Well, this is the part of the VMAs where suddenly everybody over a certain age sits straight up on the couch.
The surviving members of Nirvana reunited at the 2026 MTV VMAs to accept the Video Vanguard Award.
Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear appeared together onstage Sunday night as Nirvana was honored for the band’s enormous impact on music video and pop culture.
Nirvana received the Video Vanguard Award
The Video Vanguard Award is one of the VMAs’ biggest career honors, and seeing Nirvana receive it decades after the band completely altered the direction of popular music felt appropriately huge.
MTV and Paramount announced Nirvana as the 2026 Video Vanguard recipient, and official event photography shows Grohl, Novoselic and Smear together at the ceremony.
Kurt Cobain’s absence made this hit harder
There is obviously no version of a Nirvana reunion that does not carry Kurt Cobain’s absence with it.
That history was impossible to ignore as the surviving members stood together again.
What could have been a straightforward nostalgia moment landed with considerably more weight.
And suddenly the VMAs — which had already given us Madonna in a bathroom, Sabrina Carpenter appearing out of nowhere and Snoop Dogg hosting — became very emotional very fast.
