1998 MTV Video Music Awards


The 1998 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 10, 1998, honoring the best music videos from June 17, 1997, to June 12, 1998. The show was hosted by Ben Stiller at Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.
Madonna was the most successful winner and nominee of the night, winning six awards out of a total nine nominations: five for "Ray of Light", including Video of the Year and Best Female Video, and one for "Frozen". Other than Madonna, only Will Smith and The Prodigy won multiple awards that night, winning two apiece.
With regard to nominations, the two biggest nominees aside from Madonna were alt-rock band Garbage and rapper Will Smith. Smith split his nominations between two videos: "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" and "Just the Two of Us", each of which earned a Moonman. In contrast, Garbage received all eight nominations for "Push It" but went home completely empty-handed at the end of the night.
The mesh dress that actress Rose McGowan wore to the award show was the subject of much media attention following the awards. The dress went on to become one of the most iconic and controversial outfits in the history of the VMA's.

Promotion

In the weeks before the awards ceremony, MTV "hacked" its own website intentionally and graffitied the words "JF Was Here" across the page, at the same time that the British hacker JF was under investigation by Scotland Yard for the milw0rm hacktivist attacks. Hundreds of pages hosted on MTV.com sported the new JF logo, including one page that read, "JF was here, greets to milw0rm". MTV later confirmed that the alleged JF "hack" was a publicity stunt to promote the appearance of a commentator named Johnny Fame at their upcoming awards show. Many were puzzled by the apparent hack committed by JF since the hacker was "known for relatively high ethical standards."

Nominations

Winners are in bold text.

Video of the Year

Madonna – "Ray of Light"
Will Smith – "Just the Two of Us"
Madonna – "Ray of Light"
Backstreet Boys – "Everybody "
Natalie Imbruglia – "Torn"
Aerosmith – "Pink"
Wyclef Jean – "Gone Till November"
Will Smith – "Gettin' Jiggy wit It"
The Prodigy – "Smack My Bitch Up"
Green Day – "Good Riddance "
Aerosmith – "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
The Prodigy – "Smack My Bitch Up"
Madonna – "Ray of Light"
Madonna – "Ray of Light"
Madonna – "Frozen"
Björk – "Bachelorette"
Madonna – "Ray of Light"
Fiona Apple – "Criminal"
Puff Daddy and the Family "

MTV Asia

Chrisye – "Kala Cinta Menggoda"
Kylie Minogue – "Did It Again"
Racionais MC's – "Diário de um Detento"
Lata Mangeshkar and Udit Narayan – "Dil To Pagal Hai"
hide with Spread Beaver – "Pink Spider"
Molotov – "Gimme Tha Power"
Molotov – "Gimme Tha Power"
Coco Lee – "Di Da Di"
Beastie Boys

Performances

Pre-show

Pre-show