Put away your spandex, hairspray, and red bandanna. The Poison 40th anniversary — which Bret Michaels and others in the band spent years teasing — is no longer happening. Poison drummer Rikki Rockett has been strongly suggesting this was the case for several months, but he recently gave Page Six a very frank assessment of the situation.

“We had a great offer, I thought,” Rockett said. “But we left the table. It didn’t work…Really, what it came to was [guitarist] C.C. [DeVille] and [bass player] Bobby [Dall], and I were all in, and I thought Bret was, but he wanted the lion’s share of the money, to the point where it makes it not possible to even do it. It’s like $6 to every one of our dollars. You just can’t work that way…I don’t do this just for the money. I do have a love for this, absolutely. But at the same time, you don’t want to go out and work really hard just to make somebody else a bunch of money.”

Poison last toured in 2022 when they went out with Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts on a massive stadium tour. When it wrapped, Michaels went back to his solo band. They play a show consisting almost entirely of Poison hits. But in September 2024, Michaels wrote a letter to fans explaining his future plans with Poison.

“In 2026, I’m excited to say it will be Poison’s 40th anniversary since the release of Look What The Cat Dragged In in 1986…so it would make perfect sense to have the possibility of a reunion in 2026,” he wrote. “In my opinion, it would be the perfect 40th Anniversary Tour, with 40 awesome limited dates to go out, play real live hit songs, and rock the world…Again, although none of this is confirmed and it takes much coordination & planning to have a successful tour…good things happen in 4’s for Poison – 4 original band members, 40th anniversary, 40 limited dates, Parti-Gras 4.0 and May The 4’s be with you!”

This seemed relatively definitive, but he was hedging his bets with phrases like “it would make perfect sense,” “in my opinion,” “none of this is confirmed,” and “it takes much coordination.” In other words, he was willing to do it under the right conditions and with the right deal in place. It’s not uncommon for bands to split proceeds in an uneven fashion. But Poison are in the extraordinarily rare position of having a band where every single original member is still in the lineup. That’s great for the fans, but it makes the financial negotiations rather fraught.

Rockett has been unafraid to talk about the impasse with the press, but the others have been noticeably silent, clearly preferring to keep their business negotiations a private matter. It’s also impossible to know the exact money split that Michaels offered the others. Rockett told Page Six, “it’s like $6 to every one of our dollars,” but that “like” could be doing a lot of work, and he might be greatly exaggerating. We simply don’t know.

We do know that the 2026 summer concert calendar is rapidly filling up, and there’s not a single Poison date on it. Michaels, meanwhile, has a string of solo dates on the books. And Rockett doesn’t plan on sitting at home. He’s planning a tour with his band, the Rockett Mafia, that’ll feature a complete performance of Poison’s Look What The Cat Dragged In every night. Judging by all this, a Poison 40th anniversary tour looks extremely unlikely. There’s always the big 50th in 2036. Maybe by that time, they’ll figure out an equitable way to share the money. 

From Rolling Stone US.

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The music world was busy mourning David Bowie on the 10-year anniversary of his death on Saturday when the devastating word hit that we lost another icon of almost indescribable significance to rock history: Bob Weir. 

“He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could,” the Weir family wrote in a public statement. “Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.”

The road was Weir’s home from the moment the Grateful Dead formed in 1965 all the way through last summer. His projects outside the Grateful Dead included RatDog, Furthur, Bob Weir and Wolf Bros, and Dead & Company. At almost any given time, he had shows on the books with at least one of them.

“The interesting thing is, I’ve never made plans,” he told Rolling Stone‘s Angie Martoccio last March. “And I’m not about to, because I’m too damn busy doing other stuff, trying to get the sound right, trying to get the right chords, trying to get the right words, trying to get all that stuff together for the storytelling. And really, making plans seems like a waste of time. Because nothing ever works out like you expected it to, no matter who you are. So why bother?”

Dead & Co. wrapped up a farewell tour in July 2023, but they continued to play residencies at Sphere in Las Vegas throughout 2024 and 2025. And they came together one last time in August 2025 for three shows in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to celebrate the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary. Throughout the three evenings, they were joined by Billy Strings, Trey Anastasio, Grahame Lesh, and Sturgill Simpson.

