We on Award Tour - 2006 MTV Video Music Awards Nominations

A day before their twenty-fifth birthday, which I’m sure they will celebrate with a marathon of The Hills rather than break out Thriller one more time, MTV has announced it’s nominations for its annual Video Music Awards. For most of its existence, the award show was ground breaking and even influenced older one. But lately it has just been a forum for artists to hype their latest endeavors. But with all the complaints, I’ll surely be turning in this year much like I have since I first got cable.

Even though the nominees were announced today, there is still no word on a host yet. You’d think after the debacle two years ago where they were host-less, they wouldn’t let that happen again even if that meant bringing in the unfunny Jimmy Fallon one more time. And after the poor performance the extremely boring Diddy last year that they would throw all their money in the budget at Chris Rock for one more go around. But some performers have already been confirm with Justin Timberlake who may or may not have the first dude on dude kiss in VMA history with former boy bander Lance Bass. Oh wait; Ben Affleck and Kevin Smith already did that, never mind then. Also scheduled are The Killers, Beyoncé, Ludacris, T.I., and five time nominee Panic! at the Disco, you know, that band with that horrible song and cheesy Ringling Brothers in a church video, they got more nominations than everyone but Shakira and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And there wasn’t even a new category for band that best ripped off Fall Out Boy’s sound. The Raconteurs will provide the soundtrack for the event, not that I have a clue what that means, are they the house band or something?

In an odd change in VMA format, you actually have a chance to vote this year. This was put near the end of the press release from MTV with little explanation. So I’m not sure if the fans have total control or if we get one vote total. Either way, I this is a bad idea to end all bad ideas because as a wise man once said, “The world is full a stupid people.” So the winner won’t be the ones that deserve it rather those who have fans with absolutely no lives who have nothing better to do than sit on the internet and vote all day. But if you would like to vote, head over to the MTV website. Now on to the nominations for the awards that will be handed out August 31 (if you are interested in buying the video, click the song name where available in iTunes, if you just want the song, click the artist's name):


Video of the Year
Christina Aguilera: Ain't No Other Man
Madonna: Hung Up
Panic! at the Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

Who Will Win: Dani California
Who Should Win: Hips Don’t Lie
Should Have Been Nominated: Gnarls Barkley: Crazy

I already stressed my dislike for Panic! and another head scratcher is Madonna. How does a chick on the wrong side of forty in a leotard get a Video of the Year nomination? And it wasn’t even a down year as Crazy, Gold Digger, Wake Me up When September Ends, Doesn’t Remind Me by Audioslave could have been in here.


Best Male Video
Busta Rhymes f/ Mary J. Blige, Rah Digga, Missy Elliott, Lloyd Banks, Papoose & DMX: Touch It (Remix)
James Blunt: You're Beautiful
Kanye West f/ Jamie Foxx: Gold Digger
Nick Lachey: What's Left of Me
T.I.: What You Know

Who Will Win: Kanye West
Who Should Win: Kanye West
Should Have Been Nominated: Jack Johnson: Upside Down

A poor category, they didn’t even nominate the right Busta Rhymes video (should have been My Chick). Then throw out the two wusses and the Antoine Merriwether look alike, and the only worthy video here is Kanye.


Best Female Video
Christina Aguilera: Ain't No Other Man
Kelly Clarkson: Because of You
Madonna: Hung Up
Nelly Furtado f/ Timbaland: Promiscuous
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

Who Will Win: Ain’t No Other Man
Who Should Win: Hips Don’t Lie
Should Have Been Nominated: Fiona Apple: Not About Love

Again with the old chick in the leotard, but she doesn’t have chance anyways. Nice to see two dudes in the Best Female Category like in previous years. Clarkson’s daddy issues video and is too depressing to win (Walk Away should have been here instead), so between the two hot chicks and the drag queen I’ll go with the best hip shaker to win (although the drag queen will win).


