"Music's biggest night" was often a theatrically serious affair, which is a natural stage for Kanye West.

Who knew that the Grammys would spend almost all of its energy in the first hour? After AC/DC's opening number and Miranda Lambert's "Little Red Wagon," there was a power outage, and Lambert aside, the telecast was as sexy as a dental exam. If you only paid attention to music once a year, you'd think its primary use was to help the downtrodden deal fight the brave fight. Madonna's song seemed very familiar for her, but at least her performance with dancing minotaurs briefly dispelled the air of dreary, well-meant glumness that weighed the night down.

The Grammys has become an event that exists as much online as it does on screen or in the Staples Center as the Internet has transformed almost every national event into Mystery Science Theater 3000 (let the #whatismysterysciencetheater3000 wisecracks begin). As usual, Kanye West gave people something to tweet about, as did Beck's win, which brought out the #whoisbeck hashtag, to the irritation of everyone who knew the answer. 

Here's a very selective look at the online conversation, including a few responses after the fact.