Your Take: Music Award Moments
The Canadian Country Music Association announced its nominees for this year on Wednesday, which got me thinking about music awards shows and their potential for memorable (and infamous) musical moments.
Beyond the awards themselves, these shows offer viewers once-in-a-lifetime collaborations, historic legendary achievement awards, jokes from Vince Gill and questionable lapses of judgement (cough, cough, Faith Hill).
There have been many award shows that stand out to me over the years, but none so much as the 1999 Country Music Association awards broadcast when Alan Jackson pulled a fast one on the show’s organizers in protest of his country music hero not being allowed a full song worth of air time. The New York Times recounts what happened:
This is how it went down:
As the hours ticked closer to 7 p.m, when the Country Music Association awards were scheduled to be broadcast live on CBS, Alan Jackson, a solidly built 6 foot 4 country star of few words, sat in his tour bus outside the Grand Ole Opry debating with his band. He had planned to perform his new single, a version of the Jim Ed Brown drinking song ”Pop a Top.” But in the back of his mind he had another idea: George Jones, his friend and one of country’s greatest living musicians, had been snubbed by the awards show. And Mr. Jackson wanted to do something about it.
Mr. Jones’s comeback hit, ”Choices,” had been nominated as best single, and he was asked to sing an excerpt for the broadcast. But he declined to appear unless, like many younger performers on the show, he could do the whole song. When the producers would not relent, Mr. Jones stayed home.
So Mr. Jackson told his band he was considering stopping ”Pop a Top” halfway through and segueing into ”Choices” to protest the way Nashville treats its living legends. Yet he warned his band that he might change his mind, especially if others brought up the George Jones controversy.
As is typical in the world of country music, where even stars step carefully for fear of rocking the boat, no one had spoken a word about Mr. Jones when it came time for Mr. Jackson to perform. As Mr. Jackson and the band walked onstage, they still were not sure what they would do.
”We were all so nervous,” Mr. Jackson said recently, sitting in a converted garage on his Nashville estate and recalling that evening in September. ”The guitarist had this solo in the middle of ”Pop a Top,’ and the song sort of modulates up at the end of the solo. I signaled to him that we were going to do it, and he just stopped. I looked over at him and he was sweating. The boy looked like he was going to bite his lip off. Then I hit that C chord to start ‘Choices.’ ”
Slowly, as it dawned on the audience what Mr. Jackson had done, applause rang out in the hall. By the end the audience was on its feet, giving him a standing ovation.
There’s a clip of the song available here, and the stunt is also a part of one of the Country Music Hall of Fame’s video exhibits. What struck me the most was the way he walked off stage. You never see the artist leave the set after they’ve finished; they usually just stand there, nod and bask in the applause as the announcer carries the show out to a commercial break. Jackson leaves the microphone with a purpose and reportedly walked straight through the backstage press area and onto his bus to leave, before issuing this statement through a spokeswoman: “Alan said that had George Jones died there, there would have been a 10-minute tribute to him on the show,” West said. “But he lived, and they wouldn’t give him three minutes.”
What is your favorite music awards moment?
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August 1, 2009 at 9:17 am Permalink
Amen to Alan Jackson’s performance of Choices during that particular broadcast! It was one bold move from the Georgian and his career DID NOT suffer because of it. As far as a memory from an awards show, what about that infamous red dress that Reba McEntire wore at the 1993 CMA Awards. Her career DID NOT suffer either!
August 1, 2009 at 9:56 am Permalink
I’d give that Jackson moment the #2 slot.
For me, his performance of “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?” in 2001 HAS to be #1. It was only a month or so after 9/11, no one had ever heard the song before. I remember watching it and truly understanding why I loved country music so much.
August 1, 2009 at 10:12 am Permalink
I remember watching Jackson singing “Choices” thinking that he’d just destroyed his career. I was glad to be proven wrong.
I have to agree with Numberonecountryfan, that Reba’s red dress has to be THE most memorable awards show moment that I can think of. Long before the term “wardrobe malfunction” entered the vernacular, CBS might have incurred an FCC fine if this had happened a decade or so later.
Coincidentally, a video clip of the infamous red dress is scheduled to be posted at My Kind of Country this afternoon, for anyone who’s interested in reliving the moment. (Seriously, we picked it out days ago!)
August 1, 2009 at 10:24 am Permalink
That’s really good, but few things could top the CMAs in the mid 1970s when Charlie Rich announced John Denver as either Male Vocalist or Entertainer of the year and then lit the card on fire.
That spoke volumes.
August 1, 2009 at 10:34 am Permalink
Yeah, because Charlie Rich was such a hard-core honky tonk traditionalist.
My favorite moment was the entire country segment of the Grammy awards show held in early 1997, which consisted of 1) Vince Gill with Alison Krauss & Union Station performing the bluegrass version of “High Lonesome Sound” from his album of the same name; 2) Patty Loveless singing an acoustic version of her then-current single (drawing a blank on what it was), accompanied by Vince and Alison’n'em; 3) a spoken tribute to the recently-deceased BIll Monroe from Vince followed by 4) a performance by the entire ensemble of “Working On A Building.”
August 1, 2009 at 10:38 am Permalink
I love these answers. They take me back to those times.
August 1, 2009 at 10:46 am Permalink
The only two that really stand out for me were the CMA award years in which Tennessee Ernie Ford and Cindy Walker were inducted into the COuntry Music Hall of Fame.
When Ford was inducted, the inductees were not informed in advance which made it much more interesting than it is today
August 1, 2009 at 10:55 am Permalink
Well the first one that comes to my mind (and was already mentioned) is Reba’s infamous red dress. Other top moments include Cindy Walker’s Hall of Fame induction speech (thanks for the reminder, Paul) and Trisha Yearwood’s CMA performance of “Where Are You Now” with Kim Richey and Mary Chapin Carpenter.
August 1, 2009 at 11:09 am Permalink
One that comes to mind for me is the 1996 American Music Awards.
Garth Brooks won favorite artist of the year, but refused the award and walked off stage, leaving the trophy at the podium. After the show he said he didn’t deserve it and he thought it should have gone to Hootie & the Blowfish.
August 1, 2009 at 12:18 pm Permalink
The one time CW, CMT and TNN did an awards show together, I was privileged to be in the audience when Chris LeDoux performed eight months after getting a liver transplant. The big moment came when he rode a mechanical bull onstage at the end of the song. It was pretty awesome.
August 1, 2009 at 1:12 pm Permalink
Paul, the Cindy Walker moment was great. If I remember correctly, she wore the dress her mother bought for her years before. Here’s the recap from 1997. I’ve been a big fan of Alan Jackson’s for a long time (Here In The Real World was the first tape I bought), and I had a ton of respect for him just walking off the stage. I think it was more of a surprise because it was ALAN JACKSON thumbing his nose at the establishment.
August 1, 2009 at 5:22 pm Permalink
I have much respect for Alan Jackson standing up for what he believes in. I think it’s great when anyone who carries some weight stands up for what they believe in. Even it’s just for the respect of another musician.
August 1, 2009 at 6:34 pm Permalink
I rarely watch these shows but I do remember Gretchen Wilson singing “I Don’t Feel Like Loving You Today” in the middle of a pop-rock country schlock awards show a couple years ago, which was a breath of “real country” air.
I’ve never been much of a Tim McGraw fan, but I have to admit he did a fine vocal job on “If You’re Reading This” awhile back. But I still think Tim wouldn’t recognize real country music if it came up and kicked him in the ass! (lol)
August 1, 2009 at 10:42 pm Permalink
When Deana Carter was performing “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” and Sara Evans came out n joined her… I loved that, whats better than having 2 of your fave artists singing together? =) … I think it was in 2003, but idk what awards show
On the other hand, the worst music awards performances are usually courtesy of Sugarland and their bizarre need to collaborate on everything lol
August 2, 2009 at 4:45 am Permalink
dixie chicks grammy sweep in 2007.
greatest.moment.ever.
August 2, 2009 at 10:54 am Permalink
About a year ago, Country Universe counted down the Top 25 CMA Moments with some great memories including Charlie Rich burning the Entertainer of the Year envelope, Cindy Walker’s HoF induction, Deana Carter jumping into Ricky Skaggs’ arms, Reba’s tearful acceptance speech, and more.
August 2, 2009 at 1:28 pm Permalink
Just a couple things to point out:
- Reba’s red dress incident was an accident. She was doing a quick costume change, and accidentally put the dress on backwards. that split down the middle was supposed to be down her back – obviously looked different down the front!! :)
- Garth leaving the award at the AMAs wasn’t about Hootie specifically. Garth said that it was unfair to take artists of completely different genres and have them all lumped together and choose one “Top Overall Artist”. The AMA agreed, and they stopped awarding that ever since.
I also remember Mary Chapin Carpenter’s CMA performance of “Shut Up And Kiss Me” where Brooks and Dunn had snuck out on stage and “jumped her” at different points. Awesome!!
Definitely, though, the 2 AJ performances already mentioned have to rank up there in the Top 5.
August 2, 2009 at 1:57 pm Permalink
@Prior: Thats definitely gotta be one of my favorites =) It makes me smile that the Dixie Chicks won 5 grammies for that
August 2, 2009 at 2:31 pm Permalink
It’s the Charlie Rich fire for me. I remember thinking at the time how big a hypocrite Charlie Rich had to be to complain about another artist not being “country enough” to win an award. Be honest, folks…when you think of country music, does Charlie Rich’s face EVER pop into your head? The guy was a very good lounge singer, maybe, but no way in hell was he country.
As the years go by, that incident marks about the only time that Charlie Rich ever comes to mind for me and I haven’t been able to enjoy even his lounge act since then.
August 2, 2009 at 2:40 pm Permalink
I was rather fond of Mary Chapin’s 1990 CMA performance of Opening Act.
August 2, 2009 at 3:00 pm Permalink
Ditto to Stormy and Sam Saddler.
August 2, 2009 at 3:23 pm Permalink
Reba’s “red dress” wasn’t on backward — that’s a joke she likes to tell. It had looked more demure backstage, but the sheer part of it became more translucent under the bright lights.
August 2, 2009 at 3:54 pm Permalink
That Alan Jackson footage still gets me everytime. I love the detailed backstory too.
August 2, 2009 at 3:58 pm Permalink
Reba’s “red dress” wasn’t on backward — that’s a joke she likes to tell. It had looked more demure backstage, but the sheer part of it became more translucent under the bright lights.
That’s exactly what happened. She said she expected it to have more sequins on it — the designer had added some at her request, but not as many as she had expected. She didn’t realize how risque it really was until she stepped out stage and heard a collective gasp from the audience.
August 2, 2009 at 7:21 pm Permalink
I wish the CMA’s would allow for more of these great moments to happen. The past few years, the awards have been so mechanical, with the main purpose of the show is a competition to see how many performs the producers can fit in 3 hours with the same artists performing their hit songs we’ve all heard 300 times the previous year. And now with the HOF portion being cut, think of all the great moments we arent gonna see.
August 2, 2009 at 7:50 pm Permalink
- Shania Twain winning Entertainer of the Year in 1999. The fact that Reba presented it to her and Vince Gill said, “That should shut them up, Shania” afterwards only made it better.
- Matraca Berg performing “Back When We Were Beautiful” at the 1997 CMAs.
August 2, 2009 at 9:55 pm Permalink
My favorite is definitely Alan Jackson singing “Choices.” I get goosebumps every time I watch that performance. I wish more artists could stand up for what they believe in like that.
The CMA’s have certainly been dull in the last five or six years. Of course, the poor quality of much of mainstream country in recent years hasn’t helped either. They need to at least bring back Vince as host.
August 2, 2009 at 11:24 pm Permalink
And why do the female vocalist awards go in 3’s or 4’s? Like Reba and Martina and certainly Allison can sing socks around some of the new stars of today. Is it all sales now? I’m assuming this is Carrie’s last year to get FV as she has won it 3 times now. But I hope then Miranda gets it next or perhaps back to Leeann Womack?
August 2, 2009 at 11:46 pm Permalink
@Vicki: I would absolutely love it if Miranda would win Female Vocalist =)
August 3, 2009 at 1:17 pm Permalink
What about the time Dolly Parton sat on Randy Travis’ lap and the next year she snuck up on him while he was presenting an award?
September 14, 2009 at 9:17 am Permalink
Whlist this wasn’t on a country show what about last night (9/13) when Kayne West interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech?
http://blog.cmt.com/2009-09-13/kanye-west-steals-taylor-swifts-thunder-at-mtv-video-music-awards/
September 14, 2009 at 9:37 am Permalink
That was an amusing bit (those saying that it was not scripted have a hard time coming up with a reason why Taylor was backstage, micrphone in hand, waiting when Beyonce won her award)the best part of the VMAs was Madonna’s eulogy to Jacko.
September 14, 2009 at 9:50 am Permalink
“That was an amusing bit (those saying that it was not scripted have a hard time coming up with a reason why Taylor was backstage, micrphone in hand, waiting when Beyonce won her award)the best part of the VMAs was Madonna’s eulogy to Jacko.”
Kanye has done things like this before, so i’m not sure it was scripted.
September 14, 2009 at 9:58 am Permalink
“those saying that it was not scripted have a hard time coming up with a reason why Taylor was backstage, micrphone in hand, waiting when Beyonce won her award”
I can think of at least two explanations that don’t involve West having followed a script.
September 16, 2009 at 9:39 am Permalink
Kanye West is a drunk and an ego-inflated entertainer with no system of values. I think it’s disgraceful that some entertainers act as if the world owes them everything and the recording industry should adorn their shelves with awards galore. Also, Security should be on alert especially when an entertainer enters a live show with a bottle of liquor in his hand and a bad attitude.
October 11, 2009 at 7:44 pm Permalink
can you please tell me why garth brooks refused to accept the 1996 entertainer of the year award? thanks.
wayne
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