Best Group Video
The All-American Rejects: Move Along
Fall Out Boy: Dance, Dance
Gnarls Barkley: Crazy
Panic! at the Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California

Who Will Win: Dani California
Who Should Win: Crazy
Should Have Been Nominated: Death Cab for Cutie: Soul Meets Body

Death Cab for Cutie released two great videos in the past year yet neither got any love, except from me. I’m convinced that Panic! and Fall Out Boy are actually the same band so they cancel each other out so I think muck like the old guard Green Day were the big winner last year, the Red Hot Chili Pepper will get it this year.


Best Rap Video
50 Cent: Window Shopper
Busta Rhymes f/ Mary J. Blige, Rah Digga, Missy Elliott, Lloyd Banks, Papoose & DMX: Touch It (Remix)
Chamillionaire: Ridin'
T.I.: What You Know
Yung Joc f/ Nitty: It's Goin' Down

Who Will Win: What You Know
Who Should Win: Nothing

First off, there’s a rapper named Nitty? If you are on a song with some dude named Young Joc and you have the wussier name, that’s not a good sign. But anyways. It’s been five years since they introduced the Best Hip-Hop Video award but I still have no idea what the difference between these two awards yet. None of these videos or songs are any good so like my mom told me, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.” So I’ll just go to the next category.


Best R&B Video
Beyoncé f/ Slim Thug: Check on It
Chris Brown: Yo (Excuse Me Miss)
Jamie Foxx f/ Ludacris: Unpredictable
Mariah Carey: Shake It Off
Mary J. Blige: Be Without You

Who Will Win: Check on It
Who Should Win: Be Without You
Should Have Been Nominated: Prince: Black Sweet

Another pretty sad category with only Mary J. the only thing worth watching here. Remember the good old days when there weren’t any rappers in R&B videos? No? Well it has been a long time.


Best Hip-Hop Video
Black Eyed Peas: My Humps
Common: Testify
Daddy Yankee: Rompe
Kanye West f/ Jamie Foxx: Gold Digger
Three 6 Mafia: Stay Fly

Who Will Win: Gold Digger
Who Should Win: Testify
Should Have Been Nominated: Heard ‘em Say: Kanye West &Adam Levine

Um, the Black Eyed Peas are considered hip-hop? Yeah, okay. Kanye will run away with this award anyways, but Testify had a much more entertaining storyline with actual actors, not just eye candy. In all actuality though, Kanye could have been nominated three times over here.


Best Dance Video
Madonna: Hung Up
Nelly Furtado f/ Timbaland: Promiscuous
Pussycat Dolls f/ Snoop Dogg: Buttons
Sean Paul: Temperature
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

Who Will Win: Hips Don’t Lie
Who Should Win: Temperature

Two of the video don’t even want to make me dance (Madonna, Pussycat Dolls) and it’s odd that the other ones were all featured in a cell phone commercial (good marketing ploy though because I can’t remember which one) so I’d give this to Sean Paul solely because of the bowling dude in his ad.


Best Rock Video
30 Seconds to Mars: The Kill
AFI: Miss Murder
Green Day: Wake Me up When September Ends
Panic! at the Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California

Who Will Win: Dani California
Who Should Win: Wake Me up When September Ends
Should Have Been Nominated: Pearl Jam: Life Wasted

Holy Jared Leto sighting! How did he sneak in here? Looking at these nominations, it looks like rock is truly dead. Where’s Pearl Jam, U2 or Snow Patrol? Seriously, will anyone care about Leto, AFI or Panic! in a year or two? Well at least there was no Nickelback.


Best Pop Video
Christina Aguilera: Ain't No Other Man
Madonna: Hung Up
Nelly Furtado f/ Timbaland: Promiscuous
Pink: Stupid Girls
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

Who Will Win: Hips Don’t Lie
Who Should Win: Hips Don’t Lie

Wait, isn’t this the same as the Best Female Video? Although why switch in Pink for Kelly Clarkson?


Best New Artist in a Video
Angels and Airwaves: The Adventure
Avenged Sevenfold: Bat Country
Chris Brown f/ Juelz Santana, Run It!
James Blunt: You're Beautiful
Panic! at the Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Rihanna: S.O.S.

Who Will Win: S.O.S.
Who Should Win: None
Should Have Been Nominated: Crazy

S.O.S. is the best video here, but I swear Rihanna was nominated in this category last year, so I refuse to put my support behind it. The rest of the nominees are all contenders for making my Worst Songs of 2006 list.


