# MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video

The MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative (also known as Best Alternative Music Video) was first given out at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. Prior to being called Best Alternative Video, it was known as Best Post-Modern Video in 1989 and 1990.
After the 1998 ceremony, this award was eliminated, and it was not presented until over two decades later, when it was brought back for the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, under the name Best Alternative. During its discontinuation, artists and videos who would have normally been eligible for this award became eligible for other genre categories, including Best Rock Video.
Nirvana is the biggest winner of this award, winning all three of their consecutive bids for the Moonman from 1992 to 1994. In terms of nominations, though, there are a multitude of artists all with three nominations. These include Green Day, Nirvana, Willow, Machine Gun Kelly, Imagine Dragons and Twenty One Pilots.

## Recipients
### 1990s

Recipients :
| Year | Winner(s) | Video | Nominees | Ref. |
| 1991 | Jane's Addiction | "Been Caught Stealing" | Jesus Jones – "Right Here, Right Now" R.E.M. – "Losing My Religion" The Replacements – "When It Began" | |
| 1992 | Nirvana | "Smells Like Teen Spirit" | Pearl Jam – "Alive" Red Hot Chili Peppers – "Give It Away" The Soup Dragons – "Divine Thing" | |
| 1993 | Nirvana | "In Bloom" | 4 Non Blondes – "What's Up?" Belly – "Feed the Tree" Porno for Pyros – "Pets" Stone Temple Pilots – "Plush" | |
| 1994 | Nirvana | "Heart-Shaped Box" | Beck – "Loser" Green Day – "Longview" The Smashing Pumpkins – "Disarm" | |
| 1995 | Weezer | "Buddy Holly" | The Cranberries – "Zombie" Green Day – "Basket Case" Hole – "Doll Parts" Stone Temple Pilots – "Interstate Love Song" | |
| 1996 | The Smashing Pumpkins | "1979" | Bush – "Glycerine" Everclear – "Santa Monica" Foo Fighters – "Big Me" | |
| 1997 | Sublime | "What I Got" | Beck – "The New Pollution" Blur – "Song 2" Foo Fighters – "Monkey Wrench" Nine Inch Nails – "The Perfect Drug" | |
| 1998 | Green Day | "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" | Ben Folds Five – "Brick" Garbage – "Push It" Radiohead – "Karma Police" The Verve – "Bitter Sweet Symphony" | |
| 1999 | — | — | — | — |

### 2020s

Recipients :
| Year | Winner(s) | Video | Nominees |
| 2020 | Machine Gun Kelly | "Bloody Valentine" | The 1975 – "If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)" All Time Low – "Some Kind of Disaster" Lana Del Rey – "Doin' Time" FINNEAS – "Let's Fall in Love for the Night" Twenty One Pilots – "Level of Concern" |
| 2021 | Machine Gun Kelly (featuring Blackbear) | "My Ex's Best Friend" | Bleachers – "Stop Making This Hurt" Glass Animals – "Heat Waves" Imagine Dragons – "Follow You" Twenty One Pilots – "Shy Away" Willow (featuring Travis Barker) – "Transparent Soul" |
| 2022 | Måneskin | "I Wanna Be Your Slave" | Imagine Dragons and JID – "Enemy" Avril Lavigne (featuring Blackbear) – "Love It When You Hate Me" Machine Gun Kelly (featuring Willow) – "Emo Girl" Panic! at the Disco – "Viva Las Vengeance" Twenty One Pilots – "Saturday" Willow and Avril Lavigne (featuring Travis Barker) – "Grow" |
| 2023 | Lana Del Rey (featuring Jon Batiste) | "Candy Necklace" | Blink-182 – "Edging" Boygenius – "The Film" Fall Out Boy – "Hold Me Like a Grudge" Paramore – "This Is Why" Thirty Seconds to Mars – "Stuck" |
| 2024 | Benson Boone | "Beautiful Things" | Bleachers – "Tiny Moves" Hozier – "Too Sweet" Imagine Dragons – "Eyes Closed" Linkin Park – "Friendly Fire" Teddy Swims – "Lose Control (Live)" |