| 1995 MTV Video Music Awards | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date | Thursday, September 7, 1995 |
| Location | Radio City Music Hall,New York, New York |
| Country | United States |
| Hosted by | Dennis Miller |
| Most awards | TLC &Weezer (4) |
| Most nominations | Michael Jackson &Janet Jackson (11) |
| Television/radio coverage | |
| Network | MTV |
| Produced by | Andy Schuon |
| Directed by | Bruce Gowers |
The1995MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 7, 1995, honoring the bestmusic videos from June 16, 1994, to June 15, 1995. The show was hosted byDennis Miller atRadio City Music Hall inNew York City. David Sandlin was commissioned to design the program catalogue.
TLC and Weezer were the biggest winners of the night, with each taking home four awards.TLC's music video for "Waterfalls" won the two main awards of the night: Viewer's Choice Award and Video of the Year, becoming the first African-American act to win the latter award.Weezer's video for "Buddy Holly" took home the two main technical awards: Best Direction and Breakthrough Video. Meanwhile, the sibling pair ofMichael andJanet Jackson was right behind both groups in terms of wins, as their video for "Scream" earned them three moonmen. Also Michael performed for over fifteen minutes to a medley of his main songs at the ceremony.
As mentioned above,TLC's "Waterfalls" won both Video of the Year and Viewer's Choice, becoming the third and last video to accomplish this feat in a single year. Ironically, this occurred on the first year that MTV decided to have different sets of nominees for these categories (as until 1994 the practice had been to have both categories have exactly the same set of nominees). The award for Breakthrough Video would end up having the same four nominees as Video of the Year in 1995, marking the only time this ever happened in VMA history.
In terms of nominations, the four videos and acts that were up for Video of the Year dominated the night. Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream" was the most nominated video of the night, earning a grand total of eleven nominations, including a nomination in each of the seven professional categories. The night's big winner,TLC's "Waterfalls", was also the second most nominated video that night, earning ten nominations.Green Day's "Basket Case" came in third with nine nominations, whileWeezer's "Buddy Holly" came in fourth with five nominations. There would not be a situation similar to this at the VMAs until the2009 edition. In addition, all four videos were nominated forBest Direction.
MTV announced on February 29 that the 1995 Video Music Awards would be held at Radio City Music Hall for the second consecutive year on September 7.[1] Nominees were announced at a press conference hosted byRudy Giuliani andMichael Jackson on July 25.[2] Dennis Miller was announced as host in late August.[3] The ceremony broadcast was preceded by the1995 MTV Video Music Awards Opening Act. Hosted byKurt Loder andTabitha Soren with reports fromChris Connelly,Juliette Hohnen, andAlison Stewart, the broadcast featured red carpet interviews, pre-taped features on a day withWhite Zombie and the filming ofMariah Carey's "Fantasy" music video (as well as the video's world premiere), a pre-taped interview withBob Weir, and performances fromSilverchair.
| Artist(s) | Song(s) |
|---|---|
| Pre-show | |
| Silverchair | "Tomorrow" "Pure Massacre" |
| Main show[4] | |
| Michael Jackson | Medley "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (sample) "The Way You Make Me Feel" (sample) "Scream" (sample) "Beat It" (withVincent Price's laugh from "Thriller") "Black or White"(featuringSlash) "Billie Jean" "Dangerous" (with elements of "Smooth Criminal") "You Are Not Alone" |
| Live | "I Alone" |
| TLC | CrazySexy Medley "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg" "Kick Your Game" "Creep" "Waterfalls" |
| R.E.M. | "The Wake-Up Bomb" |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers | "Warped" |
| Bon Jovi | "Helter Skelter" "Something for the Pain"[a] |
| Alanis Morissette | "You Oughta Know" |
| Hootie & the Blowfish | "Only Wanna Be with You" |
| Hole | "Violet" |
| Green Day | "Stuck with Me"[b] |
| White Zombie | "More Human than Human" |
Nominees were selected by members of the music industry. Winners in all categories, except the Viewer's Choice awards, were selected by over 700 members of the music industry.[5] Winners in the Viewer's Choice categories were selected by viewers, with the U.S. winner chosen via a phone poll conducted in the days prior to and during the ceremony.
Winners are inbold text.
| Wins | Artist |
|---|---|
| 4 | TLC |
| Weezer | |
| 3 | Janet Jackson |
| Michael Jackson | |
| 2 | The Rolling Stones |
| Nominations | Artist |
|---|---|
| 11 | Janet Jackson |
| Michael Jackson | |
| 10 | TLC |
| 9 | Green Day |
| 5 | Weezer |
| 4 | Madonna |
| Stone Temple Pilots | |
| 3 | The Rolling Stones |
| 2 | Björk |
| Boyz II Men | |
| Brandy | |
| Des'ree | |
| Hootie & the Blowfish | |
| Montell Jordan | |
| Paula Abdul | |
| Salt-n-Pepa | |
| Jill Sobule | |
| The Cranberries | |
| U2 |