This Sunday, the MTV VMAs are set to hand their most prestigious legacy honor to a band that broke up 32 years ago. Two more of the night’s biggest stories connect directly to the show’s own history, and all three are happening on the same Sunday night. The 2026 nominees are competing hard for real awards, but the defining stories of this year’s ceremony were set in motion a long time ago.
The VMAs built its reputation on youth culture, new acts and moments that caught everyone off guard, so a night weighted this heavily toward the show’s own past is worth paying attention to. The performer opening Sunday’s ceremony last stood on this stage in 2003, and the band receiving the night’s top honor stopped making music in 1994. Meanwhile, Madonna, Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande are all competing for Video of the Year on the same night.
Nirvana gets its Vanguard, 32 years after disbanding
The Video Vanguard is the ceremony’s premier lifetime-achievement honor, traditionally represented by a gold Moon Person. Past recipients read like a timeline of the music video era: The Beatles, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Britney Spears. The most recent group to win it was Duran Duran in 2003, with the award continuing to go to solo artists in the years since.
Nirvana receives it Sunday, making the band the first group to win the award since that 2003 ceremony. Nirvana is among the relatively few inactive or disbanded acts to receive the honor in the award’s 42-year history.
The history with MTV is specific enough to justify the gold statue. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” premiered on MTV’s 120 Minutes in September 1991, then moved into the channel’s Buzz Bin rotation within weeks. The video, the chaotic high-school pep-rally shoot directed by first-time music-video director Samuel Bayer and filmed at GMT Studios in Culver City, became one of the decade’s defining visual moments. The 1993 MTV Unplugged session, staged with white lilies and black candles at Sony Music Studios in New York, became one of the series’ memorable episodes.
Surviving core members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic have periodically performed with former touring guitarist Pat Smear for tribute performances over the years, most recently publicly at the FireAid benefit concert in Los Angeles in January 2025, where St. Vincent, Kim Gordon and Joan Jett each stepped in as vocalist. The band’s relationship with MTV goes back further and runs deeper than almost any other act in the Vanguard’s history.
Nirvana’s first VMA appearance, in September 1992, was at a Los Angeles venue, and it set a tone for unscripted chaos the show has been chasing ever since. Cobain opened the set with the forbidden opening chords of a song MTV had explicitly barred the band from playing. He pivoted into “Lithium” after a few bars.
By the end of the performance, Novoselic’s bass had bounced off his own head after a failed toss into the air, Cobain had pushed his guitar into the amp, and Grohl had taken the microphone to taunt Axl Rose by name. That same night, Guns N’ Roses won the Vanguard Award Nirvana is receiving 34 years later.
Madonna is back on that stage after 23 years
Madonna performs Sunday for the first time at the VMAs since the 2003 ceremony, where she kissed Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in the opening number that remains one of the most replayed in the show’s history. The 23-year gap between VMA performances has not diminished her presence at this year’s show. Madonna leads the updated 2026 nominations with 13, followed by Taylor Swift with 11, and her nods include Video of the Year and Artist of the Year for her album “Confessions II.”
Madonna’s history with the VMAs goes back to the first ceremony in 1984, when she performed “Like a Virgin” in a wedding gown at Radio City Music Hall and established, in about three minutes, exactly what kind of show this was going to be. She received the Vanguard Award in 1986, becoming the first woman to receive it. Coming back Sunday to open the show with the most nominations of anyone in the room, 42 years after that first performance, is the kind of full-circle moment the VMAs was invented for.
The VMAs return to Los Angeles after 8 years
After eight consecutive ceremonies in the New York and New Jersey area, the VMAs return to Los Angeles on Sunday. The last time the show was held on the West Coast, Katy Perry hosted at the Forum in Inglewood in 2017. Sunday’s ceremony is at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
Snoop Dogg, a Long Beach native with 13 career VMA nominations, hosts the show for the first time, three decades after he first appeared on that stage in 1994. The show’s viewership reached 5.5 million in 2025 after the move to CBS, a 42% gain over the prior year.
What else is on Sunday night
Performers like Shaboozey and Gunna, RAYE, LISA, Yung Lean and GENER8ION, and Sienna Spiro round out a lineup that is very much of this moment. Taylor Swift enters the night with 30 all-time VMA wins, tied with Beyoncé for the most in the award show’s history. She is already set to take the record outright after MTV announced she will receive the inaugural Artist Director Honors on Sunday, bringing her total to 31 before any competitive awards are counted.
The VMAs have always made room for both new artists and legacy acts on the same night. This Sunday just happens to stack the history heavier than usual. Tune in, and see which half of the show you end up talking about Monday morning.
Mandy writes about food, home and the kind of everyday life that feels anything but ordinary. She has traveled extensively, and those experiences have shaped everything, from comforting meals to small lifestyle upgrades that make a big difference. You’ll find all her favorite recipes over at Hungry Cooks Kitchen.