These were joyous concerts filled with Deadheads from around the globe, but Weir was holding a secret: He was diagnosed with cancer weeks earlier, and had just started treatment. “Those performances, emotional, soulful, and full of light, were not farewells, but gifts,” the Weir family wrote. “Another act of resilience. An artist choosing, even then, to keep going by his own design.”

The final night wrapped up with “Touch of Grey,” perhaps the most famous tune in the Dead songbook. Weir sang lead, and the band stretched it out for nearly eight minutes. At the end, Weir took a group bow with the full band, waved to the crowd, and then took a special bow with Mickey Hart, the only other original member of the Dead in Dead & Co., before they walked off together. It was his final live appearance. 

“There is no final curtain here, not really,” wrote the Weir family. “Only the sense of someone setting off again. He often spoke of a three-hundred-year legacy, determined to ensure the songbook would endure long after him. May that dream live on through future generations of Dead Heads. And so we send him off the way he sent so many of us on our way: with a farewell that isn’t an ending, but a blessing. A reward for a life worth livin’.”

It’s way too early to seriously contemplate the future of Dead & Co., but it’s somewhat hard to imagine them continuing outside of a tribute concert to Weir. He was the heart and soul of the group.

That said, Weir himself once said he hoped to see the band outlive him. “I had a little flash while we were playing one night,” Weir told Rolling Stone‘s David Fricke in 2016. “It was toward the end of the tour. I don’t remember what city it was in. We were getting into the second set, setting up a tune. We were all playing, but the tune hadn’t begun yet. We were all feeling out the groove, just playing with it. Suddenly I was 20 feet behind my own head, looking at this and kind of happy with the way the song was shaping up. I started looking around, and it was 20 years later. John’s hair had turned gray. Oteil’s had turned white. I looked back at the drummers, and it was a couple of new guys. I looked back at myself, the back of my head, and it was a new guy. It changed my entire perception of what it is we’re up to.”

The members of Dead & Co. will ultimately make the call. And no matter what happens, Grateful Dead music will continue to live on concert stages for decades and decades to come. They are responsible for a significant chapter of the Great American Songbook. 

From Rolling Stone US.

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Radiohead brought their European tour to a close Tuesday night at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark, following 20 shows in five cities. They rounded out the set with a soaring rendition of “Karma Police.”

“Thank you very much for coming to see us,” Thom Yorke told the crowd. “Thanks to everyone who came to see us on this tour. We hope you have great, festive holidays. Get home safe. Good night. Thank you.”

The tour marked Radiohead’s first live shows in seven years, their first time touring without a new album to support, their first time playing in the round, and their first time playing with new touring drummer Chris Vatalaro. Prior to the announcement of the shows, some fans genuinely feared that Radiohead had quietly broken up due to the long period of inactivity and the formation of side projects like the Smile. And in a series of interviews with the Times UK shortly before opening night, they did admit to some tensions within the band.

“It wasn’t great on the last round,” said guitarist Ed O’Brien. “I enjoyed the gigs but hated the rest. We felt disconnected, fucking spent. It happens. This has been our whole life — what else is there? Look, success has a funny effect on people — I just didn’t want to do it anymore. And I told them that.”

“I went through a very long dark night of the soul,” O’Brien continued. “I had a deep depression. I hit the bottom in 2021. And one of the things that was lovely coming out of it was realizing how much I love these guys. I met them when I was 17, and I have gone from thinking I can’t see myself doing it again to realizing that, you know, we do have some stellar songs.”

The band rehearsed roughly 70 songs prior to the tour, and they wound up playing 45 of them. Selections from In Rainbows, Ok Computer, Hail to the Thief, The Bends, and Kid A were high in the mix. They did relatively little from A Moon Shaped Pool, Amnesiac, and the King of Limbs. And despite the predictable screams for “Creep,” they never went near Pablo Honey.

Fans in America are anxiously awaiting news of possible dates over here, but there’s yet to be any sort of hint that’s going to happen. The summer might seem like a natural time to come to the States and hit major festivals and outdoor sheds, but bassist Colin Greenwood has signed onto another tour with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds that will occupy his time throughout June, July, and August. There are also Australian shows in January and February. That opens up windows in the spring and fall, in theory.

