By the summer of 1984, “Thriller” was everywhere. The album, the video, the moonwalk, all of it. So when MTV held its very first Video Music Awards that September, most people figured Michael Jackson would walk off with everything.
He didn’t.
The first MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 14, 1984, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler, two of the biggest comedy names of the day, hosted the whole thing. “Thriller” went in with six nominations, more than almost anyone, and it was the clear favorite for the top honor of the night, Video of the Year.
That’s the one it lost.
Michael didn’t go home empty-handed though. Not even close. “Thriller” still won three awards that night. It took Best Overall Performance. It won Best Choreography, shared by Michael and Michael Peters, the dancer and choreographer who helped build those famous moves with him. And it won Viewer’s Choice, the one award the fans themselves voted for, which might be the one that meant the most.
So which video actually beat “Thriller” for the big prize? A rock band called The Cars, for their video “You Might Think,” a goofy, special-effects-filled clip that MTV played to the point you couldn’t escape it. That’s the one that took Video of the Year over Michael.
And there’s a second surprise. Michael wasn’t even in the building.
That fall he was out on the road with his brothers on the Victory Tour, one of the biggest tours in the world at the time. So when his name kept getting called, someone else had to come up and accept for him. And it wasn’t a manager or a label guy. It was Diana Ross.
Diana Ross, the Motown superstar who helped introduce the Jackson 5 to the world back when Michael was just a little boy, walked up to that stage to take his awards. The two had been close for years. She spoke for him with a short, warm message.
Here’s the moment itself, from the 1984 broadcast.
Diana Ross steps up to accept Michael’s awards in 1984
“Michael’s not here. He’s on tour but he sends his love. Thank you for all the wonderful support,” she told the crowd.
One more thing that gets forgotten. The artist who actually won the most awards that first night wasn’t Michael at all. It was Herbie Hancock, the jazz legend, whose video for “Rockit” picked up five. “Thriller” and its three came in right behind.
If you want to feel what that first ceremony was like, with all the big names of 1984 in one room, MTV put together a look back at it.
MTV revisits its first-ever Video Music Awards
Funny thing is, people remember that night as a huge Michael Jackson moment even though he wasn’t there and lost the top award. That’s how big “Thriller” was. It didn’t need to win everything to own the decade.