This may be either brand-new info for you or a fond memory, but Madonna opened the very very first-ever VMAs back in 1984 with a live performance of “Live a Virgin.” No, I wasn’t personally there, but from the looks of it, no one was any sorta virgin once Madonna was through.
Seriously, to put this into some kind of perspective for you younger sorts, her provocative stage show made Miley Cyrus’ Annie Leibovitz (non-)scandal seem more sedate than Whistler’s Mother.
Pre-yoga-arms Madonna didn’t know it at the time, but by deflowering Radio City Music Hall — all in the name of MTV, music, mayhem and more music! — she set a precedent of VMA opening acts so monumental that they’d be remembered for years, nay decades, to come.
That said, there are still 23 VMAs-worth of epic show-stopping… er… -starting opening acts. They weren’t all Madonna-major, but they were grandiose and unforgettable nonetheless. Seriously, I still get choked up just thinking about that 1997 VMA Biggie tribute that Sting and Faith Evans did while Diddy busted out some odd reimagining of the foxtrot, the two-step, and the jerk.
You can relive the very best of the best VMA opening acts this Sunday, August 24 at 1pm ET on MTV’s Top 10 VMA Opening Moments. Until then, take a sneak peek at Sunday’s show, and then watch Madonna defile the very same floor upon which families have enjoyed the wholesome holiday warmth of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular since 1933!
++ UPDATE: Watch the show after the jump! ++