John Shearer/Getty ImagesBiggest Yawn: Maybe the song just hasn't clicked yet, but U2's rousing "Get On Your Boots" didn't seem to fire up the crowd as much as you'd think it might.
Warmest Moment: The first award went to Jennifer Hudson—she thanked her family, "who are in heaven and here with me today."
Biggest Rock Star: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. That guy is really large, which explains why they let him yammer on the way they did.
Best Duet: Coldplay's Chris Martin and rapper Jay-Z offering up a low-key mix of words and music on "Lost!"
Worst Segue: After the unconventional team-up, Coldplay's band performance of Best Song winner "Viva La Vida" seemed weak. Don't let Joe Satriani psych you out, boys.
Biggest WTF: For an awards show stocked with so many musicians, it's weird that nobody gets played off for talking too long.
Best Replacement: The last-minute addition of Al Green, Justin Timberlake, Boys II Men and Keith Urban was a little ragged, but it was all the more impressive considering they weren't scheduled to perform. Also, really nice guitar solo, Keith.
Biggest Question: Why don't more of the performers sound better? Nerves? Bad sound?
Biggest Music News: Blink-182 is getting back together. Less notably, we probably won't be getting as many Angels & Airwaves discs.
Juiciest Fruit Topping: Katy Perry's performance was most notable for its sophisticated mix of giant bananas and low-hanging cleavage.
Other Best Duet: M.I.A. performing with her due-at-any-moment child.
Least Appealing Duet: Kanye West offered up fine performances with both Estelle and a rap supergroup, but his darned mullet kept upstaging him.
Most Unexpected Team-Up: Kenny Chesney was introduced by Morgan Freeman, who made it sound like the two are total BFFs.
Worst of the Worst: Rihanna and Chris Brown were no-shows. We don't know the whole story yet, but early reports sound extremely troubling. We're hoping for the best.
That's Just Weird: On a night when Coldplay picked up quite a few awards, Gwyneth Paltrow gave a gushing introduction to Radiohead—a band Coldplay is generally compared to unfavorably—instead of her husband's band. We're sure she'll have some sophisticated rationale for doing this, but we think it's weird and it blows.
Most Stoked: The USC marching band members who got to support Radiohead on "15 Step."
World of Wonder: Was it just us, or was the pairing of Jonas Brothers and Stevie Wonder just off somehow?
Most Divisive: We heard some of our friends thought Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus didn't deliver, but we thought they were terrific. Plus, you have to credit a success like Swift, who sings, plays the guitar and writes songs. Brava, ladies.
Biggest Questions: Who gave the best performance? Whose duets were the most successful? Who were the most deserving winners? You tell us.