35 years on from their school-gym music video making them stars on the channel, MTV has announced that Nirvana will be the 2026 recipient of the Video Vanguard award at this year’s Video Music Awards (VMAs).
“This day in 1992, Nirvana took to the VMAs stage for the first time – shaping music, culture, and MTV forever,” the channel wrote in a statement. “Join us as we celebrate Nirvana’s incredible legacy on Sunday, September 27.”
At the time of writing, it is unclear who will be accepting the award on the band’s behalf. Dave Grohl, the band’s longtime drummer, is currently on tour in North America with Foo Fighters – although the ceremony date is a day off from the tour, with the band performing in Las Vegas the night before.
Watch Nirvana performing ‘Lithium’ at the 1992 VMAs below:
Nirvana was strongly tied to MTV throughout the cycles of both 1991’s Nevermind and 1993’s In Utero. All of the band’s music videos from each album were in high rotation on the channel – particularly ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, which served as a key part of the band breaking into the mainstream.
This relationship continued with the recording of their live album and concert film MTV Unplugged in New York, which aired on the station in late 1993. It was released a year later on CD, several months after the passing of Kurt Cobain in April 1994.
The band’s surviving members – Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic – last appeared on-stage together in February 2025. As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations for Saturday Night Live, the pair teamed up with former Nirvana touring guitarist/current Foo Fighter Pat Smear and Post Malone to perform ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.
The month prior, the rhythm section also performed a five-song set at Fire Aid benefit show in Los Angeles alongside Smear; there, they were joined by St. Vincent, Kim Gordon, Joan Jett and Grohl’s daughter Violet.
The 2026 Video Music Awards will be broadcast live on Paramount+ on Monday, September 28th at 9:30am AEST.
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