When MTV debuted in 1981, its creators had no idea they were about to revolutionize not only cable television but also the entire music industry – and eventually our conception of what an awards show can be. MTV’s longtime mascot was doctored footage of the moon-landing astronauts in full gear planting an MTV flag on the lunar surface, so in 1984, when the MTV Video Music Awards debuted, the award statuette handed out to winners was a shiny, chromed Moonman. The VMAs were instantly popular and enormously showy and expensive – and often marked by headline-making antics (Kanye West jumping onstage to bumrush award winner Taylor Swift in 2009 comes to mind). These massive Moonman set pieces – printed polyfoam flats for stage right and stage left – flanked the awards stage, and now the monumental symbols of MTV’s golden age can be yours.
Intelligent Collector