411's MTV TRL Total Finale Live Report

Posted by Mitch Michaels on 11.16.2008

Join 411 for live coverage of the end of an era - the final edition of MTV's "Total Request Live", plus the Top 10 Iconic TRL videos......

On September 14, 1998, MTV aired the first official edition of "Total Request Live", a daily video-countdown show that featured a live audience and regular guest appearances and performances. It didn't take long for TRL to become a cultural phenomenon, forever embedding the scene of crazy teens in a group requesting videos and giving shout-outs into the conscious of America and helping make stars out of everyone from Britney Spears to Diddy to blink-182.

Over the last couple of years, fans have moved on from the institution, and tonight MTV bids a fond farwell to the decade-long show and celebrates its heavy impact on the pop scene. And so does 411, as we cover the last 2 and a half hours of MTV's TRL.

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And here we go. This is just the funeral, as TRL bowed out (and the set was destroyed) on Thursday.

Montage of TRL moments start us out, with folks like Carson Daly, Madonna, Korn getting mobbed, Brad Pitt (promoting Se7en!), Kanye West, Britney Spears, Stevie Wonder (really?) and early days Eminem. And we're live and here comes Beyonce with an entourage of security. It's for the fans!

And Beyonce will kick us off outside in Times Square with a live performance of her new single, "If I Were A Boy". It looks cold. Oh wait, it's not outside. Guess they already turned the heat off? Tons of people outside watching on a video screen, which is nice to see, since no one cared about this show for the last couple of years. Hey, you get Beyonce in there and you have a party.

Beyonce seems to have commandeered Lenny Kravitz' band lately and has turned them into girls. I'm not a big fan of the song, but Beyonce is performing the hell out of it. Oh, and now we've launched into that "Single Ladies" song. I'm surprised a "Sasha Fierce - Out Tuesday" graphic hasn't come up yet.

"If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it." Hey, I like my dick, but...

Speaking of, Beyonce is wearing a pretty unrevealing tight black leather deal, but her jacket's too long in the back to enjoy that. Bummer.

And we get ANOTHER Beyonce number, Beyonce's "taking us back" with "Crazy In Love". Well, everyone's singing but her. Jay-Z stayed home, it seems. "Bitch, it's cold outside. Pick me up a sub while you're downtown."

Well, they've already turned Damien's mic off. He's walking with CARSON F'ing Daly and talking about...people who are there? Bad audio tonight. I don't think this is on HD anywhere, either.

Carson is talking about how it's about the fans and all the history and how it was just him and one camera and went nuts. Then he left in 2003 and...he's on late at night on some channel, right? Carson pretends that Damien Fahey made some kind of difference, hosting as people tuned out in droves. Fall Out Boy gets a shout out.

Ah, and we have a Top 10 countdown of...well, they weren't clear, but here' the final TRL Top 10, voted on by some people who work for MTV.

#10 is Outkast's "Hey Ya". And in true TRL fashion, (slightly older) girls are screaming over it as they only play part of the song. And here's our final TRL co-host, Lyndsey Rodrigues and TRL personality Hilarie Burton. Taylor Swift joins the girls and promotes the "TRL Yearbook". She signed mine "stay sweet as u are". I totally had a crush on her. She sat behind me in Biology.

Carson reminisces about a big TRL moment - the live Backstreet Boys performance in 1998 that shut down Times Square. NO SHOT OF THE BACKSTREET BOYS in that clip!

Time for commercials, and I NEED THE FUCKING TACO BELL FULLY LOADED NACHOS. But there's no way i can get there and back before the break is over. Vanessa Hudgens from High School Musical is promoting something that vibrates. I'll leave it to your imagination.

We're back with Miley Cyrus who's taking pictures in the TRL photo booth. Anyone got a cell? I think I could get her to take her top off.

Damien is back with Travis Barker in his first post plane-crash interview. He doesn't look burned. He says he feels better everyday. People cheer that he's playing drums again. Hey Travis, don't rush, take it slow man. That segues to blink-182 at #9 on the Iconic TRL Countdown with "What's My Age Again". Damien says he loved those guys running naked. OK?

Carson is back with the man who has been on TRL the most (37 times) - Sean "Puff(y) P. Diddy Daddy" Combs. We watch Diddy's slow transition from rapper to fashion enthusiast to businessman. Diddy loves fauxhawks. Diddy loves Booker T. (Can you dig it?) Diddy loves Obama. And now he's here. Carson gives us the vibe that Diddy is like that wacky next door neighbor (he had an office across the street) who pops in whether you want him to or not. Now he's crying. Over TRL? Clip of the audience heading over to Diddy's office in 2000 to hold TRL there and the time Diddy trained for a marathon by running on a treadmill for an entire show.

