Music, DVD, Movies, Musical Instruments

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MTV’s relentless self-promotional machine rolls on with this 55-minute compilation of performances from the channel’s annual Video Music Awards show (described here as “the only award show that matters”–easy for them to say, since they invented it), ranging from 1990 to 2002. Image is paramount to this operation, especially if there’s a little titillation involved; thus we have the sex-kitten antics of Britney Spears and Shakira, the spectacle of a bare-chested Nelly wearing his jeans not only below his boxers but barely above his knees, and the sheer absurdity of MC Hammer’s costumed cast of thousands crowding the stage for “You Can’t Touch This.” But there’s also some good music here (Nelly’s electrifying “Country Grammar,” the Brian Setzer Orchestra’s swinging “Jump, Jive & Wail,” Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s entertainingly over-the-top “Crossroads”), as well as short features on “turntablism” and pop songwriting. –Sam Graham

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Tagged: 2003, Awards, HipPop, Music, Video