PulpIt seemed like a good idea at the time. As Michael Jackson performed Earth Song at the 1996 Brit Awards, Jarvis Cocker thought he should be part of the action.
After running onto the stage, the Pulp singer wiggled his bum at the King of Pop, before security sent him scurrying.
“My actions were a form of protest at the way Michael Jackson sees himself as some kind of Christ-like figure with the power of healing,” Cocker later explained.
“I just ran on the stage. I didn’t make any contact with anyone as far as I recall.”
The incident split the English music world. Blur’s Damon Albarn said it was “really disturbing”, but Oasis’s Noel Gallagher declared, “Jarvis Cocker is a star” and deserving of an MBE.
What about Michael Jackson? Well, he didn’t enjoy the interruption, saying: “I’m sickened, saddened, shocked, upset, cheated and angry, but immensely proud that the cast remained professional and the show went on.”
Cocker was detained by police but released without charge.
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Jackson’s team claimed that Cocker had knocked over some of the children who were performing as backing dancers. But Cocker says David Bowie helped save him.
Footage taken by Bowie’s personal camera crew showed that none of the children had been assaulted.
Cocker – who kicks off his Australian tour with Pulp in Brisbane next Tuesday – says the incident had a negative effect on his mental health, sending him into a “dark spiral”, an “overload” of intrusive celebrity that he wasn’t prepared for.
So, what is it about music award shows that brings out the best – and worst – in artists?
Here are 10 other memorable moments that happened at an awards show, including an incident that rocked an Aussie star on the same night that Jarvis invaded Jacko’s stage.
“I’d like to thank God”
Thanking God is par for the course at an American awards show. But Australia’s Helen Reddy caused a stir when she became the first Australian pop artist to win a Grammy – Best Vocal Performance, Female for I Am Woman in 1973 – beating Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon and Roberta Flack.
“I want to thank everyone concerned at Capitol Records,” Reddy said. “I would like to thank [my husband and manager] Jeff Wald, because he makes my success possible, and I would like to thank God, because She makes everything possible.”
The remark polarised the American audience. Jeff Wald says Reddy received more than 7000 angry letters.
It started with a kiss
Another awards show moment triggered conservatives in America.
At the MTV Video Music Awards in 2003, Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera performed together.
Madonna showed her gratitude by kissing both Britney and Christina – as Britney’s ex Justin Timberlake looked on.
A Swift – and silly – response
Six years later, the VMAs witnessed an even bigger scandal when Kanye West decided to ambush Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech.
The emerging superstar had just won Best Female Video for You Belong With Me, but Kanye was not happy.
“Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, and Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!”
Even President Obama called Kanye a “jackass”.
Eat this!
Australian awards shows are no strangers to controversy. The great Cold Chisel dominated the 1981 TV Week Countdown Rock Music Awards, winning a record seven awards.
They refused to accept any of the trophies but agreed to close the show with a live performance of My Turn To Cry, an album track from East.
Unbeknownst to the organisers, Chisel had changed the lyrics to attack TV Week. “I never saw you at the Astra Hotel,” Barnesy spat. “I never saw you in Fitzroy Street, and now you’re tryin’ to use my face to sell TV Week … So eat this! Eat this!”
TV Week discontinued its association with the awards after the show-stopping performance.
Ferry cross the Morris
The first five ARIA Awards were not televised. The inaugural event, in 1987, was hosted by Elton John, who urged ARIA to keep them off the telly “if you want these awards to stay fun”.
The first big ARIAs drama happened in the second year, when Ian “Molly” Meldrum and Gary Morris renewed an old feud.
Perhaps still smarting from the fact that Midnight Oil boycotted Countdown, Molly didn’t appreciate the Oils manager having a crack at 1988’s special guest Bryan Ferry.
“I simply made an off-hand remark to Bryan Ferry when I got up,” Gary Morris recalls. “He had a very crushed suit, and I said something like, ‘The Poms look at us as being pretty archaic down here, but we’ve got room service. You could have ordered an iron, mate.”
