MTV Video Music Awards quietly scraps its Best Rock category after 37 years
It's been omitted from next month's awards
Last updated 3 hours ago
The MTV Video Music Awards has scrapped its Best Rock category after 37 years.
Five years after the inception of the MTV VMAs, the rock category was launched in 1989 as the Best Heavy Metal Video when Guns N’ Roses triumphed with ‘Sweet Child O’Mine’.
The genre category morphed into the Best Metal/Hard Rock Video from 1990 to 1995, and it was briefly renamed Best Hard Rock Video in 1996.
The award acquired its enduring Best Rock name in 1997, and it remained a constant fixture of the ceremony for almost three decades.
On Tuesday (18th August), the MTV VMAs announced its nominees for the Sunday 27th September ceremony at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, and the Best Rock award was conspicuously no longer a fixture.
The only vaguely rock award remaining is the long-running Best Alternative gong that features the likes of Geese, MGK and Fred Durst, Tame Impala and Twenty One Pilots alongside Noah Kahan, Olivia Rodrigo and Sombr.
Over the past four decades, Aerosmith were the most successful act in the Best Rock category with four awards, while Linkin Park, Metallica, Green Day and Limp Bizkit have all picked up multiple wins.
However, despite its title, the category has moved away from rock in recent years with the likes of Coldplay and Lorde getting awards.
Late last year, MTV closed its music video channels in the UK after 38 years.
The five channels MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live all ceased broadcasting on 31st December 2025, with the iconic brand’s one remaining channel, MTV HD, remaining to focus on reality TV shows like Dating Naked UK, Teen Mom UK and Geordie Shore.