Anything Can Happen At VMAs

The MTV Video Music Awards made a return of sorts to its rock roots August 28th in Miami, as Green Day‘s American Idiot and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” dominated with seven wins out of eight nominations. Gwen Stefani, Kelly Clarkson, Missy Elliott, and Gorillaz each picked up two moon men – the only other artists with multiple wins.

Though lacking the sort of shock value quality of past shows, the VMAs produced more than their share of flash, if not substance, with newly re-renamed Sean “Diddy” Combs hosting and doing his best to upstage the nominated artists throughout the show.

“The theme of tonight is, anything can happen,” proclaimed Diddy, whose entrance included dancers, pyrotechnics and a cascading waterfall – a spectacle that rivaled the show’s actual performances.

Unfortunately, the biggest things that happened came before the curtain was raised, and one even mirrored the VMA’s overall water theme.

The annual bash was briefly overshadowed by Hurricane Katrina, which hit southern Florida a few days earlier before taking aim at the Gulf Coast.

As the storm passed Miami, a celebratory mood took over the city – until early August 28th, when rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight was targeted by gunfire at a Kanye West party.

Knight was shot in the leg and scheduled for surgery at a Miami hospital; his lawyers would not release his condition, which was not expected to be life-threatening.

Green Day, who arrived at the venue in the vintage green convertible from the “Boulevard” video, picked up the hardware in most of the major categories including video of the year, best group video, best rock video and viewers’ choice, plus a slew of technical nods.

Missy Elliott’s two moon men were for best hip-hop video and best dance video, while Clarkson’s were in best female video and best pop video categories.

Stefani scored wins for best choreography and art direction while the animated Gorillaz won for breakthrough video and best special effects.

The Killers won for best new artist.

“I thought we were going to win best rock video, but you just can’t beat those Green Day people,” Killers frontman Brandon Flowers said after the show.

Fall Out Boy won the MTV2 award for its song “Sugar, We’re Going Down.”

In recent years, hip-hop and pop have dominated the show, especially in the major categories. Not this year: Kanye West was the only rapper to win an “all genre” award, with his “Jesus Walks” taking best male video.