Despite the fact that Russell Brand is set to host the 2009 Video Music Awards, we’re still having trouble mustering up anything resembling genuine enthusiasm for the ceremony. That’s not to say we’re not excited to see that this year’s show will be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall instead of a high-school gymnasium, like last year’s ceremony, but our tolerance for the possible pleasure of seeing some sort of celebrity spectacle go down is outweighed by our general distaste for MTV’s annual attempt to pretend it still has some semblance of music cred. Also, how exactly does the network expect us to give a rat’s ass when Major Lazer didn’t even get any nominations? Well, we’ll tell you! The promotions group put together this thematically disjointed clip of some of today’s most popular artists some talented (Taylor Swift, Ne-Yo), some not (Katy Perry, Cobra Starship) singing and dancing along to a hastily rewritten version of “Tonight” from the legendary musical West Side Story. We’re just thankful that Leonard Bernstein isn’t alive to hear what they’ve done to his song. That said, if Russell Brand makes good on his promise from the song to impregnate Lady Gaga during the show, then we’ll definitely tune in.
