It was the vets against the new rockers on the block at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, as the Foo Fighters, the Black Keys and Mumford & Sons faced off against Foster the People and Cage the Elephant for Best Rock Video. Foo took home the prize, and delivered an impassioned defense of rock music along the way.

Miley Cyrus and Shawn White were on hand to bestow the Moonman on Dave Grohl and company, whose “Walk” video bested the Black Keys’ “Howlin’ for You,” Cage’s “Shake Me Down,” Foster’s “Pumped Up Kicks” and Mumford’s “The Cave.”

“We’d like to thank Sam Jones, the director; Joel Schumacher, the director of ‘Falling Down,’ which was the movie we based the video on; and all our friends at MTV,” Grohl said during his acceptance speech. “I just want to say: Never lose faith in real rock and roll music, you know what I mean? Never lose faith in that. You might have to look a little harder, but it’s always going to be there.”

The win for “Walk” proved to be something of an MTV awards-show full circle for the Foos, who busted out the tune off their album Wasting Light during a hard-charging in June.