Commercial time. Awful shows like "The Hills" and "Paris Hilton's BFF". Sad.

Fuck the nachos, I need to get one of those new Victoria's Secret Miracle Bra models.

We're back with Ben Stiller via video, who thinks he's accepting an award. Haha. 36 minutes in and we get something cool. Carson Daly talks about how small the studio is, and we get a tour of backstage. Carson says once Fred Durst was in one room and Method Man was literally in another room next door. Epic?

Vanessa Minnillo is back there, as is Ludacris, who talks about meeting Rev. Run at a TRL of olde. And that segues to the #8 ICONIC TRL VIDEO - Usher with Lil Jon and Ludacris with "Yeah". Shortest clip yet - like 15 seconds.

HOLY FUCK! JESSE CAMP SIGHTING! He was easy to get for the show - he lives outside of the subway station a block away. He's still retarded, if you're wondering. Jesse won the "I Wanna Be A VJ" contest in '98, and he's with runner-up David Holmes, who is actually still with MTV.

Carson is back with Christina Aguilera, via satellite. She's in a tank top, but we're not getting anything tonight. Sorry boys. We go back to Christina on TRL in 1999, juuuuust before her slut period. Christina is looking a little Cyndi Lauper these days. And I don't mean that in a good way. Can you mean that in a good way?

Christina's interview is better than Travis Barker's, but still pretty uninformative. She names her albums. "It's been quite a journey". Christina likes TRL's intimate setting and that takes us to a break.

We're back with TRL ICONIC VIDEO #7 - Beyonce's "Crazy In Love".

Damien and Hilarie Barton talk about Hillarie''s start - winning an MTV contest to cover the VMA awards. Hilarie is now on "One Tree Hill". Vanessa is outside with Quddus. They give us a look back Times Square Moments - Jonas Brothers, Austin Powers, Ron Burgundy, Eminem, Ashton Kutcher does traffic, Jay-Z and Beyonce show up in a corvette, proposals, David Arquette?, Tom Cruise intros Kanye and a running human banana.

And that brings us to Fall Out Boy - WITHOUT PETE WENTZ - performing outside. The song is "I Don't Care", from Folie A Deux, which is out next month. The frontman is a pair of shorts away from Angus Young mode tonight. A guy from The Academy Is... fills in for Pete. I'm not a huge fan of FOB, but I have to admit this song is rocking me right now. Something about rock and flatbed trucks that go together like peanut butter and sadism. Pete Wentz missed the show because he's "at home adjusting to fatherhood". Someone get him some Ativan!

Rocking performance of "Sugar, We're Going Down" takes us to break. Taylor Swift gets an autograph from JC Chasez. Funny if she said "My mom loved you guys!"

MTV is dying for us to logon to MTV.com and watch their backstage footage. But then wouldn't we be NOT watching the show? Susie Castillo takes us to a performances montage - Outkast, Britney Spears, Shakira's hips don't lie, Usher dances, Kelly Clarkson rocks spring break, the fucking KILLERS, Lil Jon goes nuts on a bus, 50 Cent and Eminem know but they're acting like they don't know, Gwen Stefani ain't no hollaback girl, U2 don't belong, Green Day and damn if *NSync weren't a bunch of fags.

Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez are here! They go to the window and the crowd goes nuts. Carson likes to point out how everyone was just kids when this started. I'm not old! The boys goof on the *NSync clothes. Carson seems more comfortable talking to these guys. He's a real hit or miss interviewer, but can turn it on with the right guests. No one wants to show the footage of *NSync and Carson all dolled up for Christmas, followed by a snuggle pile-on. The guys don't remember why they did that.

Dave Holmes is outside with fat faced Jonathan Davis. No offense, his face is just huge. Has he never heard of bangs? Jonathan Davis says the same fucking thing everyone says - nice to be on TRL and see the fans. Davis talks about what it was like to be a heavy rock band on pop-oriented TRL. He talks about hanging out with Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock. Well, he confirms that he did anyway.

And going to commercials, 50 Cent is still not here! Luda signs Taylor's yearbook. "Stay cool". We see an old clip of Eminem just happening to show up outside. It would have been funnier if he'd been buying groceries.

Carson Daly is back and Kid Rock joins us, smoking and drinking. He will NEVER PUT THE CIGAR OUT! Carson talks about Kid's rise to power, which segues us to the #6 TRL ICONIC VIDEO - Kid Rock's "Bawitdaba". Kid talks about making the video and how TRL put it over. You know, for good or bad, TRL is the last bastion of "getting excited about music videos" around. What's going to take its place? YouTube?

Kid talks about how TRL played a lot of different type of music and how he was cool with it. Kid's coming off cool tonight. Carson muses about the 500th episode, when Kid sent him a truckload of strippers led by Joe C.

