1996 MTV Video Music Awards
The 1996 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 4, 1996, honoring the best music videos from June 16, 1995, to June 14, 1996. The show was hosted by Dennis Miller at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
The show centered on the Smashing Pumpkins, who led the night with nine nominations. Following original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin's firing from the band due to his arrest of drug possession and the death of their touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin from a heroin overdose on July 12, the band opened the show as a three-piece, performing a version of "Tonight, Tonight." Additionally, the band ended up winning seven of the awards they were up for: "Tonight, Tonight" won six awards out of its eight nominations, including Video of the Year, thus making it the night's most nominated and biggest winning video; while their video for "1979" won the award for Best Alternative Video.
Canadian singer Alanis Morissette won three out of her six nominations for her video "Ironic." Tying with her in terms of nominations was Icelandic singer Björk, who also received six; however, her video for "It's Oh So Quiet" only took home one Moonman for Best Choreography. Closely following with five nominations each were Coolio, Foo Fighters, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Out of these, though, only the former two ended up taking home Moonmen for their videos. Coolio won three, as "Gangsta's Paradise" won two out of its three nominations, and "1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New)" won one out of its two nominations, while Foo Fighters' "Big Me" took home one Moonman for Best Group Video. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, meanwhile, went home empty-handed.
Highlights of the show included a pre-show set by No Doubt, who performed on the entrance marquee of Radio City Music Hall. There was also a short-lived reunion of the four original members of Van Halen, who had not appeared together at that time for more than a decade, presenting the award for Best Male Video, as well as a live interlink with astronauts on the Mir space station. The ceremony also marked Tupac Shakur's final public appearance before his death on September 13, from gunshot wounds after being shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, three days after the VMAs on September 7.
Background
MTV announced in June that the 1996 Video Music Awards would be held at Radio City Music Hall for the third consecutive year on September 4. Nominees were announced at a press conference hosted by Hootie & the Blowfish and MTV president Judy McGrath on July 30. Dennis Miller was announced as the host on August 14. The ceremony broadcast was preceded by the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards Opening Act. Hosted by Kurt Loder and Tabitha Soren with reports from Serena Altschul, Chris Connelly, John Norris, and Alison Stewart, the broadcast featured red carpet interviews, pre-taped interviews with the Smashing Pumpkins and Oasis, a report on the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry, and performances from Beck and No Doubt.Presenters
Main show
- Mariah Carey – presented Best Group Video
- Kevin Bacon and Rosie O'Donnell – presented Best New Artist in a Video
- Claudia Schiffer and Red Hot Chili Peppers – presented Best Dance Video
- Béla Károlyi – appeared in several backstage vignettes with Lars Ulrich and Hootie & the Blowfish
- Toni Braxton and Dennis Rodman – presented Breakthrough Video
- Norm Macdonald – appeared in a pre-commercial vignette about Viewer's Choice voting
- Beck and Chris Rock – presented Best R&B Video
- Michael Buffer – introduced LL Cool J
- Geena Davis – presented Best Direction in a Video
- Cosmonauts Valery Korzun and Aleksandr Kaleri – interviewed by host Dennis Miller live via satellite from the Mir space station
- Jenny McCarthy and Damon Wayans – presented Best Rap Video
- 2Pac and Snoop Doggy Dogg – presented Best Hard Rock Video
- Seal – introduced Alanis Morissette
- Darrell Hammond – appeared in a pre-commercial vignette about Viewer's Choice voting
- Beavis and Butt-head – introduced the International Viewer's Choice Award winners
- VJs Rahul Khanna, George Williams, Eden Harel, Sabrina Parlatore, Edith Serrano, Mike Kasem and Stacy Hsu – announced their respective region's Viewer's Choice winner
- Tim Robbins – presented Best Alternative Video
- Janeane Garofalo – introduced The Cranberries
- Gwyneth Paltrow – introduced the winners of the professional categories
- Aerosmith – presented Viewer's Choice
- Ewan McGregor and Ewen Bremner – introduced Oasis
- Van Halen – presented Best Male Video
- Susan Sarandon – presented Best Female Video
- Jay Leno – appeared in a "coming up" vignette hyping the Video of the Year award and the Kiss performance
- Sharon Stone – presented Video of the Year
Post-show
- John Norris and Alison Stewart – presented Best Video from a Film
Winners and nominees
Winners are in bold text.Artists with multiple wins and nominations
| Nominations | Artist |
| 9 | The Smashing Pumpkins |
| 6 | Alanis Morissette |
| 6 | Björk |
| 5 | Bone Thugs-n-Harmony |
| 5 | Coolio |
| 5 | Foo Fighters |
| 3 | Bush |
| 3 | L.V. |
| 3 | George Michael |
| 2 | Beck |
| 2 | Brandy |
| 2 | Garbage |
| 2 | Jewel |
| 2 | Metallica |
| 2 | The Fugees |