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Get ready. Get set. VOTE!

As we gear up for the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, we’re looking back at all of the awesome VMA moments that remind us why this is the most exciting time of year, and we’re asking you to help us single out the best of the best.

You simply won’t see Britney Spears dancing with a python, Madonna rolling around in a wedding dress, a blood-soaked Lady Gaga dangling from the ceiling or Eminem rapping to hoards of imitators anywhere else. From iconic moments and outstanding music videos to career-defining performances and outrageous outfits, it all goes down at the VMAs.

Now it’s your turn to tell us which moments were the most shocking, which performances rocked the hardest and which videos have withstood the test of time. The polls are now open. You can find links to each category below, so vote now, vote often and spread the word!

>>> Most Iconic VMA Performance

>>> Most Outrageous VMA Moment

>>> Best VMA Pop Performance

>>> Best VMA Hip-Hop Performance

>>> Best VMA Rock Performance

>>> Most Outrageous VMA Outfit

>>> Best Video of the 1980s

>>> Best Video of the 1990s

>>> Best Video of the 2000s

Polls close Wednesday, August 24 at noon! Results will be announced in the lead-up to the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, which air live from Los Angeles on Sunday, August 28 at 9 PM on MTV. Don't forget to tune in!

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When MTV was born on August 1, 1981, we had a singular mission in mind: to bring great music to the masses through the new-ish medium of music video.

Somewhere along the way, as is often the case with artists, things started to get competitive. Who’s video was cooler? Which video did people like the most? And who decides?

Well, we do. MTV decides. And in 1984, we started honoring the best and brightest in the world of music video with the annual MTV Video Music Awards. The first VMA broadcast was hosted by Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler on Sept. 14, 1984. The show is mostly remembered for Madonna’s racy performance of “Like A Virgin,” but a Video of the Year Moonman was handed out that night too.

And the winner was: “You Might Think” by The Cars. Six Video of the Year Moonmen were handed out during the 1980s, but which video would prevail if the best of the best were forced to square off against each other. Don’t look at us … you do the work. Vote in our Best Video of the ‘80s poll after the jump. Read More...

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The popularity of different music genres tend to ebb and flow. Not so with rock and roll, which seems to be eternally popular. It’s a broad category of music, to be sure, but you sure do know it when you see it.

For example: Nirvana. Definitely a rock band, right? Grunge rock, but rock none the less. And what about Oasis? Nothing grunge about them. Brit rock, for sure. Metallica? Well, that’s the very definition of heavy metal rock.

Rock is the cornerstone of MTV, so our heart beats a little faster when the guitars come out to melt faces from the MTV Video Music Awards stage. It’s impossible to pick a favorite, though we were able to narrow it down to ten. You let us know who you think is the best of the best in our poll, after the jump. Read More...

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Hip-hop was born in New York City in the late 1970s as a way for inner city youth to express themselves. Since then, it has grown into one of the biggest and most commercially successful genres of music. Here at MTV, we like to think we had a little something to do with that.

From Run DMC’s “Walk This Way” in 1987 to Naughty By Nature’s “Hip Hop Hooray” in 1993, the MTV Video Music Awards have been ahead of the curve when it comes to bringing hip-hop acts into living rooms all over the world.

It’s a tradition that continues to the present: Last year, Kanye West tore up the VMAs with his performance of “Runaway,” and this year, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown will wow viewers live from Los Angeles on August 28.

With so many awesome hip-hop performances over the years, we’re at a loss for which one is the best of all. So hey, why don’t you go ahead and tell us by voting in our poll after the jump. Read More...

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Bolstered by the efforts of pioneering video artists like Michael Jackson, Madonna and Janet Jackson, the idea that a music video could be a piece of art really started to take shape in the 1990s. Videos were once considered something of an afterthought or a piece of promo material, but these vanguard artists made them part of the conversation.

Did you know that Pepsi severed its $5 million deal with Madonna because it didn’t want to get caught up in the controversy surrounding her (awesome) “Like a Prayer” video? Or that Martin Scorsese (!) directed MJ’s video for “Bad”?

To say that the ante had been upped by 1990 is an understatement, so it’s no surprise that videos just kept getting better and better, as reflected by the winners of the Video of the Year MTV Video Music Award. Music clips suddenly became a new way for artists to really hit home the message of a song. Who was most successful? Vote below. Read More...

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The ‘90s shattered the conventions of the music video. Suddenly every musician wanted their video to be the biggest and splashiest of all. Budgets roared to insane levels – Michael and Janet Jackson’s 1995 video for "Scream" is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most expensive ever, costing around $7 million – and video directors became stars themselves (hello, Hype Williams, David Fincher and Mark Romanek).

So by the 00s, a video had to be on point to get much attention at the MTV Video Music Awards. The concept had to be solid, the costumes needed to be out of this world and the special effects had to be through the roof. You want a brothel featuring some of the biggest pop starlets in the world? You got it – Christina, Pink, Mya and Lil Kim are waiting. Care to see Rihanna control water with her bare hands? Just don’t forget your “Umbrella.”

It’s a lot to live up to. But so far eleven videos can call themselves the best videos of their respective years. Which one is the best of the decade? We’ll leave that one up to you guys. Vote in our poll, after the jump. Read More...

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Award shows are all about fashion. We drool over the glamorous gowns actresses sport for the Oscars and the Golden Globes and scour the Internet to see who dressed like a fool at the Grammys. But what happens when the traditional rules of award show attire go out the window?

The MTV Video Music Awards, that’s what!

At the VMAs, sexy is key and anything goes. It's all about who can get the most ink for wearing the wildest outfit. Seriously, what other awards show can say someone wore a meat dress to their festivities?

From pacifiers and pasties to dresses that also serve as advertisements and men in pink pleather and roller skates, wild outfits are the norm at the VMAs. But who takes the cake for the most outrageous outfit ever. Vote in our poll below. Read More...

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MTV and pop music go hand in hand, so you know there’s no better place to catch a killer pop performance than the MTV Video Music Awards. The VMAs are all about spectacle, after all, and when it comes to causing a scene, no one does it much bigger than Madonna, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Am I right?

And those icons are just the tip of the iceberg.

From TLC and the Backstreet Boys to Justin Bieber and Pink, the VMAs have mastered the art of pop in all its flash and splash glory. But who reigns supreme with the Best Pop Performance ever at the VMAs? You tell us … vote in our poll below. Read More...

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Outrageous moments are nothing new to the MTV Video Music Awards, the two go together like bread and butter.

We suppose things are bound to get a little wild when you throw the biggest stars in the world into a room for the express purpose of having a good time. The VMAs are unlike any other awards show around because the point isn’t to have a quiet, dignified gathering to honor the best album by a 100-piece orchestra; it’s to rock out and give props to the hottest things in music in a particular year.

Instead of sleepy applause and thanking the academy, you get the Queen of Pop locking lips with her heir apparent or living legend Diana Ross getting a little grabby with an overexposed Lil Kim. That’s just how we roll here at MTV.

While just about every VMA moment is pretty outrageous, a few definitely stand out and have withstood the test of time to burn themselves into the collective consciousness of we connoisseurs of pop culture. Help us decide which of these eight incidents is the most outrageous moment in VMA history. Read More...

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