The MTV News team is hanging out and introduces the Top 5 MTV News TRL moments of all-time. #5 - AJ from the Backstreet Boys announces he's going to rehab, #4 - TRL breaks the news of the blink-182 breakup, #3 - Nick Carter goes to jail, #2 - Britney Spears fils for divorce and #1 - Obama wins the election thank to the TRL fans(?).

Carson talks with John Norris about going live just after 9/11. I remember the days after 9/11 as the days MTV finally showed music videos 24/7 again. Good times.

Commercials, and boy that new Jim Carrey movie looks like a piece of shit.

We come back with Miley Cyrus trying to out photo-booth Snoop Dogg. Wow, was the embarassingly lame. Diddy is hanging with Damien. Diddy claims that his record is 40 appearances - they cheated him out of 2. We get a montage of Diddy promoting things on TRL. Ha! Mario Winanas, the Sean John Store, Bad Boys of Comedy, Mase, Raisin In The Sun, Making The Band 3, B.I.G.....it's the fucking Diddy Home Shopping Network. Very funny stuff.

Diddy promotes for one last 15 seconds on TRL - his new cologne 'I Am King", the Notorious B.I.G. album and save energy - turn off the lights!

Ludacris is here to perform "One More Drink", from his new album out next week. Noticing a theme - if you've got a new album coming out, you show up. If not, you do the satellite. Unless you're Pete Wentz. Then you just have sex with men. Luda runs through "Stand Up" too, and here comes Nelly, who says fuck the new shit and launches right into "Hot In Herre". Give the fans what they want, right? And Snoop Dogg is out with "Drop It Like It's Hot" to complete this one-time only rap collaboration of guys from different places, or something like that. Nelly and Luda jump in. A fun meeting of some real giants of the TRL era. We look back at Heidi Montag rapping very badly for Nelly on TRL a few months ago. Nelly says he gives her an A for effort, even though it sucked. Carson reminesces about Snoop and Dre shutting down Times Square in '99 for "Still Dre".

We head to commercials with Snoop doing "The Night Before Christmas" in 2000.

Who exactly plans on watching that Australia movie?

Damien's not sure how he feels as we come back from commercial. Unemployed? We go back to Damien spitting on Tyra Banks' mouth back in 2003. Anything can happen, it's live! Carson talks about Mariah Carey showing up unexpectedly with ice cream in 2001. Nice shot of Beyonce taking off her shirt as Carson Daly just stands and says "what are you doing?". Funny line as Carson admits "I am a tool. Jimmy Fallon was right."

Susie brings in Hilary Duff. Hilary talks about her biggest memory of TRL - seeing Jennifer Lopez. We get clips of Hilary and Will Ferrell ice-skating in the studio. Hilary makes the big reveal - she was nervous! There is an air of sadness tonight as evrybody gets in their last hug - which is funny because only a couple of these people actually work there!

Carson is back with more Christina via satellite and we talk about "Genie In A Bottle"'s video being retired. Which takes us to the #5 ICONIC TRL VIDEO - "Dirrty". What's the word you type for when you're getting a hard on? Bhuhuhaaaah. Christina says she wasn't a ho - just an empowerd 20 year old. Christina also talks about the "Beautiful" video and how much it meant to fans.

And that takes us to more commercials.

We come back with the #4 ICONIC TRL VIDEO - *NSync's "Bye Bye Bye". Justin Timberlake is out to talk with Damien about the time TRL surprised Justin with Halle Berry in 2002. Justin talks about how TRL pretty much made his carer.

Fall Out Boy is here and Pete Wentz is on the phone from LA, as Ashlee is expecting any day. The guys from FOB miss Pete. Awww. Fall Out Boy talk about their first performance on TRL during Spring Break of 2005. I like the Skynyrd version of Patrick Stump over the new Angus Young version. Pete Wentz talks about the irony of how his FNMTV is pretty much taking the place of TRL.

And it's another break. Snoop is signing Taylor's yearbook.

We return with the #3 ICONIC TRL VIDEO - The Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way". And Samuel L. Jackson is out to announce he's been on TRL more times than any other Hollywood actor. And it's the moherfucking Backstreet Boys to perform "That Way". Girls are still going nuts. You'd think it were five years ago if Kevin Richardson was there. Or if AJ McLean wasn't sober. I have to appreciate how much the crowd LOVES THIS FUCKING SONG. And once again, I can't help but notice the crowd is a little older than in the TRL heyday. Guess they aren't FNMTV's target audience.

