The VMAs: Best and Worst Moments (Mostly the Worst)

"The VMA's. One day a year when MTV pretends to still care about music," Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine posted on Twitter.

That was how many felt as they watched the VMAs on Sunday.  Needless to say, the cast of the Jersey Shore were in attendance as if they had some sort of relevance to music. But in the end I suppose the cast has the last laugh -- MTV airs their show all day instead of music videos.

After observing Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj's ridiculous outfits, it seemed as though they were not only competing for a Moonman, but also who could dress more like Lady Gaga. This seems to be the general theme in recent years at all award shows.

To everyone's surprise, Gaga decided to open the show dressed as male alter-ego, Jo Calderone, with a cockamamie five-minute monologue that most people didn't seem to even understand. She redeemed herself with an exceptional performance of "You and I" featuring Queen guitarist Brian May, but as many expected the shtick to end after her performance...It didn't.

Gaga presented Britney Spears with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award after an insipid tribute, in which MTV clearly made little effort. Gaga, still in character as Jo Calderone, awkwardly did not leave the microphone at first for Britney to make her speech. When it was finally Britney's turn to speak, her very brief acceptance speech quickly turned into reading the teleprompter to introduce Beyonce. It was at that point Beyonce performed, revealing her baby bump, and just like that everyone forgot about Britney Spears.

One of the few memorable performances was when Adele nailed "Someone Like You." That girl has some raw talent and is living proof there's room for women with actual talent in mainstream music.

Last time I checked, part of a singer's performance required singing. Chris Brown barely made any attempt whatsoever to even lip-sync! Are there really that many simpletons out there that believe that his excellent dancing negates the fact he isn't singing? This is not Dancing With the Stars.

REUTERS

Then there was an actual real, deserving tribute--Russell Brand made a very lovely speech about Amy Winehouse. "When a talent like Amy Winehouse comes along, it effects everybody," he said. "And as a consequence, we are drawn to her." Tony Bennett then showed footage from recording a duet with Amy, which was followed by Bruno Mars' performance of "Valerie."


As expected, the popularity vote kicked in once again at the VMAs as Katy Perry accepted the award for Video of the Year, beating out Lady Gaga, Adele and a few other artists that were clearly more deserving. "I feel like I'm doing something right when I sing this song," Katy said. Well, she's not singing right in tune, that's for sure.

The show ended with quite a pointless performance by Lil Wayne. He began with "How to Love" in an auto-tuned speaking voice--a pathetic attempt at singing. As much as I would have loved to hear Lil Wayne degrade women while simultaneously having his pants fall to the ground, the majority of his second song "John" was silence due to MTV editing out cursing.

As always, the VMAs prove to be currently one of the most insignificant music award shows with no credibility whatsoever.

Also see: VMA Preshow Revolves Around 'Jersey Shore'
Also see:  Tyler The Moron at the VMAs

Here's a full list of all VMA winners:

Video of the Year: Katy Perry - "Firework"
Best Female Video: Lady Gaga - "Born This Way"
Best Male Video: Justin Bieber - "U Smile"
Best Collaboration: Katy Perry featuring Kanye West - "E.T."
Best Hip-Hop Video: Nicki Minaj - "Super Bass"
Best New Artist: Tyler The Creator - "Yonkers"
Best Rock Video: Foo Fighters - "Walk"
Best Pop Video: Britney Spears - "Till the World Ends"
Best Video With A Message: Lady Gaga - "Born This Way"
Best Choreography: Beyoncé - "Run the World (Girls)"
Best Visual Effects: Katy Perry featuring Kanye West - "E.T."
Best Art Direction: Adele - "Rolling in the Deep"
Best Editing: Adele - "Rolling in the Deep"
Best Cinematography: Adele - "Rolling in the Deep"

Beyonce performing "Love On Top"

Adele performing "Someone Like You"

Russell Brand and Tony Bennett pay tribute to Amy Winehouse.