The Craziest American Music Awards Moments Ever!

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(Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert at the 2009 AMAs. photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images)

With the 2015 American Music Awards on the horizon, let’s take a look back at some of the craziest and most memorable moments from the always unpredictable awards show over the past two decades.

Good Golly! Little Richard Lets It Rip (1989)

While presenting the Favorite Soul/R&B Single award with Eddie Money, Richard went wildly off-script to complain that he’d never won an AMA. “Don’t you think it’s time I won?” he shouted, rhetorically. He then demanded that the audience give him a standing ovation if they agreed. Incidentally, Richard did receive the American Music Award of Merit – basically the AMAs’ lifetime achievement accolade – eight years later. And as for which artist actually won the award that Richard and Money handed out in 1989? It was Freddie Jackson, for “Nice ‘N’ Slow,” but pretty much no one remembers that.

Guns N’ Roses: Anything Goes (1990)

Back when big hair and leather pants were all the rage, and rock 'n’ rollers wore a supermodel on each arm as their most fashionable accessories, Guns N’ Roses won some big-time AMAs. A fresh-faced Slash and Duff McKagen took the stage to accept their band’s awards at the 1990 ceremony, looking more than a little blitzed while swigging beer and smoking cigarettes. Slash seemed shocked and overwhelmed when GNR received their first award of the night, but was composed enough on their second trip up to the podium to remember to thank several people. However, most of his speech was bleeped out, as the show’s producers didn’t want to let his F-bombs fly during the family-friendly program, and they cued up the music encouraging the rockers to exit stage left.

Garth Brooks Doesn’t Give a Hoot (1996)

Another unforgettable moment in AMAs history was one that the awards show would probably rather forget. Famed country crooner Garth Brooks rejected his Artist of the Year award in 1996 in an effort to show solidarity for his fellow artists. “I cannot agree with this,” he emphatically told the audience. “Without any disrespect to the American Music Awards and without disrespect to any fans who voted, for all those people who should be honored with this award, I’m going to leave it right here,” Brooks said before walking away from the podium and leaving his trophy behind. He later said he thought that Hootie & the Blowfish should’ve won Artist of the Year. Huh? Now that’s crazy.

Pat Boone Is Hell Bent for Leather (1997)

To promote his bizarre album of jazzy remakes of heavy metal classics, In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, conservative crooner Boone joined Alice Cooper onstage wearing S&M leatherman gear, complete with studded dog collar. The stunt led to his temporary dismissal from the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and caused Cooper to cry out, “Does this signify the death of heavy metal?” We only wish Duff and Slash had been at the 1997 AMAs to witness this. (photo: Getty Images)

Kanye West: AMAs and Heartbreak (2004)

Garth Brooks isn’t the only artist to abruptly walk away from the AMAs. The notoriously temperamental Kanye stormed out of the awards ceremony in 2004 after Gretchen Wilson beat him out for the Favorite New Artist award. The rap star later told reporters that he thought he was “robbed.” “I felt like I was definitely robbed, and I refused to give any politically correct bulls— comment… I was the best new artist this year,” he said. He also implied that there was a massive conspiracy against him, criticized the AMAs’ voting process, and promised never to return. We’d applaud Kanye for sticking to his guns…except he did later return, in 2008.

On a related note, Anna Nicole’s slurry Kanye introduction that same year was just plain sad. Eleven years later, it’s still tough to watch.

Lady Gaga Leaves the Audience Speechless (2009)

Lady Gaga left plenty of people “speechless” following her 2009 AMA performance. The shock-pop singer, who’s become more famous for her onstage antics than her music, didn’t disappoint. During her “Bad Romance”/“Speechless” medley, Gaga put her dancers through their paces before she paused and walked over to a giant glass cube containing her piano. She proceeded to violently shatter the glass with her microphone stand, climbed over it to reach her piano bench, and then pounded the ivories as she smashed glass bottles on the piano itself. As if that weren’t dramatic enough, the piano spewed out some serious pyrotechnics while her band performed from the safety of their own elevated glass cubes — wearing dark uniforms and gas masks, just in case. The bizarre display earned Gaga a standing ovation, which she deserved simply for surviving such a literally shattering performance.

Adam Lambert Kissed a Guy and Some Viewers Didn’t Like It (2009)

Who can forget the controversial kiss that Adam Lambert shared with his male bandmate during his glamtastic 2009 AMA performance? The American Idol alum pushed boundaries with sexually suggestive choreography that included dancers crawling on the ground on a leash as he whipped them, S&M-style costumes, and plenty of bumping and grinding. But it’s the moment when he grabbed his keyboardist Tommy Joe Ratliff by the hair and gave him a big smooch on the lips that had everyone talking. As the openly gay singer pointed out, he had no qualms about doing it because “women performers have been pushing the envelope” for decades.

LMFAO Aren’t Sorry for Party-Rockin’ With the Biebs and the Hoff (2011)

LMFAO proved that they know how to end a party as well as get the party started at the 2011 AMAs. The “Party Rock” crew pulled out all the stops during their lengthy performance that closed out the ceremony, and had the entire audience dancing with glowsticks and rocking 3D glasses by night’s end. Not content to party all by themselves, they invited Justin Bieber onstage to bust out some impressive dance moves in Day-Glo yellow pants. Then frontman Redfoo started a trend when he pulled off his pants to reveal his smiley-face underwear during “Sexy and I Know It.” Next thing you know, everyone was dancing around in their undies. Amid all the chaos and people ripping off their pants willy-nilly, David Hasselhoff appeared and joined in on the fun by ripping his own pants off. “We love you, party people! I wanna wiggle with David Hasselhoff!” shouted Redfoo. Well, who doesn’t want to wiggle with the Hoff?

Hello, Kitty: Miley’s Cat-tastic Performance Wins the AMAs (2013)

The only duet that got more attention at 2013’s AMAs than Lady Gaga and R. Kelly’s creepy, seemingly Clinton/Lewinsky-inspired “Do What U Want” number was Miley, in a kitty-printed two-piece, doing “Wrecking Ball"… with a lip-synching, weeping, animatronic space-cat. If there’s anything bigger on the Internets than Miley Cyrus, it’s cats — so, basically, the Web exploded during this performance. And the cat literally got Miley’s tongue at the very end. Classic.

The 43rd annual American Music Awards ceremony airs live on ABC this Sunday and will feature performances by such heavy-hitters as Justin Bieber, Carrie Underwood, Coldplay, Gwen Stefani, and One Direction.

Additional reporting by Lyndsey Parker