Radiohead fans should also brace for the possibility that this was a European-only affair, and the band is about to head back into hibernation. But they shouldn’t lose faith. These were amazing shows that received near-universal acclaim; they proved they don’t need new material to draw sell-out crowds, and it seems like the band resolved whatever issues they had during the interregnum. They may not play again in 2026, but odds are extremely high that they’ll play again in the near future. Everyone just needs to be patient. (The same exact thing applies to Oasis fans. But you people had 41 shows in 11 countries this year, and have less to complain about.)

From Rolling Stone US.

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The Recording Industry of America announced its annual tally of the most successful albums and songs of the year, and it should serve as no surprise that Taylor Swift obliterated all competitors by moving over five million units of The Life of a Showgirl. Alex Warren’s “Ordinary,” meanwhile, went triple platinum and was the top single of the year.

The fictional group HUNTR/X from Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters — featuring real-life vocalists EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and REI AMI — also had an enormous year. Their song “Golden” went double platinum, and “How It’s Done” and “What It Sounds Like” both went platinum.

“Each year we spotlight artists earning their first gold and platinum certification, a testament to the drive and dedication it takes to truly break through,” RIAA President and COO Michele Ballantyne said in a statement. “The Class of 2025 is reaching fans in exciting new ways, and this is only the beginning! Congratulations to these rising talents and the label teams supporting them — RIAA is proud to be part of the journey.”

Drake racked up eight certified titles throughout 2025, more than any other artist, due to the success of his single “Nokia,” and seven songs from $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, his collaborative LP with PartyNextDoor.

Chappell Roan didn’t release a new album this year, but she still pulled off a gold country single with “The Giver” and a gold pop single with “The Subway.”

Cardi B’s Am I The Drama? went triple platinum, making it the second-most-successful LP of 2025. And six albums went platinum: Alex Warren’s You’ll Be Alright, Kid, Drake and PartyNextDoor’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, Lady Gaga’s Mayhem, Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend, and Tate McRae’s So Close To What. 

Earlier this year, Swift became the first and only female artist in music history to sell more than 100 million records. And now that she regained control of her complete catalog following a reported $405 million deal with Shamrock Holdings earlier this year, all of the money it generates will go to her. 

Swift is capping off the giant year by releasing the six-part The End of an Era, which documents her 2023-24 Eras Tour. The first two episodes arrive on Friday. 

From Rolling Stone US.

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Three days after stumping the crowd at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall by playing Van Morrison’s 2016 supreme deep cut “Going Down to Bangor,” Bob Dylan went significantly further back in music history — about 180 years to be exact — and broke out the traditional folk ballad “The Lakes of Pontchartrain” at INEC Arena, in Killarney, Ireland.

Unlike “Going Down to Bangor,” Dylan has actually played “The Lakes of Pontchartrain” at prior gigs, but the last one took place 34 years ago. He debuted it June 7, 1988, when the Never Ending Tour kicked off in Concord, California. The last time he performed it was on July 6, 1991, at Holman Stadium in Nashua, New Hampshire.

“The Lakes of Pontchartrain” originated in America and directly references New Orleans and the surrounding region. It was resurrected by the Irish folk group Planxty on their 1974 LP Cold Blow and the Rainy Night, turning it into an Irish standard. That’s why Dylan revisited it in Killarney.

This isn’t the first time Dylan has surprised audiences by covering local favorites. Back in 2023, he had a run where he covered Chuck Berry in St. Louis, Muddy Waters in Chicago, John Mellencamp in Indianapolis, Leonard Cohen in Montreal, and many others. He also played so many Grateful Dead covers that year that many fans speculated that he was recording some sort of Dead covers album. If that was the case, it has yet to surface.

Dylan’s tour continues Monday night with a second show in Killarney before wrapping up Tuesday in Dublin. There are no dates officially on the books for next year, but Dylan has already said he’s playing more Rough and Rowdy Ways shows. Let’s hope he sticks with these surprising covers. Rough and Rowdy Ways is great, but he’s played many of these songs about 275 times each. The show is a lot more fun when there’s at least one surprise, even if it’s a 2016 Van Morrison tune or a folk ballad from the early 19th century.

