The American Music Awards started 28 years ago. "ABC had just lost the Grammys and needed something to replace them," says Dick Clark, the ageless pop producer who puts on the latest AMAs — starring Britney Spears and LL Cool J as cohosts — Monday night.
The AMAs are often more fun than the Grammys — and have often had higher ratings — even if they're not as prestigious. The AMAs are judged on a combination of airplay and sales (a polling organization takes these data and then polls 20,000 members of the public for the final tally), vs. the industry peer vote that determines the Grammys.
Clark, now 71 years young, has lined up a formidable array of performers — and performances, rather than speeches, are the core of the AMAs. Monday's acts include Aerosmith (which is also getting the International Artist Award, previously given to Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart, and the Bee Gees), Spears, Toni Braxton, Billy Gilman, Jennifer Lopez, Marilyn Manson ("he'll probably raise eyebrows," says Clark), Ricky Martin, Martina McBride, OutKast, Pink, Shedaisy, Jessica Simpson and 3 Doors Down.
In addition, Janet Jackson will receive the annual Award of Achievement but will not perform.
Finalists in the male pop category include Marc Anthony, Eminem and Kid Rock. Female finalists include Spears, Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion and Faith Hill.
Clark, who jokes that he's "been around since the dawn of time," usually stages the AMAs in late January but changed the date this year to distance them from the People's Choice Awards, which are typically held a night earlier. "But then the People's Choice Awards moved so they'd be right on top of us again," says Clark. The PCAs are Sunday night, but "it really doesn't matter because they don't compete directly with us," he adds. "They have all kinds of awards, but ours are strictly music."
The AMAs do compete, however, with the Grammys, at least in booking performers. There has been some bad blood between producers of the AMAs and the Grammys in recent years, much of it coming from Mike Greene, head of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, which stages the Grammys. He has been known to tell performers that if they play the AMAs, they can't play the Grammys. But he's partially relaxed that stance since the Grammys recently have won higher ratings than the AMAs.
"My proudest thing is that we pushed the Grammys into the 21st century. They do a great job now," says Clark. "Some people we have tentatively booked have jumped ship to the Grammys, but it's no longer verboten to do both shows. You can do both if they want you badly enough."
Clark, who also just produced another of his famed New Year's Eve shows, has been in the music business for 54 years but has no plans to retire.
"I don't want to stop. I never dreamed of doing anything else," he says.
RECORD RELEASES: The big upcoming release is "Everyday" by the Dave Matthews Band, which will come out Feb. 27. The scene is fairly quiet for the next few weeks, since record labels know that consumers need to catch their breath after the holidays. Here are a few dates and titles: Jan. 16: A three-CD Jello Biafra set called "Become the Media" and Silkk the Shocker's "My World, My Way." Jan. 23: Jennifer Lopez ("J Lo"), the Donnas ("The Donnas Turn 21"), and Sleepy LaBeef ("Rockabilly Blues"). Jan. 30: Frank Black & the Catholics ("Dog in the Sand") and ex-Television member Richard Lloyd ("The Cover Doesn't Matter").
Top Internet artists: Billboard added two new categories to its year-end chart lists — top Internet artists and top Internet albums. As for Internet artists, from 1 to 10: Santana, 'N Sync, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Creed, Madonna, Sting, Radiohead, Eminem, Metallica. As for Billboard's top 10 overall artists, based on radio airplay and sales, from 1 to 10: Spears, 'N Sync, Eminem, Santana, Dr. Dre, Creed, Kid Rock, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, and the Dixie Chicks.