The nominees for the 2020 MTV VMAs have just been announced and the list of nominees for the Best Rock category looks like a list from 2003.
The good news? Some actual rock bands with actual rock songs have been included in the list. Unfortunately, no new or up-and-coming acts have been included, but the VMAs Best Alternative category takes care of that pretty well.
Here are the nominees for both categories:
BEST ROCK
blink-182 – “Happy Days”
Coldplay – “Orphans”
Evanescence – “Wasted On You”
Fall Out Boy ft. Wyclef Jean – “Dear Future Self (Hands Up)”
Green Day – “Oh Yeah!”
The Killers – “Caution”
BEST ALTERNATIVE
The 1975 – “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)”
All Time Low – “Some Kind Of Disaster”
FINNEAS – “Let’s Fall in Love for the Night”
Lana Del Rey – “Doin’ Time”
Machine Gun Kelly – “Bloody Valentine”
twenty one pilots – “Level of Concern”
Sure, pop-punk bands are featured in both Rock and Alternative categories, with straight-up pop acts like Coldplay, Lana Del Rey and Finneas also included in both brackets, but in 2020, two full VMAs categories that feature rock bands is a win.
The VMAs also showed blink-182’s “Happy Days” some love in their COVID-era Best Music Video From Home category, while Yungblud received a nod for Best New Artist.
Just for reference, in 2003, blink-182 hit new heights with their self-titled album, Evanescence released their breakout Fallen, the Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” hit mainstream radio, Fall Out Boy released Take This to Your Grave, Coldplay were out promoting A Rush of Blood to the Head and Green Day were in the studio recording their monumental comeback album, American Idiot.
Voting for all 15 gender-neutral categories is now underway at the official VMAs website. Voting will close on Aug. 23 for each category except Best New Artist, which closes Aug. 30. The VMAs will air on Aug. 30 from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
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