up with an interesting line-up that mirrors prevailing trends of the periods and the artists responsible for them. Michael Jackson, whose Thriller remains the ultimate in music video success and production excellence is present in all three lists. Take note too that Perry already made her presence felt and is expected to continue being a dominant force in the current decade.

Voted by fans as the top music videos of the passed three decades were the following: 1980s: Thriller by Michael Jackson; Like A Prayer, Madonna; Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Cyndi Lauper; Take On Me, a-ha; When Doves Cry, Prince; Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel; Hungry Like A Wolf, Duran Duran; Walk This Way, Run D.M.C. and Aerosmith; Every Breath You Take, Police; and Rhythm Nation, Janet Jackson.

1990s: Baby One More Time, Britney Spears; Scream, Michael and Janet Jackson; Vogue, Madonna; Freak On A Leash, Korn; Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana; My Name Is… ,Eminem; The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly), Missy Elliott; Waterfalls, T.L.C; November Rain, Guns ‘N’ Roses; and Virtual Insanity, Jamiroquai.

2000s: Bad Romance, Lady Gaga; Toxic, Britney Spears; I Write Sins Not Tragedies, Panic! At The Disco; You Rock My World, Michael Jackson; Single Ladies (Put A Ring In It), Beyoncé; Disturbia, Rihanna; The Real Slim Shady, Eminem; Firework, Katy Perry; Californication, Red Hot Chili Peppers; and Get Ur Freak On, Missy Elliott.

Fast forward to the present. Here are the other nominees for this year’s MTV VMA and some of these videos might be among those that will be named the best of this decade.

Video of the Year: Tyler, The Creator Yonkers; Beastie Boys, Make Some Noise.

Female Video: Beyoncé, Run The World (Girls); Nicki Minaj, Super Bass; Lady Gaga, Born This Way.

Male Video: Cee Lo Green, F*** You; Eminem featuring Rihanna, Love The Way You Lie; Justin Bieber, U Smile.

Hip-Hop Video: Lil Wayne featuring Cory Gunz, 6’7’’’; Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes, Look At Me Now; Nicki Minaj, Super Bass; Lupe Fiasco, The Show Goes On.

Pop Video: Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, Nayer and Afrojack, Give Me Everything; Britney Spears, Till The World Ends.

New Artist: Foster The People, Pumped Up Kicks; Wiz Khalifa, Black And Yellow; Tyler The Creator, Yonkers; Big Sean featuring Chris Brown, My Last; Kreayshawn, Gucci Gucci.

Rock Video: The Black Keys, Howlin’ For You; Foo Fighters, Walk; Foster The People, Pumped Up Kicks; Mumford and Sons, The Cave; Cage The Elephant, Shake Me Down.

Collaboration: Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, Nayer and Afrojack, Give Me Everything; Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes, Look At Me Now; Nicki Minaj featuring Drake, Moment 4 Life.

Art Direction: Lady Gaga, Judas; Death Cab For Curie, You Are A Tourist.

Choreography: Beyoncé, Run The World (Girls); Britney Spears, Till The World Ends; Lady Gaga, Judas; LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and Goon, Rock Party Rock Anthem.

Cinematography: 30 Seconds To Mars, Hurricane; Eminem featuring Rihanna, Love The Way You Lie; Beyoncé, Run The World Girls.

Direction: Eminem featuring Rihanna, Love The Way You Lie; 30 Seconds To Mars, Hurricane; Beastie Boys, Make Some Noise.

Editing: 30 Seconds To Mars, Hurricane; Manchester Orchestra, Simple Math.

Special Effects: Linkin Park, Waiting For The End; Manchester Orchestra, Simple Math; Chromeo, Don’t Turn The Lights On.