Michael Jackson’s 15-Minute 1995 VMAs Medley: How It Became an MTV Landmark

---

By Mockulus Editorial
October 13, 2026

Michael Jackson opened the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards with a roughly 15-minute medley that critics, MTV and fans still rank among the best live performances in the show’s history. The ceremony aired live on September 7, 1995, from Radio City Music Hall in New York, and MJ didn’t wait until the end of the night to deliver it.

The Performance

According to the event’s setlist, the medley began with a sample of “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” then moved through “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Scream,” “Beat It,” “Black or White,” “Billie Jean,” “Dangerous,” and finally “You Are Not Alone.” The “Beat It” section included Vincent Price’s laugh from “Thriller,” and “Dangerous” carried elements of “Smooth Criminal.”

Guitarist Slash joined him for “Black or White,” which fan documentation describes as their first time performing together since the final Tokyo concert of the Dangerous World Tour in 1992. For the “Billie Jean” introduction, Slash played an extended solo while MJ changed costumes, and a white curtain was used to project MJ’s silhouette. Rehearsals took place from August 25 to September 1 at Sony Music Studios in New York, according to the same fan accounts.

The Timing

The performance came as MJ was promoting “HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I,” released earlier that year. It also arrived after a period away from live performing amid the 1993 allegations against him, a stretch Wikipedia and fan documentation describe the VMAs set as ending. That context is why the performance carried weight beyond its choreography.

MJ and sister Janet Jackson had 11 nominations between them that night, the most of any act, for the “Scream” video. It won three awards, according to Wikipedia.

How It’s Been Received

Billboard ranked the medley among the 23 best VMA performances, saying it “set the standard” for later Video Vanguard medleys, a critics’ opinion rather than a measurable fact. Rolling Stone listed it among the best opening performances in VMA history. In a 2011 audience vote, as reported by American Songwriter, fans picked it as Best VMA Pop Performance and Most Iconic VMA Performance.

The performance also fits into MJ’s long relationship with the network. MTV gave him its Video Vanguard Award in 1988 and renamed it the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in his honor three years later, according to Smooth Radio. The award is still handed out and now carries his name.

Why It Still Gets Revisited

A medley that covers 10 songs from a solo career spanning two decades, with costume changes, extended dance sections and a live guitarist, is rare on a televised awards show, which usually limits performances to a single song or short mashup. That structure is part of why the 1995 set keeps being cited as a blueprint for later artists given the VMAs spotlight.

Whether it was the best live moment on MTV is a matter of opinion. What’s documented is the setlist, the setting and the recognition it has received, which is enough to explain why it’s still a reference point nearly 30 years later.

Sources: Wikipedia, Michael Jackson Shows Wiki and Billboard