1984 MTV Video Music Awards


The 1984 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 14, 1984, honoring the best music videos from May 2, 1983, to May 2, 1984. The show was hosted by Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
Herbie Hancock was the night's biggest winner, taking home five awards, followed by Michael Jackson, who won three. The night's main award, though, went to The Cars for "You Might Think," making this the first of a very small number of times in which the winner of Video of the Year did not take home any other awards that night.
In terms of nominations, Hancock's "Rockit" and The Police's "Every Breath You Take" were the year's most nominated videos, with each receiving eight nominations apiece. Meanwhile, the most nominated artist of 1984 was Cyndi Lauper, who aside from winning the Best Female Video Moonman received nine nominations that year for two of her videos: six for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and three for "Time After Time."
Other major nominees that night included the aforementioned Michael Jackson and The Cars, both of whom received six nominations for their videos "Thriller" and "You Might Think," respectively; ZZ Top, who also received six nominations between their videos for "Legs," "Sharp Dressed Man," and "Gimme All Your Lovin';" and Billy Idol, who got five nominations for "Dancing with Myself" and "Eyes Without a Face." Lastly, David Bowie had four nominations for his "China Girl" and "Modern Love" videos, and he was also one of the night's honorees for the Video Vanguard award.

Nominations

Winners are in bold text.

Video of the Year

The Cars – "You Might Think"
David Bowie – "China Girl"
Cyndi Lauper – "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"
ZZ Top – "Legs"
Eurythmics – "Sweet Dreams "
Herbie Hancock – "Rockit"
Herbie Hancock – "Rockit"
Van Halen – "Jump"
'''Michael Jackson – "Thriller"
ZZ Top – "Sharp Dressed Man"
Michael Jackson – "Thriller"
Herbie Hancock – "Rockit"
Herbie Hancock – "Rockit"
Herbie Hancock – "Rockit"
The Police – "Every Breath You Take"
Michael Jackson – "Thriller"
The Beatles
David Bowie
Richard Lester

Special Recognition Award

Quincy Jones

Performances

performed "Like a Virgin" as she emerged from a 17-foot wedding cake gowned in a wedding dress. Not long into the performance, Madonna accidentally kicked off one of her white high heel shoes and she rolled around on the ground in order to cover up the mistake. She told Billboard after the incident, "So I thought, 'Well, I'll just pretend I meant to do this,' and I dove onto the floor and I rolled around". Other performances included: