Is rock dead? Music awards show scraps major category
- IAAM Radio
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Is rock music dead?
The MTV Video Music Awards appears to be saying yes, as the Best Rock category has been scrapped from the upcoming 2026 MTV VMAs. This year’s nominees were announced Tuesday, and rock and metal categories were left out for the first time since 1989, according to Loudwire.
The closest category remaining is Best Alternative, with 2026 nominees including Geese (“Taxes”), mgk & Fred Durst (“Fix Ur Face”), Noah Kahan (“The Great Divide”), Olivia Rodrigo (“The Cure”), Sombr (“Homewrecker”), Tame Impala (“Dracula”) and Twenty One Pilots (“Drag Path”).
Rock music had been a staple of the MTV Video Music Awards since it began in 1984, when The Cars won Video of the Year for “You Might Think.” Rock artists dominated the top VMA prize for years, with VOTY winners like Don Henley, Dire Straits, INXS, Aerosmith, R.E.M. and Van Halen.
The genre got further representation when a Best Heavy Metal Video category was added in 1989 (and won by Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine”). The award became Best Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Video from 1990 to 1995, Best Hard Rock Video in 1996, and then Best Rock from 1997 to 2025. Winners over the years included Metallica, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Twenty One Pilots, and Fall Out Boy.
Loudwire notes that nominees in the category had shifted towards alternative and pop-adjacent artists for more than a decade. Winners included Lorde’s “Royals” in 2014, Imagine Dragons’ “Whatever It Takes” in 2018, and Coldplay’s “All My Love” in 2025.
According to Billboard, MTV also did not announce 2026 categories for Afrobeats (which was included in last year’s VMAs telecast), best pop artist, Push performance of the year, best album, video for good, best long-form video, best group, or song of the summer. It’s unclear if they will be announced later or left out of this year’s ceremony altogether.
Madonna, an icon of MTV since it was known as “Music Television,” leads this year’s nominations with 11 nods, including Video of the Year for “Confessions II - The Film.” Madonna is also nominated for Best Dance, a category that is returning to the VMAs for the first time in seven years.
DJ Taz's Take: Rock is not dead, MTV is dead and has been since it ditched music videos and went to crap reality TV and everything but music videos. When MTV dropped music videos so did bands and that is sad. I love Rock N Roll and always will. "I Want My MTV" (Dire Straits) but make it the original. The above video by, The Who says it all.
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