The 23 Best Musical Performances In MTV Movie Awards History
At this year's MTV Movie Awards, we'll all get to watch Fall Out Boy take the stage with a song from their latest album, "American Beauty/American Psycho." Pete Wentz and the gang won't just be there to rock out, though -- they'll be joining a long legacy of talented artists (and also some actors here and there) who've performed as part of the Movie Award festivities every year, from Wiz Khalifa to Kelly Osbourne.
Let's take a look back at some of the most memorable performances of Movie Awards gone by, starting with:
The Village People, "My MTV" Medley (1993)
Back when the Village People were stil kinda relevant, they put together a medley of all their classic songs with the words rewritten for the MTV Movie Award Audience -- "In The Movies (In The Navy)," "Psycho Bitch (Macho Man)," & "My MTV (Y.M.C.A)." Try to imagine The Village People singing a song called "Psycho Bitch," though. Like, just picture it in your had.
Will Smith, "Wild Wild West" (1999)
Terrible movie, catchy song, AWESOME performance. Come on, like this didn't make you wish you were a steampunk western dancer for at least a hot second.
t.A.t.U. - "Not Gonna Get Us" & "All The Things She Said" (2003)
So what if they were faking being lesbians as a publicity stunt? This performance, which ended with hundreds of schoolgirls dancing around in their underwear and kissing each other, was pretty dang groundbreaking at the time.
Emma Stone and Jason Sudeikis, "Unofficial Movie Theme Songs" (2011)
Brooklyn Decker's boobs finally got the recognition they've always deserved.
Eminem, “Ass Like That”/“Mockingbird” (2005)
Marshall Mathers settled his infamous beef with Triumph The Insult Comic Dog the best way he knows how: by impersonating the puppet, messing with Lindsay Lohan, and then dancing with a bunch of puppets while spouting incredibly offensive lyrics. And somehow, it wasn't weird when he segued into a sad song about his daughter.
Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg, “California Girls” (2010)
Way back before Hilary Duff and Kylie Jenner and Amber Rose all went blue, Katy Perry was making the weird hair color work like a champion.
The Ramones, "Best Song From a Movie" Nominees medley (1995)
Okay, maaaaaybe all the songs sounded the same when The Ramones played 'em, because that's kind of their thing. But at least they were all TOTALLY punk rock. You've never heard "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" like this before, trust us.
The Lonely Island medley (2009)
Never forget that time Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker sang operatically about putting his di-- in a box, America. EVER.
twenty one pilots - “Car Radio” (2014)
The song is already our jam, but the haunting white masks everyone in the audience is wearing (which is from the band's video for this song) really makes the performance something really special.
Amy Winehouse, "Rehab" (2007)
It's no secret that the late superstar's sudden fame was getting to her in 2007 -- Amy barely even made it to the Movie Awards to sing. Fortunately for all of us, she was able to get there and give a knockout performance.
TLC, "Waterfalls” (1995)
What could make “Waterfalls” better than it already is? Having a group of actors act out the lyrics in real time while TLC sings in front of an actual waterfall, duh.
Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy” (2006)
Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse brought on an entire band full of “Star Wars” cosplayers for their performance, complete with Boba Fett on piano, Stormtroopers on bass and rhythm, a rebel X-Wing pilot choir, and Chewbacca on drums.
Kelly Osbourne, "Papa Don't Preach" (2002)
Piggybacking off the fame her family's reality show had gotten her earlier that year, Kelly turned an entire generation of preteens onto pop punk (AND Madonna) with one fell hair-swoop.
Beastie Boys - "Ch-Check It Out" (2004)
Special shout out to Ashton Kutcher for introducing the band by reciting the lyrics to "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" via a... pager. Man, were we stil using those in 2005?
Christina Aguilera, “Bionic Medley” (2010)
Christina paid homage to her then-recent success on ‘The Voice’ by starting off her incredible performance turning around in a giant red chair — and it only got more awesome from there.
Aziz Ansari, “A Tribute to Avatar” (2011)
R. Kelly was going to rap about "Avatar" but missed his flight, so host Aziz Ansari had to graciously step in and take over -- and the entire world is better for it.
Wiz Khalifa, “Work Hard, Play Hard” (2012)
Now, THERE’s a party we all wanted to attend -- and because of the way the camera followed Wiz around the stage as he performed, we DID kind of feel like we were
Whitney Houston, "Why Does It Hurt So Bad" (1996)
Everybody talks about her iconic National Anthem at the Super Bowl, but Whitney was always better live than she was on her studio recordings, and this amazing performance is no exception. Proof that all you need to blow everybody away is a chair, a sparkly white outfit, and raw unstoppable talent.
Ed Helms and Ken Jeong, “Stu’s Song” (2011)
The song Ed Helms sings in "The Hangover" is already something special, but Ken Jeong doing an interpretive dance dressed in a tiger leotard is what elevates this performance to classic status.
Rihanna and Jay Z, “Umbrella” (2007)
Eat your heart out, Gene Kelly — Rihanna and Jay Z took the whole “Singin’ in the Rain’ aesthetic and cranked it up to 11 together. BRB, gonna go fight the urge not to chop all my hair off into the same bob she’s sporting.
NSYNC - "It's Gonna Be Me" (2000)
Sweet baby cornrows! The boys rocked the house with their trademark "pretending to be action figures" gimmick.
The cast of "Pitch Perfect" (2013)
Every single thing about this performance was aca-mazing. Too bad Anna Kendrick couldn’t make it, but thankfully Rebel Wilson, Syklar Astin and the rest of the "Pitch Perfect" crew rocked the house in her absence. With nunchucks!
P!nk, L'il Kim, Mya, Christina Aguilara –“Moulin Rouge” (2001)
Words cannot express how much of a game changer this was back in the day. Not only was it a near-perfect rendition of the hit "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack number -- which topped the Billboard charts for nine weeks back in 2011, far longer than any other all-female group has done before or since -- but it also bended almost every genre possible. You like hip-hop and pop punk? Let's have Lil Kim and P!nk on a single together. Into Victoria Secret and also "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea?" These ladies basically invented the steampunk burlesque aesthetic. That's why they're the best -- and why we can't wait to see if the musical acts this year will try to top their performance.
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