MTV’S AWARDS SHOW HITS CASUAL NOTE

Just about every convention associated with awards shows was scuttled for MTV’s third annual Music Video Awards telecast Friday night.

Last year’s show, hosted by Eddie Murphy, was a typical tuxedoed affair. It was slow, stuffy and boring--certainly not in keeping with MTV’s flashy image. By contrast, this year’s show was a loose, casual, amusing, rather chaotic affair--a virtual send-up of awards shows.

The staging was certainly ambitious: a bicoastal affair, with attention divided between ceremonies at the Universal Amphitheatre here and and New York’s Palladium. Live feeds also “brought” participants from such other cities as Houston, London and Rotterdam.

Rather than a single big-name host, MTV video jockeys served as roving anchors. Since there was no podium, stars presented awards from odd places, such as dressing rooms. The Norwegian band a-ha, whose “Take on Me” video was one of the evening’s big winners, accepted one of its awards backstage at a concert hall in Houston.

In fact, the presentation of awards--the supposed purpose of the show--was downplayed in favor of keeping the spotlight on live performances. On past MTV awards shows, guests lip-synched their songs. But this one featured live vocals by such acts as Van Halen, Simply Red, Mr. Mister, Whitney Houston, the Monkees, Robert Palmer and INXS.

Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” won the evening’s top award: video of the year. Other key winners included Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know” (female video), Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” (male video), “Money For Nothing” (group video), Tina Turner and Bryan Adams’ “It’s Only Love” (stage performance) and a-ha’s “Take on Me” (new artist and concept video).

NOTES: Of the live performers, INXS, seemed to fare best. The young Australian band’s rendition of its hit single, ‘What You Need,” was highly praised backstage at the Universal Amphitheatre. By contrast, ‘til tuesday fared worst. Lead singer Aimee Mann’s droning, off-key vocals didn’t make you eager to catch her next live show.

Robert Palmer, Whitney Houston, Belinda Carlisle, Elvira, and INXS were among the stars who spoke to the media backstage at Universal.

Responding to the usual inane questions (“How does it feel too win tonight?”), the celebrities served up the usual inane answers. It got so bad that Palmer, famed for his candor, even scolded someone for asking stupid questions.

None of the stars rapped MTV, although the 24-hour cable music channel has been knocked lately for losing some of its punch, but Palmer (who else?) did get in a dig at videos: “When they’re good, they’re great . . . but most of the time I like to see them with the sound off.”