The Ten Best VMA Performances Of All Time
By Ani Bundel
10. Madonna, “Like a Virgin” (1984)
We’ll start here, with Madonn’as first performance. Madonna made the VMAs. Like Kelly Clarkson made American Idol, if it wasn’t for Madge coming out and doing this, the show might not have entered with the same splash. It caused jaws to drop all over the place. Without it, going forward, the VMAs might have been quite different.
Instead with one BoyToy cheap wedding dress costume and a whole lot of rolling about on the floor that belie the claims that Madonna was a good dancer when she started her career, this became the first defining moment of the VMAs. For the record, it made Madonna’s career as well. She knows it too, and it’s part of why she has performed at the VMAs almost more than any other artist in history over the four decades since it was conceived.
Next: Rihanna, “Disturbia”/ “Seven Nation Army” (2008)