While the 2025 ‘MTV Video Music Awards‘ celebrated rock with an all-star tribute to late heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne that featured YUNGBLUD alongside members of Aerosmith and Extreme, it would appear that rock is no longer on the menu at the annual awards show in 2026.
The ‘Best Rock’ category is newly missing from this year’s just announced list of nominees. However, given that last year saw Coldplay beat out Linkin Park, Evanescence and more for that award, this may be for the best.
Interestingly, this year finds the ‘Best Alternative’ category remaining in place, with Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst in contention thanks to his nü-metal-oriented collab with MGK scoring a nomination. The nominees in that category include:
Geese – “Taxes“
mgk & Fred Durst – “FIX UR FACE“
Noah Kahan – “The Great Divide“
Olivia Rodrigo – “the cure“
SOMBR – “Homewrecker“
Tame Impala – “Dracula“
twenty one pilots – “Drag Path“
Fan voting for this year’s awards are currently underway via vote.mtv.com. This year’s awards will broadcast live from Los Angeles, CA on September 27th.
