Herbie Hancock performed “Rockit,” whose video won the first MTV Video Music Award for Best Special Effects.
“Rockit” was released in 1983 as a single from Hancock’s album Future Shock. The electronic track featured prominent work by bassist and producer Bill Laswell and keyboardist Michael Beinhorn, while its video used unsettling moving robot sculptures created by British artist and filmmaker Godley and Creme.
At the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards on September 14, 1984, “Rockit” won five awards, including Best Special Effects. The video’s mechanical figures dance and lurch through a stark interior, creating a visual identity very different from a conventional band performance.
Hancock was primarily known as a jazz trumpeter and keyboardist, but “Rockit” introduced his music to a wider pop and MTV audience. It also demonstrated how the new channel rewarded inventive visual concepts, not only performance footage.