Here's another example: Lady Gaga at the 2010 VMAs. That year, she received a whopping 13 nominations (the most in VMA history) and won eight, including Video of the Year for "Bad Romance."

I think it's safe to say that artists are informed beforehand that they won the award, and Gaga definitely knew this because she came prepared -- she arrived with three different wardrobe changes planned for the three times she was going to have to walk onstage, ending the night in her now-iconic meat dress (shock value at its finest).

She used this big moment to promote her music by singing a short clip of mega-hit-in-the-making "Born This Way," creating a huge stream of media coverage and getting the general public excited for its release. All of these things ultimately made the night, and arguably the next ten months or so, all about Gaga, and her Born This Way album went on to sell 1 million copies in its first week. What a marketing genius.

Another example of these business schemes in action is Britney Spears at the 2008 VMAs, the year after Spears' mental breakdown. Unsurprisingly, the night was all about her. Britney opened the show with "Piece of Me," had some lengthy monologue with Jonah Hill onstage afterwards, and won all three of the awards she was nominated for, including Video of the Year.

Many called out the explicit publicity stunt, while others argued back by saying she deserved the awards sooner or later, for all she has done for MTV. Was this just a way to make Spears' return seem like a true "comeback"? I guess it's all cool with me, because I just loved to see Britney onstage in a shimmery dress looking healthy again.

This leads in to one of the biggest reasons why I love the VMAs: the moments. Certain music connoisseurs, like Britney, Gaga and the late Michael Jackson, just know how to do music-awards shows right, those who you know when they arrive on that red carpet are going to create something for the history books.

Who can forget Gaga's blood-drenched performance in 2009, or even Miley and Robin Thicke's raunchy foam-fingered antics last year? Fiona Apple's angsty speech? The Michael Jackson/Lisa Marie Presley spontaneous kiss? Taylor Swift and Kanye? Nobody.

These moments are the pop-culture check points that people like myself live for. It's exciting to sit down that one night in August when the whole music industry comes together and to be almost guaranteed that something exciting and newsworthy is about to happen before our very eyes. Who's going to dominate the headlines this year?

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