John Norris takes us back to Backsteet performing outside in 1998. Nick Carter talks about what an honor it was to fuck up traffic in Times Square. AJ talks about breaking the news of his rehab on TRL. AJ says that he wanted to be honest with the fans in a family way, and TRL was the best way to reach them. John Norris ends by saying that Backstreet outlived all the other boy bands and outlived TRL. Accurate but midleading.

Carson is backstage and sees Good Charlotte, who he didn't even know was coming. He takes us to the nice area, where there's punch and cookies. All about the fans, huh? Where the fuck are my cookies!

Time for more commercials. Chris Brown sends his love from Sydney, Australia. Nothing sluttier than an Aussie girl at a pop concert. Bhuhuhaaaah.

Miley Cyrus is still in the photo booth. She's trying on Avril poses. Give the girl a camera and she'll keep herself busy for hours.

Carson reminisces about the classic film 8 Mile, and what could be TRL's biggest outdoor crowd ever when Eminem came to town. Eminem is just on the phone. What's with all the fucking teasing if he's not even there? Em is in a good mood. Being a recluse has worked well for him. Em talks about being on the show and being overcome with emotion and Carson asks why - "it's a little crazy". OK. Carson says he and Em should by the place and start it up again. Step 1) purchase the building. Step 2) Give 50 Cent a can of gas and FNMTV's studio address.

Eminem refuses to talk about the new album. Carson is like please, but Em is literally like "Nah." Which brings us to the #2 ICONIC TRL VIDEO - Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady". Em's last comment - "Why wasn't it #1?"

But before Eminem goes, he introduces us to his partner in crime - 50 Cent - who gets the Goldberg entrance as he lays down "In Da Club" live. While the sound quality hasn't been great tonight, the performances have been extremely energetic with spot-on vocals. "In Da Club" gives way to the new single, "Get Up". Not to be confused with Luda's "Stand Up". I like the way everyone is performing their big TRL-era single tonight to go with their new stuff. Very respectful of the whole retrospective concept. "Get Up" is a banger.

Carson hugs 50 Cent and Fiddy says its exciting and sad to lose this great promotional vehicle. Does Fiddy ever NOT sound like he just woke up?

And now more commercials, as this fucker is running long. We come back with Good Charlotte's brothers Madden, who join Vanessa to talk about - what else - Pete Wentz. The guys talk about being hosts and how meeting Justin Timberlake and some comedians are their favorite moments.

And Justin Timberlake is here to pimp Esmee Denters, the first artist on his label. Justin makes fun of Lyndsey's accent. I guess he didn't read my musings on Aussie chicks around pop stars. Esmee is honored to make her debut on the final episode of TRL, and we get a clip of her performing live with JT. First single up for download next week and benefits sick kids. How could you not buy it motherfucking heartless bastard!

Justin talks about writing and being in Rihanna's new video "Rehab", which will be premiering on FNMTV tomorrow. It's the circle of life.

Taylor is happy because Diddy signed her yearbook with all of his AKs. And, what the fuck, Taylor Swift is giving away the autographed yearbook. I'm shocked!

And one last set of ads before we get to the #1 ICONIC VIDEO, which is.....

First, Carson and Damien give a recap of Britney Spears on TRL, from virginal teen jailbait to dance queen to complete slutty pop diva. Bunch of clips of Britney videos, minus one very obvious one. Funny how MTV foreshadowed this in their schedule, as Total Finale Live was set to run until 10:30, and 10:30-11:00 was scheduled as "The Britney Collection".

And so, the #1 ICONIC TRL VIDEO is Britney Spears "...Baby One More Time". Crowd is dancing and singing. Britney's not there. Schoolgirl Britney - so many memories of me with my pants off.

And that's all. Kid Rock and Snoop dance as we come to a close. Carson thanks everybody and takes a random shot at LFO as we end the show.

Well, other than being a little too long, this was a fitting end to TRL. Nothing groundbreaking, but even I got a little nostalgic, and I hardly listened to any of this music when it was rocking during the TRL-era. The video countdown held it together well, which is really the story of the show itself. Carson Daly and all the other VJs showed some real emotion about the show ending, and the clips showed that it really was a good time at its best moments.

So, cheers to TRL and hello FNMTV.

TRL ICONIC VIDEO COUNTDOWN:

#10 - Outkast - "Hey Ya"
#9 - blink-182 - "What's My Age Again"
#8 - Usher feat. Lil Jon & Ludacris - "Yeah"
#7 - Beyonce - "Crazy In Love"
#6 - Kid Rock - "Bawitdaba"
#5 - Christina Aguilera - "Dirrty"
#4 - *NSync - "Bye Bye Bye"
#3 - Backstreet Boys - "I Want It That Way"
#2 - Eminem - "The Real Slim Shady"
#1 - Britney Spears - "...Baby One More Time"