While Young the Giant rocked last year’s MTV Video Music Awards with their performance of “My Body,” this year the spotlight belongs to Green Day .  According to MTV.com , the band is expected to perform new songs from their upcoming trilogy of albums, ¡Uno! , ¡Dos! and ¡Tré! on Thursday night’s show, which begins at 8 p.m. ET/PT.  In the past, the show has started at 9 p.m. but has been moved ahead an hour this year so as not to conflict with President Obama 's speech Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

As usual, the nominees are mostly pop, hip-hop and R&B, but there are a fair few rock acts in the mix, most notably fun.   The band's up for Best New Artist and Best Pop Video for their hit single "We Are Young," featuring Janelle Monáe .  In the Best Rock Video category, The Black Keys will go up against Coldplay , Imagine Dragons , Jack White and Linkin Park . 

Gotye will be battling it out for the top award, Video of the Year, for "Somebody That I Used to Know" against videos from M.I.A. , Katy Perry and Drake and Rihanna .  If you're judging by number of Internet spoofs, Gotye would win the category hands down.  And believe it or not, the eye-catching clip, which features the Australian singer and his duet partner Kimbra naked and covered with interlocking colored squares of paint, wasn't as difficult to film as you might think. 

"I took a lot of concentration and...standing still just for very long periods and focusing for long periods," Gotye tells ABC News Radio. "But, in the end, you know, I'd do it again.  It was enjoyable." 

Gotye didn't even mind being covered in paint while nude.  "It wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it might be," he recalls. "It was actually very thin, water-based paint.  So, it wasn't...weird and tickly or difficult to keep on the skin for hours as I thought."

Tune in to see who'll take home those Moonmen trophies on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Here are a few of the nominees:

Video of the Year
Drake f/ Rihanna, "Take Care"
Gotye, "Somebody That I Used to Know"
Katy Perry, "Wide Awake"
M.I.A., "Bad Girls"
Rihanna, "We Found Love"

Best Pop Video
fun. f/ Janelle Monáe, "We Are Young"
Justin Bieber, "Boyfriend"
Maroon 5 f/ Wiz Khalifa, "Payphone"
One Direction, "What Makes You Beautiful"
Rihanna, "We Found Love"

Best Rock Video
The Black Keys, "Lonely Boy"
Coldplay, "Paradise"
Imagine Dragons, "It's Time"
Jack White, "Sixteen Saltines"
Linkin Park, "Burn It Down"

Best New Artist
Carly Rae Jepsen, "Call Me Maybe"
Frank Ocean, "Swim Good"
fun. f/ Janelle Monáe, "We Are Young"
One Direction, "What Makes You Beautiful"
The Wanted, "Glad You Came"

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio