2024 VMA Rock Noms Are For the Dads
The MTV Video Music Awards announced their 2024 nominations, and the VMA rock noms are very Dad-coded. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
The “Best Rock” nominees are:
Bon Jovi – “Legendary”
Coldplay – “feelslikeimfallinginlove”
Green Day – “Dilemma”
Kings of Leon – “Mustang”
Lenny Kravitz – “Human”
U2 – “Atomic City”
Again, there’s nothing wrong at all with these nominees, but it is rather surprising that MTV is recognizing such seasoned acts, especially since it’s been years since some of these bands have received a VMA nomination. U2, for example, was last nominated in 2009. Oddly enough, it was for the category “Best Video (That Should Have Won a Moonman),” which was seemingly created to honor iconic videos of the past. (If you care at all, U2 was nominated in that category for “Where the Streets Have No Name,” but they lost out to the classic “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys.)
Even though Coldplay, Green Day, Kings of Leon and Lenny Kravitz could easily fall under the “Dad Rock” moniker, each of those acts has nabbed at least one or more nominations within the past five years. Coldplay’s last VMA nomination was in 2022 for “Best Visual Effects” for “My Universe,” which featured K-pop giants BTS. However, they lost to Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow’s “Industry Baby.”
Green Day’s last VMA nomination came in 2020 in the “Best Rock” category for “Oh Yeah!” They ended up losing to Coldplay’s “Orphans,” so good for Coldplay!)
Kings of Leon and Kravitz both received their last VMA nomination in 2021 in the “Best Rock” category for “The Bandit” and “Raise Vibration,” respectively, but they both lost to John Mayer’s “Last Train Home.”
Perhaps the most shocking nomination in the “Best Rock” category is for Bon Jovi. The last VMA honor the band won was the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in 1991. (Shocking, right?!) They didn’t even get a nomination for “It’s My Life,” which was and is a great song and video, but in 2000-01, the world was still all up in boy bands and nu metal, so the oversight sort of makes sense.
Before that, they were nominated for three VMAs in 1987. They won one VMA from that ceremony for “Best Stage Performance in a Video” for “Livin’ on a Prayer,” which still holds up today.
While it’s highly unlikely “Best Rock” will be presented during the broadcast, the 2024 MTV VMAs are taking place on Tuesday, September 10. Fans can vote for who they think should win at MTV.com.
