The 56th annual Grammy Awards found a way to mix old and new musical acts by paying tribute to classic rockers while featuring a string of sexy performances from today’s superstars.
Some of modern music’s biggest winners at the awards show were Lorde, who won Song of the Year, and Daft Punk, who won Album of the Year. Still, the big stars of the night were The Beatles.
Almost 50 years after the legendary rock group came to the U.S. for the first time and performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show," the band's two remaining members dominated the Grammys.
The crowd took a trip back to the '60s when Beatles drummer Ringo Starr took the stage and a series of Beatles-era photos flashed on the screens behind him. Starr sang "Photograph," bringing the crowd to its feet in a standing ovation.
But the night's Beatlemania was just getting started.
Paul McCartney and Starr took the stage together to perform a song from McCartney's latest album "New," making it their first performance together since 2009.
Julia Roberts announced their performance before McCartney appeared on stage, playing a colorful piano from the “Magical Mystery Tour” era, as Starr rocked out on the drums.
Earlier in the show, McCartney was joined on stage by Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear to accept their award for Best Rock Song for a track he had written with the former Nirvana band members, “Cut Me Some Slack.”
Click here for the list of winners from the 56th annual Grammy Awards
But the former Beatles weren't the Grammys' only look back.
In an odd pairing, Robin Thicke, who gave a very raunchy performance of "Blurred Lines" with Miley Cyrus at last year's Video Music Awards, appeared on stage with the popular '70s band Chicago to perform his hit and some of theirs. They sang a medley of songs that included "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?"
Carole King also performed her classic hit "Beautiful" with Sarah Bareilles.
Earlier in the evening Lorde, who also won the award Best Pop Solo Performance, sang her hit "Royals," but as she finished, some users took to Twitter to charge that the 17-year-old may have been lip synching.
“Looked like Lorde was definitely lip syncing,” one user wrote. “Now Lorde is ruined for me bc now I know she's lip syncing,” another tweeted."
Power couple Beyonce and Jay-Z kicked off the night, singing their new hit, “Drunk in Love.” Beyonce began the show by wriggling around on a chair before she was joined by Jay-Z.
Later, Katy Perry took the stage in a glowing bra-top as she danced across a smoke-covered stage and performed her hit “Dark Horse.”
Host LL Cool J brought the humor to the Grammys, using his introduction to make jokes about his little-known, long ago musical successes. He then praised artists like Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Bruno Mars for their musical accomplishments.
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Daft Punk, Pharrell Willams and Nile Rogers beat out some stiff competition to take home top awards that included Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/ Group Performance. Producer extraordinaire Pharrell took the microphone to accept the award on behalf of Daft Punk, who appeared on stage in their signature helmets, making it impossible to see their faces.
Rap duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis took home the first award of the night, scoring the Best New Artist prize. Later, the band performed "Same Love," and 33 couples were married during the performance, which included Queen Latifah and Madonna.
Later on, Willie Nelson, Blake Shelton and other country music legends took the stage to perform a set of songs. The show then paid tribute to George Jones and Ray Price, who both died in 2013. As the country portion of the evening concluded, Kacey Musgraves took home the award for Best Country Album for "Same Trailer Different Park."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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