Irish pop singer Sinead O'Connor dominated the seventh annual MTV Music Video Awards Thursday in a ceremony marked by censorship protests and blatant commercialism.
The 23-year-old O'Connor won video of the year, best female video and postmodern video for "Nothing Compares 2 U," in which an unflinching camera closes in on her closely cropped head and does not let go, even when she cries.O'Connor had created a stir last month when she threatened to walk out on an audience of 9,000 at the Garden State Arts Center in New Jersey if the state-owned open-air amphitheater played the national anthem before her show.
"I'd like to say I had a great respect for people of all countries, including American people," she told the sellout crowd at the Universal Amphitheater, which gave her a standing ovation.
"My attitude over the national anthem was in order to draw attention to the censorship issue," she added. "When it's racism disguised as censorship, it's even worse."
Madonna, who performed a racy version of her "Vogue" video while clad in an 18th-century French costume reminiscent of Marie Antoinette, saw her video capture three statues - for David Fincher's direction, Martin Lasowitz's art direction and Pascal Lebeque's cinematography.
Michael Penn walked away with the new artist award for his densely written "No Myth." Also, two old groups enjoying new success picked up awards: the B-52's for best group and art direction for their exuberant "Love Shack," and Aerosmith for metal-hard rock for "Janie's Got a Gun."
Penn, actor Sean Penn's brother, blew past critically acclaimed competitors such as Black Crowes, Lisa Stansfield and Lenny Kravitz.
Ex-Eagle Don Henley beat Billy Idol and M.C. Hammer in the best male video category for "End of the Innocence." But M.C. Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" won in rap and dance categories.
The show's highlight was a performance by rap group 2 Live Crew of "Banned in the USA," a rap version of Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."
The performance sparked a prolonged dancefest by audience members who waved bumper stickers reading, "Censorship Is UnAmerican."
The rappers, whose "As Nasty As They Want To Be" album has been banned by some record stores, called the reaction to their explicit music racist.
It was a disappointing night for last year's big winner, Laker Girl-turned-megastar Paula Abdul, whose "Opposites Attract" video was shut out, despite six nominations.
Idol won for the "Cradle of Love" video adapted from the film "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane," Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation" won for choreography, Tears for Fears got breakthrough video and special effects honors for "Sowing the Seeds of Love."
Janet Jackson was named in advance as the recipient of the 1990 Video Vanguard award, MTV's highest honor. The sister of pop icon Michael Jackson is the first woman artist to occupy the five highest spots on the Billboard charts with cuts from a single album.
Noted more for on-stage drawing power than historical significance, the MTV Awards were broadcast live on the Music Television cable channel from the Universal Amphitheater.