The 1990 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 6, 1990, honoring the best music videos from June 2, 1989, to June 1, 1990. The show was hosted by Arsenio Hall at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. This year saw the elimination of yet another one of the show's original categories, Best Stage Performance in a Video. This would turn out to be the last time an award from 1984 would be permanently eliminated (although Breakthrough Video was eliminated in 2006 and then brought back in 2009). Janet Jackson was presented the Video Vanguard Award for her contributions and influence within music and popular culture. She also performed a controversial rendition of "Black Cat", considered "her first shocking public statement." For the second year in a row, Madonna was one of the night's biggest winners, taking home three technical awards, while Sinéad O'Connor was the other most rewarded artist of 1990, also winning three Moonmen including Video of the Year. Meanwhile, most other winners that night took home two awards, including Aerosmith, Don Henley, The B-52s, Tears for Fears, and MC Hammer. Regarding nominations, Madonna also had the distinction of being the most nominated artist of the night, as her video for "Vogue" received nine nominations, making it also the most nominated video of 1990. Closely following in nominations came Aerosmith, whose video for "Janie's Got a Gun" earned eight nominations that night and took home two awards, including Viewer's Choice.

Background

MTV announced in late June that the 1990 Video Music Awards would be held on September 6 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, with Arsenio Hall returning as host. Nominees were announced on July 10. The ceremony marked the first time that MTV self-produced the awards show. The ceremony was preceded by a 90-minute preshow. Hosted by Downtown Julie Brown, Ed Lover, Doctor Dré, Ray Cokes, and Kurt Loder, the broadcast featured red carpet interviews, pre-taped features on the nominees, and interviews with Axl Rose and Jon Bon Jovi excerpted from Famous Last Words with Kurt Loder.

Performances

Presenters

Main show

Post-show

Winners and nominees

Winners are in bold text.