OutKast, The White Stripes, Cyndi Lauper, Soundgarden lead Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2025 class
Salt-N-Pepa, Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Warren Zevon, Thom Bell, Nicky Hopkins, Carol Kaye, and Lenny Waronker will also enter the Cleveland institution
By Andy Greene
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has officially announced this year’s inductees: Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, OutKast, Soundgarden, and the White Stripes will join the class of 2025 in the performer category.
Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon will be presented with the Musical Influence Award; Philly soul songwriter/producer Thom Bell, keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, and Wrecking Crew bassist Carol Kaye will receive the Musical Excellence Awards; and former Warner Bros Records president Lenny Waronker is getting the Ahmet Ertegun Award.
“Each of these inductees created their own sound and attitude that had a profound impact on culture and helped to change the course of Rock & Roll forever,” said John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “Their music gave a voice to generations and influenced countless artists that followed in their footsteps.”
(There are some notable snubs this year, including Phish, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, and Mariah Carey. Phish won the annual fan vote, and their exclusion isn’t likely to play well in the jam band world. This is also the second time that Joy Division/New Order have been passed over despite their significant role in shaping the sound of rock and synth-pop in the Eighties.)
The induction ceremony will be held on Nov. 8 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. It will once again stream live on Disney+, and an edited version will air on ABC at a later date.
The annual induction ceremony is often a place where dormant acts reform years or even decades after they last played together. A White Stripes reunion 16 years after Jack White and Meg White last shared a stage together would be a massive event, but Meg White lives an extremely private life far from the spotlight, and it’s unlikely to happen.
The surviving members of Soundgarden have come together a handful of times since Chris Cornell’s death in 2017, most recently in December 2024 when they billed themselves as Nudedragons at a Seattle benefit show. Duff McKagan and Shaina Shepherd joined them that night.
The evening is also a chance for Salt-N-Pepa to perform again with former DJ Spinderella. She was let go by the group in 2019, sparking a lawsuit, a war of words in the press, and Spinderella’s exclusion from their 2021 Lifetime biopic. But Sandra “Pep” Denton joined Spinderella last October at her annual Halloween Boo Bash to perform Salt-N-Pepa classics like ‘Push It,’ ‘Shoop,’ and ‘Whatta Man.’ Spinderella told the crowd that the group has been privately mending their relationship.
The induction of OutKast presents another opportunity for a momentous hip-hop reunion. The duo of André 3000 and Big Boi haven’t performed together since the conclusion of their 2014 reunion tour. André 3000 spent last year on the road promoting his instrumental album, New Blue Sun, but he’s expressed little interest in reforming OutKast.
“I knew when I was, like, 25, that at a certain age I wouldn’t want to be onstage doing those songs,” he told Rolling Stone‘s Andre Gee in December 2024. “They required a certain energy. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of looking back. I’m just not. I’m grateful for everything that’s happened, but it was a time. To me, that’s what it is. That was a great time, and I wish y’all were there.”
For Chubby Checker, best remembered for his 1960 hit “The Twist” and the 1961 follow-up ‘Let’s Twist Again,’ the induction is a long time coming. He’s been eligible for induction since 1984. And in 2002, he sent the Hall of Fame an angry letter about his exclusion from the institution.
“Chubby Checker changed everything,” he wrote, referring to himself in the third person. “He gave movement to a music that never had this movement before…Chubby Checker’s given the music business something great. Now he wants his greatness returned. I want my flowers while I’m alive. I can’t smell them when l’m dead. The people that come to see the show have given me everything. However l will not have the music business ignorant of my position in the industry.”
Cyndi Lauper will receive the honor just a couple of months after the final show of her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour. “I am so grateful to my fans for my career,” she told Billboard after learning she was nominated. “From the start, I’ve just wanted to make music that means something to people, that lifts them up and makes them feel seen. This honor, should I get in, is as much for them as it is for me. Thank you, Rock Hall.”