The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame has unveiled its latest class of inductees, again on an episode of American Idol. (Hall Of Famer James Taylor was the show's guest judge tonight.) Seven artists are heading into the Hall as performers in 2025, and four of them are first-time nominees: Outkast, Chubby Checker, Bad Company, and Joe Cocker. Three past nominees also make the cut this year: The White Stripes, Soundgarden, and Cyndi Lauper.
A bunch of other music luminaries will be recognized at this 40th anniversary Hall Of Fame ceremony. Salt-N-Pepa and the late Warren Zevon will both be presented with the Musical Influence Award. (Zevon is a past nominee; Salt-N-Pepa are not.) The Award For Musical Excellence, which recognizes important supporting musicians, is going to Philly soul producer Thom Bell, Wrecking Crew bassist Carol Kaye, and the late session pianist Nicky Hopkins. Lenny Waronker, the former Warner Bros. head who famously signed Prince and R.E.M., is getting the Ahmet Ertegun Award, which recognizes industry execs.
With the inductions, we also learn which 2025 nominees didn't make the cut. Phish, nominated for the first time, won the online Fan Vote by a wide margin, but that wasn't enough to get them into the Hall Of Fame — the fan vote counts as only one ballot among more than a thousand. This has happened once before, to Dave Matthews Band in 2020, though they eventually got inducted four years later.) Mariah Carey, who has bemoaned that her lawyer got in before her, has been snubbed again. Oasis will be relieved that they didn't make the cut, while some of us might be pretty annoyed that Joy Division and New Order, nominated together as a single entity, have been passed over again. (Not me, though. I'm too punk to care about the Hall Of Fame.) The other snubs are the Black Crowes, Billy Idol, and Maná. Better luck next year, everyone.
For Stereogum readers, the two most exciting names in this year's class are probably Outkast and the White Stripes, two iconic duos from the same basic time period who have been broken up for a while. Outkast drifted apart around 2007, did a big 2014 reunion tour, and then went their separate ways again. They've been in the news lately because of André 3000's career change into new-age flute improvisation. The White Stripes haven't done anything since 2011, and Meg White has been out of the public eye while Jack is doing just fine with his solo career. I could imagine both of those groups reuniting for the induction, and I could just as easily imagine two of those four people simply declining to show up. (You already know Big Boi and Jack White will be there.)
One takeaway here is that lobbying works. Chubby Checker has been agitating for a spot in the Hall Of Fame pretty much since the institution first came into being, and he was never even nominated before this year. It was honestly stressful that the museum just kept ignoring him, and it's a relief that he's finally going in. Paul McCartney was just one of several rock legends campaigning for first-time nominee Joe Cocker to get in this year, and Hall Of Fame voters still listen to him. The institution evidently still has certain boomer tendencies; that's the only way to explain '70s blues-rockers Bad Company getting a spot. (They have bangers, but is that really a pantheon act?) Other inductions just feel like common sense. If you're going to have a Hall Of Fame at all, then you might as well put Outkast, the White Stripes, Soundgarden, and Cyndi Lauper in there. Frankly, it's a little weird that all four of them weren't aready in.
Just to spell it out, here's this year's complete list of inductees:
• Bad Company
• Chubby Checker
• Joe Cocker
• Cyndi Lauper
• Outkast
• Soundgarden
• The White Stripes
Musical Influence Award:
• Salt-N-Pepa
• Warren Zevon
Musical Excellence Award:
• Thom Bell
• Nicky Hopkins
• Carol Kaye
Ahmet Ertegun Award:
• Lenny Waronker
This year's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction goes down 11/8 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, and it'll stream live on Disney+. The show will be available on Hulu the next day, with a special on the induction airing on ABC at some point in the future.
