By Todd Leopold
(CNN) — It was a “Lucky” night for Daft Punk.
The robot-headed duo won record of the year for the hit “Get Lucky” and album of the year for “Random Access Memories” at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday night.
Daft Punk was typically silent, but singer-songwriter Paul Williams accepted the album of the year award with a generous speech.
Williams, who’s written such songs as “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Evergreen,” had struggled to overcome substance abuse problems over the years. “Then I get sober and two robots asked me to make an album,” he said.
Pharrell Williams, who sang on “Get Lucky,” accepted the award for record of the year.
The Grammys also often manage to single out rising artists, and this year that meant Lorde, Kacey Musgraves and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
Lorde earned the third of the big three awards, song of the year, for “Royals.” The honor is a songwriters’ award.
“Thank you to everyone who has let the song explode,” she said, also paying tribute to co-writer Joel Little. She also won a Grammy for best pop solo performance.
Musgraves won for best country album.
Macklemore & Lewis, who were nominated for seven awards, won four at Grammy Awards.
“I want to thank our fans, the people that got us on this stage,” said Macklemore in accepting the award for best new artist.
The pair also took home rap album (“The Heist”), rap performance and rap song (both for “Thrift Shop”). Macklemore & Lewis beat out some tough competition in the rap categories. Their album was up against offerings from Drake and Kendrick Lamar, and “Thrift Shop” defeated songs by Jay Z and Kanye West.
Both Daft Punk and Macklemore & Lewis are up for the last of the major three honors, album of the year.
Jay Z, who led all artists with nine nominations, did win best rap/sung collaboration for “Holy Grail,” a collaboration with Justin Timberlake.
Addressing his daughter Blue, Jay Z said, “Daddy just got a gold sippy cup for you.”
Macklemore & Lewis’ “Same Love,” a song written in support of same-sex marriage, was performed on a set resembling a church. Macklemore’s rap was followed by a mass wedding featuring 33 couples taking the stage of Los Angeles’ Staples Center.
Queen Latifah officiated, and Madonna served as maid of honor, following Latifah’s exhortions with “Open Your Heart.” The crowd roared its approval as the couples made their way back up the aisle.
The show was full of such notable performances. A highlight was a performance of “Get Lucky” featuring Pharrell Williams, Stevie Wonder, Nile Rodgers and song originators Daft Punk, who lurked in a “control room” in their robot helmets. “Get Lucky” won a Grammy for pop duo/group performance, and Daft Punk won two early Grammys for its album “Random Access Memories,” one for its engineering, the other in the dance electronic category.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award for their work with the Beatles, both played. Starr did his “Photograph” with musicians including Peter Frampton and Kenny Aronoff, and McCartney did his new song “Queenie Eye” with a group that included Starr.
Most awards were given out before the show.
Adele, a big winner two years ago, won yet another Grammy, this time for her “Skyfall” theme song. Other winners include Ziggy Marley (reggae album); Stephen Colbert (spoken word); and Terri Lyne Carrington (jazz instrumental album).
Gold and black dominated the gowns on the red carpet, though Paris Hilton — in a side-baring white number — was among the most showy.
Producer and vocalist Pharrell Williams, who showed up wearing an oversized forest ranger-style hat, earned plenty of fashion attention on Twitter. In fact, @PharrellHat had more than 5,000 followers and @PharrellsHat had more than 400 within an hour of the show starting.
Perhaps someone will not start an account for “robot heads.”
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