The 1992 MTV Video Music Awards was a spectacle to say the least.
1992 is historically known as the year of Grunge as the genre's rise in popularity waould come to topple Hair Metal, which dominated th 80's with an iron grip. Hair Metal would get a Hard Rock punch in the face by the raw nature of Guns 'N' Roses perfect debut with Appetite for Destruction a few years before, but by 1992 G'N'R became over bloated and not to dissimilar from the very music it opposed, as both Use Your Illusions I & II fueled a massive stage production for their tour and high priced music videos that rivaled that of Michael Jackson. The Band rolled into the VMA's practically representing what was the Hair age they defied right along side of Hair Metal beloved Def Leppard and the now Hard Rock evolved Hair creators Van Halen. On the other side of the ring were the kings of the rise of alternative music, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers all representing the biggest albums of their history.
Van Halen & The Peppers dominated the night as far as winning awards, as "Right Now" took home Video of the Year, off seven nominations, and The Peppers, won the Viewer's Choice award after nine nominations for "Give It Away", and "Under the Bridge". The night came down to live performances, and the bands that stole the show were Pearl Jam's performance of "Jeremy", and Nirvana's "Lithium", which came with all the controversy. A feud between Axl Rose and Nirvana with Courtney Love, sparked backstage before the show, when Love jokingly asked Rose to be the godfather of the newly born Frances Bean Cobain, and Rose in typical Axl fashion told Cobain, to tell Courtney to shut up. A shouting match began between Love and Rose's girlfriend Stephanie Seymour, with Krist Novoselic and Duff McKagan almost coming to blows. This all took place just before Nirvana took the stage, and was revealed to the world Dave Grohl taunting Rose in the audience during their performance, that became most memorable for Krist knocking himself out with his bass guitar when he threw it in the air and it landed on his face.
G'N'R would put on their grand show of Novermber Rain, but ultimately it would be eclipsed by the high energy of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and The Chili Peppars bringing the house down by closing the show with Give It Away. By the end of the year, Hair Metal was dying a quick death on radio stations and grunge and alternative music would dominate the charts. The 92 VMA's were the perfect pulse of what was cool in rock at the time, and by the end of the night glam was no longer cool.