American Music Awards debuted on Feb. 19, 1974, and the industry has had many changes since then. Now, on its 50th anniversary, here are some takeaways.
American Music Awards has been a very successful fan-driven alternative to the Grammy Awards since it debuted on February 19th, 1974. Since then, the music industry has gone through so many changes, new talents have risen, and reigning talents sometimes saw a decline in the masses. To honor the long reign, the American Music Awards 50th Anniversary Special was released as a two-hour-long show was aired on Sunday, October 6th. The special captured many of these changes that happened in the industry over the years in fresh performances and segments that were smartly curated.
The show recently changed networks, from ABC to CBS. CBS aired the anniversary special and will also air the next regular AMA broadcast in May. The original plan was to debut on the new network with a simple best-of-the-past-year broadcast. However, the plan changed and the audience was reminded of the award show’s history before its re-launching. The third co-host of the first show, Smokey Robinson introduced the segment on the anniversary show. He was also one of the six co-hosts of the AMAs to appear along with Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez, Reba McEntire, Jimmy Kimmel, and Cedric the Entertainer. Here are some of the highlights from the anniversary special show.
The special opened with a clip package from the first show, including Stevie Wonder playing ‘Superstition’. It also included Gladys Knight & the Pips performing ‘Midnight Train to Georgia.’ Both tracks remain top-tier classics to date and were No. 1 Billboard hits in 1973. The show then cut to Gladys Knight performing ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ live. Another highlight from the show was the montage of country superstars who appeared on the AMA stage. They culminated in Kane Brown, who performed a relaxed version of ‘Drive (For Daddy Gene)’, Alan Jackson’s 2002 hit, leading to his own current hit ‘Miles on It’.
Jennifer Hudson, the EGOT recipient honored the legend and 22-time AMA winner Whitney Houston. She created a medley of Houston’s performance on the 1994 AMAs. This medley contained the tracks ‘I Loves You, Porgy’ from Porgy & Bess and ‘I Will Always Love You’ from The Bodyguard. Another highlight from the special was when Hip-hop finally got its dues. The American Music Awards did not have a Hip-hop category until the 16th show in 1989. That year DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince won the Favorite Rap/Hip-hop artist and album for He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper. At the special for the 50th anniversary this year, a clip was shown which had the collection of show moments with groundbreaking stars of hip-hop, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Post Malone, Missy Elliott. Here we saw Dr. Dre had the best line accepting his award and telling his mother, “I guess all that music coming out of my bedroom paid off.”
The anniversary show also created a segment of outrageous moments throughout the history of the American Music Awards. The segment included Vanilla Ice and Billy Ray Cyrus just blasting their critics while accepting their awards. Apart from this, the show also had a parade from the boy bands. AJ McLean, a beloved member of the Backstreet Boys, and Lance Bass of *NSYNC introduced the audience to a segment on the history of the beloved boy bands. Now this segment might have included bands more than you can remember, such as Boyz II Men, New Kids on the Block, One Direction, BTS, New Edition, etc.
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