Music has gone through a lot of changes since the American Music Awards debuted on Feb. 19, 1974, as a fan-driven alternative to the Grammy Awards. American Music Awards 50th Anniversary Special, a two-hour special that aired on Sunday, Oct. 6, captured many of those changes in smartly curated segments and fresh performances.
Fifty years is a long time, of course. Two of the three co-hosts of that first show (Roger Miller and Helen Reddy) are no longer with us, nor is the show’s creator, legendary TV producer Dick Clark. The show recently switched networks, from ABC to CBS, which aired this anniversary show and will air the next regular AMA broadcast in May.
The original plan was for the AMAs to debut on CBS with a regular best-of-the-past-year broadcast. Someone had the bright idea to first remind the audience of the AMAs’ considerable history before relaunching the show (which has been on hiatus since 2022.)
Motown legend Smokey Robinson, who was the third co-host of that first show, introduced a segment on this anniversary show. He was one of six former AMAs hosts or co-hosts to appear, along with Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez, Reba McEntire, Jimmy Kimmel and Cedric the Entertainer.
The AMAs has had a far longer life than most expected – and that includes Clark himself. In December 1973, Clark was working on the first AMAs. He knew a little publicity couldn’t hurt, so he found time for an interview with Billboard’s Bob Kirsch which ran on page one of the Dec. 15, 1973 issue under the headline “ABC-TV Slates Favorite Acts’ Awards Feb. 19.”
At the end of the piece, Clark attempted to take the long view of his fledgling show and said “If this is done properly, we may have a show that will last 20 years and will finally get the general public involved in popular music awards.”
Clark underestimated the longevity of his own creation. Next year’s AMAs will be the 51st.
American Music Awards 50th Anniversary Special was produced by Dick Clark Productions. Michael Dempsey served as executive producer.
Here are eight moments from the AMAs special in which they most effectively told the big-picture story of the vast changes in popular music in the last 50 years.
American Music Awards 50th Anniversary Special is produced by Dick Clark Productions. DCP is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a Penske Media Corporation (PMC) subsidiary and joint venture between PMC and Eldrige. PMC is the parent company of Billboard.
The show opened with a clip package from the first show, including Stevie Wonder playing “Superstition” and Gladys Knight & the Pips performing “Midnight Train to Georgia.” Both songs were No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973 and remain top-tier classics. The show then cut to Knight performing the song live, with three female backup singers taking the place of Gladys’ beloved Pips.
A clip montage of country artists who have appeared on the AMAs culminated in Kane Brown performing a relaxed version of Alan Jackson’s 2002 hit “Drive (For Daddy Gene),” which led into his own current smash “Miles on It.”
Later in the show, Brad Paisley recalled the late Charley Pride, who gave him a helping hand when Paisley was just 15. Paisley sang a bit of Pride’s endearing 1971 signature song “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” before moving on to his own new single “Truck Still Works” – a spiritual successor to his 2004 hit “Mud on the Tires.”
EGOT recipient Jennifer Hudson honored 22-time AMA winner Whitney Houston by recreating a medley Houston performed on the 1994 AMAs, a pairing of “I Loves You, Porgy” from Porgy & Bess and her own smash “I Will Always Love You” from The Bodyguard. Houston’s pairing was one of the most artistically ambitious performances in AMAs history and Hudson, who was just 12 years old at the time, did it justice. (Hudson had also paid tribute to Houston on the Grammy telecast in 2012 by performing “I Will Always Love You” – just one day after Houston’s shocking death at age 48.)
Houston grew up on the AMAs and the Grammys. In addition to her 22 AMAs wins, she co-hosted the 1988 AMAs with the Bee Gees and Mick Fleetwood.
The AMAs didn’t have hip-hop categories until the 16th show in 1989, when DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince won favorite rap/hip-hop artist and album for He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper.
A clip package collected show moments with such hip-hop stars as Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Missy Elliott, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, who had the best line when he told his mom “I guess all that music coming out of my bedroom paid off.”
Three-time AMA winner Nelly capped the segment with a medley of his greatest hits on which he was joined by Chingy, J-Kwon and members of the St. Lunatics.
Lionel Richie’s catchphrase in 1985, when he hosted the show for the second year in a row, was “Outrageous!” This anniversary show put together a fun segment of outrageous moments, including Vanilla Ice and Billy Ray Cyrus blasting their critics (and they both had a lot of them) upon accepting their awards.
(The show neglected to mention one way the AMAs earned a footnote in pop history. As chronicled in the recent Netflix film The Greatest Night in Pop, “We Are the World” was recorded on the night of the 1985 AMAs. That wasn’t just a coincidence. Ken Kragen and the other people putting the recording together knew that just about every important star would be in Los Angeles for the AMAs. That says a lot about the AMAs’ standing at the time.)
A Backstreet Boy (AJ McLean) and a member of *NSYNC (Lance Bass) introduced a segment on the history of boy bands on the AMAs. There have been more than you might have remembered, including those two groups, BTS, New Edition, New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men and One Direction.
K-pop stars Stray Kids capped the segment with a performance which included a bit of the marionette-inspired choreography of *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” leading into their own hit “Chk Chk Boom.”
Singer-songwriter RAYE was terrific on the 1966 James Brown classic “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World.” (She’s not the first woman to perform the song. Cher recorded it for her 1996 album It’s a Man’s World.)
RAYE swept the Brit Awards in February. She is currently vying for a Grammy nomination for best new artist. If enough Grammy voters watched this show, she probably gained more than a few votes.
RAYE’s performance followed a retrospective on recipients of the American Music Award of Merit, which has been presented to such greats as Brown, Bon Jovi, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Sting, Billy Joel and Whitney Houston.
The show neared its conclusion with a clip package of women artists on the AMAs through the years. Among them: Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin, Janet Jackson, Madonna, P!nk, Gwen Stefani, Taylor Swift, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Tina Turner and Lady Gaga.
That was the lead-up to a big finale of Chaka Khan performing her 1978 hit “I’m Every Woman,” backed by percussionist Sheila E. Whitney Houston covered the Ashford & Simpson song for The Bodyguard soundtrack in 1992 and had an even bigger hit with it, but on this night, we honored the originator.