Molly wasn’t happy. “Poor Gary had obviously spent too much time in the Outback and didn’t realise that was how the suit was supposed to look.
“When I got up later in the night, I pointed out that Gary was staying in one of the very expensive hotel rooms, on behalf of Midnight Oil, and he was wearing what looked like a very expensive suit.
“Then I said, ‘If we’re talking about disrespect, what was he doing up here accepting the awards and not Midnight Oil?’
“Then it all boiled over.”
Bob Dylan & the soy bomb
The legendary Bob Dylan performed Love Sick at the 1998 Grammy Awards.
Halfway through the song, he was joined on stage by a dancing man, with the words “Soy Bomb” emblazoned on his bare chest.
The man later explained that soy “represents dense nutritional life. And a bomb is, obviously, an explosive, destructive force. So, soy bomb is what I think art should be: dense, transformational, explosive life.”
The great artist didn’t miss a beat.
Has-beens & gonna-bes
Michael Hutchence had been an Oasis fan. All that changed on the night of the Brit Awards in 1996.
When the INXS singer presented the trophy for British Video of the Year to Oasis for Wonderwall, Noel Gallagher mocked him:
“Has-beens shouldn’t present fucking awards to gonna-bes.”
Hutchence was reportedly gutted. He would later return to the studio to add some backing vocals to Elegantly Wasted, the title track of what would be his last album with INXS.
Listen closely and instead of “I am elegantly wasted”, you might just hear, “I’m better than Oasis.”
Fox on the run
When it comes to stuff-ups and surprises, the Brit Awards just keep on giving.
In 1995, when Prince rose to accept the trophy for Best International Male Solo Artist, the word “SLAVE” was scrawled on his cheek.
The purple prose was the artist declaring war on his record label, Warner Bros, and the entire music industry.
“In concert, perfectly free,” he said in his acceptance speech. “On record, slave.”
And in 1989, the Brits were hosted by Samantha Fox and Mick Fleetwood. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, a lot, actually. The dynamic duo missed cues and forgot to read nominations. When they introduced the Four Tops, Boy George appeared instead. And they failed to show a recorded message from Michael Jackson.
Look up trainwreck in the dictionary, and you’ll find a picture of the 1989 Brits and the 2010 ARIAs.
The Brit organisers were so aghast that the next 18 years of the Brits were pre-recorded.
Sam Fox would later say, “I was just waiting for that time to come when the love affair with the British press ended, and it was the Brits.”
Sweetness and Light … and ecstasy dealers
In 1995, the ARIA Awards introduced a new category – Best Dance Release.
The winners were dance duo Itch-E and Scratch-E for Sweetness and Light.
They made one of the most memorable acceptance speeches in ARIA Awards history, with one sentence bleeped from the broadcast that went to air.
As well as community radio, DJs, and “all the ravers”, Paul Mac (Itch-E) gave thanks to “all the ecstasy dealers in Sydney”.
And the sponsor of that year’s ARIAs? The National Drug Offensive.
And the winner is … Jethro Tull?
At the 1989 Grammy Awards, they got hip to the fact that hard rock and heavy metal were selling millions of albums, so they introduced a new award – Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance.
The nominees were Metallica (for …And Justice For All), AC/DC (Blow Up Your Video), Jane’s Addiction (Nothing’s Shocking), Iggy Pop (Cold Metal) and Jethro Tull (Crest Of A Knave).
The veteran British band was surprised to even be nominated, and their record company told them not to bother rocking up, because they wouldn’t win.
And the Grammy went to … Jethro Tull.
After the shock success, Tull took out an ad in Billboard, showing a photo of their trademark instrument with the caption: “The flute is a heavy, metal instrument.”
And Metallica added a sticker to their album that proclaimed: “Grammy Award LOSERS”.
