When M.I.A. held up her middle finger during Madonna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show last weekend, she dominated blog chatter for a few days and incited a few minor cable-TV debates. She could have to pay a fine, and she’s definitely changed the narrative around her next album. But she hasn’t gotten anywhere near the pantheon of music’s most controversial live-TV performances; she didn’t even hold that finger proudly up to the camera. If she really wanted to start riots, she should’ve taken note of the moments on our list below. Add your own picks to the comments section.

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Last week we found ourselves liking Janet’s Daft Punk-sampling “So Much Betta.” Now she has a funny set of Joel Schumacher-directed skits running on MTV to coincide with her “Artist Of The Week” run, which started yesterday. So here’s Ms. Jackson hamming (and skateboarding) her way through spoofs of My Super Sweet 16, Making the Band, A Shot At Love, etc. Keep your eyes peeled for the breakdown scene: As many censor beeps as when Jimmy Kimmel fucked Ben Affleck. Just maybe not as sexy.

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It’s really embarrassing, every time you run into Janet whilst with your parents and Mom says “OMG this child was conceived listening to you!” right? Well that pregnant soundbite was the biggest news from Ms. Jackson this year — until she went all out on this high concept clip for vocal filtered new single “Feedback,” which has her dancing on planets with a crew in tights. We know, an intergalactic dance sequence could get a little cheesily fantastical. But the director’s got your disbelief suspension right here: there’s dust that rises from the planets whenever she dances, see. After that, it’s a green screen video, with JJ & The Space Aliens dancing in front of a closeup of a gravity defying cup of milk.

Discipline is out 2/28 on Island.

Every week, we dig in the archives for videos that we find noteworthy, memorable, or just unbelievably stupid. And then, Jon McMillan breaks ‘em down for you. Why Video Hangover? Because when you watch as many videos as we do, you’re going to feel it afterwards.

“What’s It Gonna Be?!”
Busta Rhymes (Featuring Janet Jackson), 1999

How much money would you spend to get people to stop mistaking you for Coolio?

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