Viewer’s Choice
Chris Brown f/ Juelz Santana: Run It!
Fall Out Boy: Dance, Dance
Kelly Clarkson: Because of You
Rihanna: S.O.S.
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

Who Will Win: Dance, Dance
Who Should Win: Hips Don’t Lie
Should Have Been Nominated: Crazy

Again, this award typically goes to the artists whose fans are the biggest losers, so naturally Fall Out Boy will win. Oddly, the only category you cannot vote on as I write this is this one. All in all, this viewer chooses Gnarls Barkley as the best video of the past year. And not that I miss it, but what happened to the MTV2 award?


Best Direction in a Video
10 Years: Wasteland (Director: Christopher Sims)
AFI: Miss Murder (Director: Marc Webb)
Common: Testify (Director: Anthony Mandler)
Gnarls Barkley: Crazy (Director: Robert Hales)
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California (Director: Tony Kaye)

Who Will Win: Dani California
Who Should Win: Testify

Testify could win a short film award, it’s that good. But in a measure of full discloser, I’ve never heard of 10 Years, let alone seen their video.


Best Choreography in a Video
Christina Aguilera: Ain't No Other Man
Madonna: Hung Up
Pussycat Dolls f/ Snoop Dogg: Buttons
Sean Paul: Temperature
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

Who Will Win: Hung Up
Who Should Win: Hips Don’t Lie

Déjà vu all over again as these videos were all nominated in the Best Dance Video category too. I’m sure Madonna will get one of these awards just to get her to show up and more out with more video hofessionals bevause that was that last time anyone actually talked about the VMA’s aside from how bad they were.


Best Special Effects in a Video
Angels and Airwaves: The Adventure
Beck: Hell Yes
Missy Elliott: We Run This
Pearl Jam: Life Wasted
U2: Original of the Species

Who Will Win: Life Wasted
Who Should Win: Original of the Species
Should Have Been Nominated: Crazy

A hard one between U2, Pearl Jam and Beck (which I though was last year though), but how was the Rorschach inspired Crazy not get a nod?


Best Art Direction in a Video
10 Years: Wasteland
Common: Testify
Panic! at the Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California
Shakira f/ Wyclef Jean: Hips Don't Lie

I think I’ll just end the commentary here because I don’t really care about the technical awards and I didn’t play any of the video games, but again, the awards will be handed out on August 31.


Best Editing in a Video
The All-American: Move Along
Angels and Airwaves: The Adventure
Gnarls Barkley: Crazy
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California
U2: Original of the Species


Best Cinematography in a Video
AFI: Miss Murder
Ashlee Simpson: Invisible
James Blunt: You're Beautiful
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California
Prince: Black Sweat

Okay one more comment: seriously, Ashlee Simpson?


Best Video Game Soundtrack
Final Night Round 3 (Electronic Arts)
Burnout Revenge (Electronic Arts)
NBA 2K6 (2K Games)
Driver: Parallel Lines (Atari)
Mark Ecko's Getting Up (Atari)


Best Video Game Score
Hitman: Blood Money (Jesper Kyd)
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Tom Salta)
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (Even Magnet Johansen)
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Jeremy Soule)
Electroplankton (User Generated Soundtrack)

I've Been Hurt by My Past but I Feel the Future

One of the best debut albums this decade was Nelly Furtado’s Whoa Nelly! Yeah, it was a little uneven at times but when she was on, it was great like with Turn out the Light. The mix of techno and pop was refreshing at a time that overproduced music was being overexposed. Then for her next album, Nelly went more introspective and stripped down for her follow up Folklore which was wrongfully overlooked.

But after hearing the new single, Promiscuous, it sounds like as if Nelly has done a complete one-eighty from the introspective stripped down songs from her last album instead going for of a hip-hop influenced album for her latest album Loose. And how do you spot a hip-hop album, you might ask, well it’s as simple as looking at the track list and count up the songs that are “featuring” someone as this album features more artist than her last two combined (for those keeping track at home, it would be 3-0 and that doesn’t include the bonus track and the pulled before the album went to press track featuring the dude from Coldplay). Another tell tale sign is in the production as in addition to her usual production team of Track and Field, Nelly brought in uber-producers Timbaland and Pharrell of the Neptunes as well as Scott Storch, the hip-hop producer rappers go to when they can’t afford Dr. Dre.

