Overview
- MTV announced Wednesday that Nirvana will receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2026 VMAs.
- The 2026 ceremony will air live from Los Angeles on Sept. 27 on CBS with simulcasts on Paramount+ and MTV.
- It is not yet known if surviving members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic will attend or perform, and Grohl’s Foo Fighters have a scheduled show the night before in Las Vegas.
- The selection explicitly evokes Nirvana’s landmark 1992 VMA appearance at Pauley Pavilion, when the band performed and won major awards that helped define its public legacy.
- The Vanguard pick highlights MTV’s growing tendency to honor mainstream pop figures and arrives as the VMAs have reportedly removed a dedicated rock category for the first time in the show’s history.