American Music Awards: A list of top outrageous moments over the years

With the countdown to the AMAS 2017 resting at just a little over 20 hours right now, the world has been buzzing with what it can expect and what controversial moment is going to possibly turn into the next viral meme of the year.

Also read: The American Music Awards 2017: Here's all you need to know

What we already know is the amazing line up of performers – from KPop band BTS to Selena Gomez, and Shawn Mendes to Nick Jonas, and Lady Gaga to Christina Aguilera.

Diana Ross will be there too, taking up the dual responsibility of both performing and accepting the Lifetime Achievement award.

Hosted by Diana's daughter and Black-ish actress Tracee Ellis Ross, we can expect some family time on the stage, but will that be all or will there be some more unpredictable moments on the show?

As a tribute to every single time something outrageous has happened on the American Music Awards, here is a list of wild AMA moments since 2000.

Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake's denim fever (2001)

Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake were the ultimate 90s' it couple, and their outfits to the 2001 AMAs were no less. The two showed some power-packed PDA in the form of matching denim outfits.

Disastrous? Yes; but iconic? Also yes. The moment became such a The ultimate 90s' pop power couple brought their bad fashion into the new millennium with matching denim-on-denim disasters at the 2001 AMAs.

The moment blew up so unintentionally that 13 years later, Katy Perry recreated the look with rapper Riff Raff at the MTV VMAs.

Kanye West lashes out (2004)

How can we ever forget Kanye West's temper acting up in the early 2000s, long before he used to randomly stop artistes mid-award acceptance speech to lay out his views?

In 2004, Kanye stormed out of the AMAs after being beaten by Gretchen Wilson in the Favourite New Artist award category. "I felt like I was definitely robbed, and I refused to give any politically correct bulls*** comment," he had shared. "I was the best new artiste this year."

He also implied that this was some conspiracy against him and promised never to return to the show. Kanye went on to semi-apologise in his press room visit at the Billboard Music Awards months later.

Adam Lambert kissed a guy and sparked backlash (2009)

Adam Lambert has always been known to be bold about the way the world perceives him, and that was showcased in his 2009 AMA performance, where his abruptly kissed a bandmate on stage.

Sexually suggestive choreography with dancers in leashes, fetishised kid costuming and lots of grinding – the backlash arrived with ABC cancelling his scheduled appearances on various other shows. 

In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment earlier this year, Adam said: "Me kissing a guy on the f***ing AMAs was like, such a scandal, and I really don't think it would be now. [...] They had been showing Madonna and Britney making out [on the VMAs]. Like, huh? The double standards there were running wild! I just don't think it would be that way now. No one would care."

Lady Gaga literally 'shattering' performance (2009)

Lady Gaga has had some pretty iconic moments from her shows to brag about, but she did manage to leave a lot of people actually speechless with her 2009 AMA performance of Speechless and Bad Romance.

Not only did she surprise audience, but her dancers were equally surprised when she paused mid-performance and walked over to a giant glass tube containing her piano. What followed was her shattering the glass with her mic and various other glass bottles smashed on the piano itself.

The cherry on top were the pyrotechnics shooting out of the piano as her dancers tried to perform in the safety of their own glass cubes.

Miley Cyrus and her duet with a Space Cat (2013)

The only over-the-top performer who can possibly beat Gaga in her sense of erratic performances is Miley Cyrus. And sure enough, Miley in a kitty-printed two-piece suit performing Wrecking Ball while a giant animated cat lip-synced with her on the screen behind was every bit an internet-breaking phenomenon as one can imagine. And Miley's tongue was also in the game. Perfection!

Watch all the action from American Music Awards 2017, on Monday, November 20 at 6:30 AM and 9 pm EXCLUSIVELY on Vh1!