We are officially in the middle of award season. Every year from mid-January to early March, the entertainment world is inundated with award show after award show. However, the Grammys stand as a bit of an anomaly among the other ceremonies. While the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Writers Guild of America Awards, British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards and the Academy Awards all commemorate successes in film and television through montages, monologues and speeches, the Grammy Awards dedicate the whole night to music.

Looking at the nominees really reminds one just how much progress each year brings to the music world. From Kanye West's genius My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to Adele's powerful 21 to Lady Gaga's surprisingly uninteresting Born This Way, 2011 brought many A-game performances by a slew of singers and songwriters. But the variety also makes things difficult. How can one compare Adele, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift and Cee Lo Green? Thus, the Grammy Awards does something unique to give more time and honor to its many nominees—all of whom are skilled in their own genres—the show is just as much about the live performances as it is the awards.

But this year's Grammys was a bit different from past years. With the death of Whitney Houston on Saturday afternoon, a cloud seemed to be hanging over the heads of everyone in the music world. Memory, therefore, became the theme of the show. After Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played skillfully (as always) host LL Cool J came out and addressed the elephant in the room. In a solemn voice, he acknowledged Houston's death and said a prayer in her memory on behalf of everyone in the room. And with an "Amen," the tone shifted again and he said excitedly, "Welcome to the 54th Grammy Awards."

The ensuing award ceremony truly embraced the subject of memory in musical ways, too. Bruno Mars dived right into a doo-wop performance that channeled a James Brown, '50s funk-pop vibe with a phenomenal backing band, while Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt played a touching tribute to Etta James with "A Sunday Kind of Love."

Oft criticized for her live performances, Rihanna was surprisingly entertaining with "We Found Love" and while accompanying Chris Martin on stage in "Princess of China." But the usually upbeat Coldplay sounded tired and weak in their rendition of "Paradise."

The Beach Boys celebrated their 50th anniversary and reunited on the stage with "Good Vibrations," while getting some help from established pop stars in Maroon 5 and the quickly up-and-coming Foster the People, who played "Surfer Girl" and "Wouldn't it Be Nice," respectively. The Beach Boys proved they are quintessential aged stars—still talented, a little awkward yet in love with the crowd.

The night had plenty of more lavish micro-shows throughout: The Foo Fighters, DeadMau5, David Guetta and Chris Brown rocked the outdoor stage in a genre-bending event; Taylor Swift, The Band Perry, Blake Shelton and Lifetime Achievement award winner Glen Campbell brought their A-game to the country sphere. Carrie Underwood and Tony Bennett got together for a beautiful duet of "It Had to Be You" from Bennett's Grammy-winning album Duets II, while Nicki Minaj gave the most shock-worthy and theatrical spectacle of the night while singing her new song, "Roman's Revenge."

With a mixture of singing, acting and dancing, Nicki Minaj appeared as if she were performing a song from an elaborate play and proved to the world she is a triple threat. Finally, Sir Paul McCartney rocked the stage twice–first with his new timely single "My Valentine" and then, as the grand finale, he played an iconic Abbey Road medley moving from "Golden Slumbers" to "The End" with help from rockers Joe Walsh, Dave Grohl and The Boss–each with his own solo.

Unforgettable was Jennifer Hudson's emotional performance of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You." As if channeling the late vocal star, Hudson beautifully sang the song in front of a montage of Houston's many appearances at the Grammys.

Of course, though, that leaves the biggest winner of the night—Adele. With six wins—in every category she was nominated for including album of the year for 21—and a tour de force live song (her first live performance since she had vocal surgery late last year), it was clear this was the British singer's year. The Foo Fighters were the other big winners with four pre-telecast awards and one award (Best Rock Album) during the show. Unfortunately, their earnest speech about having pride in true instrumentation and musicianship was cut off by a song by electro-group LMFAO.

In his opening talk LL Cool J—who was fairly silent as a host but made transitions less awkward—stated, "Tonight we will make our own Grammy memories." From the Beach Boys to Blake Shelton to Jennifer Hudson's tearful and touching tribute and all the awards given out between, LL Cool J was right. I think more than any other year I've watched, this year's Grammys were really unforgettable.