Strange bedfellows are common at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s annual induction ceremony, and this year’s will be no different thanks to a class including Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden and the White Stripes. The event will be held Nov. 8 at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater and will be streamed live on Disney+. Next-day viewing will be available on Hulu, with an ABC special to follow at a later date.
Soundgarden, the White Stripes and Lauper have all been nominated previously (artists are eligible 25 years after the release of their first commercial recording). The 2025 nominees who did not make the final cut are Oasis, Joy Division/New Order, Mariah Carey, the Black Crowes, Billy Idol, Manä and Phish, who earlier this week won the largely ceremonial fan vote.
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Beyond the core inductions, Salt-N-Pepa and the late Warren Zevon will receive the Musical Influence Award, while hit-making R&B producer Thom Bell and studio musicians Nicky Hopkins and Carol Kaye will be honored with the Musical Excellence Award. The Ahmet Ertegun Award for impactful, non-performing industry professionals will be presented to former Warner Bros. Records president/DreamWorks co-founder Lenny Waronker.
This year’s class will present the usual logistic challenges in terms of staging performances and tributes, as Jack and Meg White have not played a live show since July 2007 and have only appeared together once since then, during Conan O’Brien’s final NBC late night TV show episode in February 2009. Similarly, Outkast has not been heard from since a 2014 reunion tour, which at the time comprised the pioneering Atlanta rap duo’s first concerts since 2002.
Meanwhile, Cocker died in 2014, Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell committed suicide in 2017 and Bad Company lost bassist Boz Burrell and vocalist Brian Howe in 2006 and 2020, respectively. Lauper, 71, is in the midst of her farewell tour, while Checker, who popularized “The Twist” dance craze in the 1960s, is still actively touring at 83.
Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Called Quest were inducted into the Rock Hall in 2024.
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.