Much has been made of Nelly’s new sound biting that of Gwen Stefani’s solo effort of 80’s dance music meets 00’s hip-hop beats and for most of the first half album most notable on the upbeat Glow and the slow jam Showtime but Do It is vintage Madonna circa Holiday. Although I think Promiscuous is less Hollaback Girl (or My Humps for that matter) and has more of a lineage to 90’s rap classic, I Got a Man. But the problem with these songs is they are clearly disposable and will fall into obscurity within a couple years and will be forgotten until Hal Sparks waxes poetic about them on I Love the 00’s.

Sadly Maneater isn’t a cover of the Hall and Oates classic and really that’s all I have to say about that song.

Then in the middle of the album Nelly switches gears and goes to her roots with the Spanish influenced No Hay Igual which should be heard coming from every bar down in South Beach this summer or from every campaign bus of politicians trying to court the Hispanic vote in the midterm elections. Nelly then duets with Latin superstar Juanes for Te Busque. Oddly enough there is a bonus Spanish Version at the end of the album although its title isn’t in English. Then Say it Right has Cuban drum beats that would make Shakira jealous.

Nelly then ends the album with the types of songs that peppered Folklore though none hit the emotional high that Try did. In God’s Hand lays it on pretty thick. But she does much better with All Good Things (Come to an End) co-written with the dude from Coldplay but this one was left on the album. Wait for You sounds like something from the Whoa Nelly! era. Loose is a decent mix of old and new, but hopefully on her next album, Nelly lays off the disposable pop that liters the front half of the album.

Song to Download - Promiscuous

Loose gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Am I Throwing You Off?

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I though I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. I advise you to watch them before you read my reviews if you don’t want me to spoil things. (If you want to buy the video, the title goes to iTunes if available, inside the description goes to the song where you can buy.)


Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado featuring Timberland



Before I talk about the video, let me say little word about the song first. It seems like every time someone mentions this song they make a My Humps or Hollaback Girl comparison, but I think that’s totally unwarranted. With the He Said/She Said back and forth, Promiscuous the song is actually an off shoot of the 90’s rap classic I Got a Man. Now about the video I could talk about how hot Nelly Furtado is or the inexplicable Justin Timberlake appearance, but instead I want to talk about Timberland. If rap had a drug policy, Timberland would be slapped with a 50 day suspension by now. Dude makes Big Head Barry look like Barry Bonds circa when I Got a Man was popular. Oh and Nelly: I’d repect that if you let me hit it (I love the wiggle she does when she says that line) and what’s with JT being in the video?


I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie



This video hasn’t made its way to YouTube yet, so you will have to click over to Yahoo’s video section to see it. I Will Follow You Into the Dark is quite possibly the most romantic song ever about death. As for the video, I’m sure there is some deep meaning into the hole in the floor, oh, wait, it’s the “dark” referred in the song. I get it now.


Boston - Augustana



There was some confusion when I added this song to my latest mixtape. Boston is the song name, not the group that brought us More Than a Feeling. The video is pretty cool too and I love how the tide coming in syncs up to the crescendo of the song.


Rollin' with Saget - Jamie Kennedy



I have been meaning to check out Blowin' Up, but I somehow always seem to miss it as MTV because they have been showing the least interesting chick from Laguna Beach new show ad nasium. But after see the video for Rollin' with Saget, I may have to hunt it down. I hope you caught cameos by Uncle Jesse, George Lucas, and Tara Reid as Paris Hilton (and no, I won’t be showing her horrible new video anytime soon).


Crazy - Gnarls Barkley




Yeah, I could have shown the uber-cool Rorschach Test version of Crazy, but c’mon, it’s Chewbacca on the drums.

And just a reminder, Lyrics Quiz tomorrow, and as a hint, have you lighters ready.