10 Awards Show Shockers

Back-slapping industry ego-stroking contests or glamorous celebrations of genuine artistic talent, awards shows are a contentious phenomenon. Now bigger than ever before and televised across the world, they are the perfect stage for artists to show everyone just how great they are, and, if we're lucky, make a bit of a fool of themselves, too. Seeing how fluffed performances, fudged acceptance speeches, stage invasions and elaborate hoaxes have now become the norm, we thought we'd celebrate some of the best awards show shockers in recent memory.

Kanye West Makes a Swift Apology
Kanye's ego is often a talking point in the world of music, and world attention focused on it after an infamous incident at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009. West took exception to the fact that Beyoncé was overlooked for the Best Female Video award and decided to voice his dissatisfaction. He rushed the stage as bewildered actual winner Taylor Swift was attempting to make an acceptance speech. Having snatched the mic, West told Swift, "Yo, Taylor -- I'm really happy for you, I'm 'a let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time." Beyoncé looked horrified, Swift was reportedly spotted sobbing backstage, and Kanye had to call her to personally apologize.

Jarvis Cocker Bum Rushes the Show at the Brits
Oasis dominated the 1996 Brit Awards, picking up three statuettes, but former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker stole the show. Michael Jackson was booked to perform his huge hit 'Earth Song' surrounded by a choir of children. The King of Pop's pompous performance and a few drinks were enough to send Cocker over the edge. He proceeded to mount the stage and wave his backside at Jackson and TV cameras before being escorted away. He was taken into police custody for questioning before being released without charge.

ODB Does It for the Kiddies
The late and decidedly unpredictable Wu-Tang Clan bad boy, Ol' Dirty Bastard, caused a stir at the 40th anniversary Grammy Awards in 1998. As MOR songstress Shawn Colvin arrived to accept an award, the rapper decided it was the perfect moment to express his disappointment at missing out to the artist then known as Puff Daddy for the Best Rap Album gong. After saying he'd spent a lot on his outfit as he thought the award was in the bag, he then went off on a tangent. "I don't know how y'all see it," he said, "but when it comes to the children, Wu-Tang is for the children, we teach the children." Anyone wanting a private tutor should contact the Staten Island crew for a substitute in his sadly permanent absence.



Soy Bomb Explodes at the Grammys
Ensuring that the 40th anniversary Grammys became the year of the stage invasion, a semi-naked man with the legend "Soy Bomb" written across his torso decided to join a bemused Bob Dylan during his live performance. The man, identified as performance artist and comedian Michael Portnoy, had been hired by the Grammys as a fully clothed background dancer for Dylan's set. Instead he took centre stage, stripped off and danced as though he'd been dragged naked through a patch of stinging nettles. As he twitched, gurned and contorted in a series of spasms, security left him to it for 40 seconds, thinking it was part of the show.


Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Use Silencer
Back in 2003, riding a wave of music press hype, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were the recipients of the Best Video award at NME's Brats bash. Then drummer Nick Jago took to the stage to accept the award and remained there, staring into space in total silence for what seemed like an eternity. It was, in fact, an impressive seven-to-nine minute stay of silence, depending on which report you believe. Jago was later sacked from the band, then rejoined and was recently given the push once again.

KLF Cause Extreme Noise Terror
Before the Brit Awards became "brand Brits," the show was a much stuffier affair. Dominated by the dinosaurs of the day and an extremely conservative music policy, the 1992 bash was notable for the performance of arch rave pranksters KLF. Rather than celebrate global success with a straight-up rendition of their massive-selling dance anthem '3AM Eternal,' Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty took the stage with Ipswich-based grindcore metal merchants Extreme Noise Terror to gleefully murder the track. They then produced machine guns and sprayed the audience with blanks, left the stage and announced they'd quit the music business. Later that night, they delivered a dead sheep to the aftershow party with the message "I died for ewe. Bon Appetit" attached to it.



Eminem and Bruno Get in a Tangle
Sacha Baron Cohen has a history of pranking famous faces with his comic creations, but at the MTV Movie Awards in 2009 he seemed to have picked on the wrong guy. As his fashion alter-ego Bruno, Cohen -- barely dressed as a winged angel -- descended clumsily from the rafters, only to land facedown on the lap of Eminem. Seemingly none-too-impressed about the "accident" and having Cohen's undercarriage in his face, the bad-boy rapper and his entourage reacted angrily. Following the incident, rumours soon circulated that the whole thing was a setup.

Britney Spears' Millennial MJ Award
In 2002, the Video Music Awards were held on Aug. 29 -- none other than Michael Jackson's birthday. To celebrate the occasion, MTV decided to give the singer a cake as a surprise, with Britney Spears doing the presenting. During her gushing tribute, Spears mentioned that she believed Jackson to be the "artist of the millennium." MJ got his wires crossed and thought he was being given a surprise honour (cue awkward acceptance speech of a nonexistent award). "When I was a little boy growing up in Indiana," he said, "if someone told me I'd be getting the 'Artist of the Millennium' award, I'd have never believed it." Oops.



Andrew Dice Clay Is Banned From MTV for Life
The abrasive quasi-comedian was always going to be a controversial choice as host for the MTV Awards in 1989. With a penchant for profane, offensive and, to some ears, misogynistic and racist material, it was clear from the outset that the station had made a major boo-boo in its choice. To the surprise of no one but MTV producers, the Diceman brought forth his trademark foul-mouthed nursery rhymes and lewd gags. After the ceremony, MTV hit him with a lifetime ban.

Brett Michaels' Floored Tonys Performance
When Poison were booked to play at the prestigious 2009 Tony Awards, held to honour Broadway stars of musical theatre, singer Brett Michaels could barely contain his excitement. The singer gushed to the press about how honoured he and his band of hair-metal rockers were to be performing with the cast of new musical 'Rock of Ages.' Sadly, he got the timing of his exit all wrong and connected face first with a large piece of scenery descending slowly into place. The official line was that he'd missed his mark, but Michaels claimed he wasn't given enough time. Doubtless he got a bump, a headache and a very bruised ego.