MTV Video Vanguard Award

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The following is a list of recipients of the Video Vanguard Award.

The award is known as the Video Vanguard Award but has also been known as the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award is given to musicians who have had a profound effect on the MTV culture.

The award is also given to music video directors who have created some of the most popular and acclaimed music videos in MTV history.

The award has come under fire due to the fact that MTV hardly handed the award out during the 1990s and 2000s. While the recipients of the award have included some of the most popular and acclaimed artists in MTV history, MTV has been criticized for not handing out the award to other artists that some see as having an effect on MTV (Nirvana, Tupac Shakur, Run-DMC).

Year	Recipient	Notes
1984	David Bowie, The Beatles, Richard Lester	Both Lester and The Beatles were honored for "essentially inventing the music video."
1985	David Byrne, Kevin Godley, Lol Creme, Russell Mulcahy	Byrne was honored for his work with Talking Heads. Godley and Creme are acclaimed music video directors. Mulcahy was honored as the director of The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star," the first video played on MTV.
1986	Madonna, Zbigniew Rybczynski
1987	Peter Gabriel, Julien Temple
1988	Michael Jackson	Presented to Michael by Peter Gabriel, in 1988, for defining the music video as a piece of art, or as Jackson likes to put as "short films". With such videos as Thriller, he practically made the music video what it is today.
1990	Janet Jackson
1991	Bon Jovi, Wayne Isham
1992	Guns N' Roses
1994	Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, The Rolling Stones	The award given to Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers was the Video Vanguard Award. The award given to the Rolling Stones was a Lifetime Achievement Award.
1995	R.E.M.
1997	LL Cool J, Mark Romanek	LL Cool J is the first rap artist to receive the award.
1998	Beastie Boys
2000	Red Hot Chili Peppers
2001	U2
2003	Duran Duran	Given as Lifetime Achievement Award
2006	Hype Williams	Given by Kanye West in honor of his achievements as a "film maker"