The American Music Awards’ nominees have been announced.  Rihanna and Nicki Minaj are up four more awards than anyone else, four a piece.  Up for Artist of the Year are:  Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Maroon 5 and Drake.

Up for three awards each are Justin Bieber, One Direction, Drake, Usher and Maroon 5.

There’s a change, following the lead of the Grammy’s, the American Music Awards will honor electronic music.  David Guetta, Calvin Harris and Skrillex are up for the inaugural Electronic artist award.

Adele, who was up for seemingly any award possible last year, competes against Kelly Clarkson and Train for best Adult Contemporary artist.

Best new artist is a category to watch.  Nominees include Gotye, Carly Rae Jepsen, One Direction and J. Cole.

The American Music Awards are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year and will be broadcast live from Los Angeles November 18th.  Christina Aguilera, who announced the nominees, has been announced as the first performer.

Back in the day, these awards used to be held in January and it was like Christmas all over, again, for me.  I used to run to the VCR to press record whenever my favorite artist was performing.  I went bananas the year Debbie Gibson, not only performed, but hosted.  Remember the year Slash and Duff from Guns N’ Roses were so drunk, they kept cussing?  Oh, the memories.