We’d wish for him to play actual deep cuts from his own catalog, including the vast majority of the music he recorded between 1967 and 1997, but we know that’s simply not going to happen. There’s a better chance he’ll play Van Morrison’s 2021 song “Why Are You on Facebook” than anything from Street Legal or Empire Burlesque.

From Rolling Stone US.

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Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee David Coverdale, who sang for Deep Purple in the mid-Seventies and fronted Whitesnake for the past five decades, has announced his retirement.

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“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, brothers and sisters of the Snake, a special announcement for you,” Coverdale said in a video he posted to Instagram. “After 50 years-plus of an incredible journey with you — with Deep Purple, with Whitesnake, Jimmy Page — the last few years it has been very evident to me that it’s time really for me to hang up my rock ‘n’ roll platform shoes and my skintight jeans.”

“And as you can see, we’ve taken care of the lion’s wig,” he continued. “But it’s time for me to call it a day. I love you dearly. I thank everyone who’s assisted and supported me on this incredible journey: all the musicians, the crew, the fans, the family. It’s amazing. But it really is time for me to just enjoy my retirement, and I hope you can appreciate that.”

Coverdale reached the pinnacle of his fame in 1987 when Whitensake scored massive hits with “Here I Go Again” and “Is This Love.” With help from his then-girlfriend Tawny Kitaen, who appeared in both videos, Whitesnake were a regular presence on MTV that year alongside the latest videos by Def Leppard, U2, and INXS.

Fourteen years prior to his commercial breakthrough, Coverdale was given the chance to front Deep Purple, alongside bassist Glenn Hughes, when frontman Ian Gillan left the band. This new lineup of Deep Purple produced three albums – 1974’s Burn and Stormbringer and 1975’s Come Taste the Band – and toured all around the globe. They split in 1976, shortly after guitarist Tommy Bolin died of a heroin overdose. Two years later, Coverdale formed Whitesnake.

In 1993, Coverdale teamed up with Jimmy Page for a collaborative project they dubbed Coverdale-Page. Despite some early buzz, their album was a commercial disappointment. The tour – where Coverdale sang Led Zeppelin classics like “Kashmir,” “Rock and Roll” and “Whole Lotta Love” – was called off after a brief run through Japan.

Like many groups of their era, Whitesnake struggled to find relevancy after the alt-rock revolution of the early Nineties. But they continued to tour and record throughout the 2000s and 2010s. Their last album was 2019’s Flesh & Blood. Their last show took place June 23, 2022, at Hellfest in Clisson, France. They originally planned on playing many more dates on a farewell tour, but health issues made that impossible.

“Last year, I was so incredibly compromised by, without any doubt, the worst sinus infection I’ve ever had in my life. And as a singer, I know them like fucking relatives of mine,” Coverdale told Ultimate Classic Rock in 2023. “This was one of the ugliest illnesses I think I’ve [ever] had. For seven months, I was taking ever-increasingly strong antibiotics and horrifying Prednisone steroids.”

Earlier this year, former members of his band started playing shows as Whitesnake Experience by the Members of Whitesnake. Now with Coverdale officially retired, that’s the nearest things to a genuine Whitesnake experience fans are likely to get.

From Rolling Stone US.

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The Australian leg of AC/DC‘s Power Up tour kicked off Wednesday evening at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, marking the band’s first live appearance in their home country since 2015. To reward fans for their patience, the group dipped deep into their back catalog and dug out “Jailbreak” for the first time since 1991.

“Jailbreak” was first released as a single in England and Australia in 1976, and it appeared on the Australian edition of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, but it wasn’t available in North America until 1984, when they released the ’74 Jailbreak EP. The song was a live favorite throughout the Bon Scott Era, and Brian Johnson started singing it on the band’s 1985 Flick of the Switch tour. But it hadn’t surfaced anywhere since November 16, 1991, when AC/DC wrapped up the Razor’s Edge world tour at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.

AC/DC are ostensibly on tour in support of Power Up, but they’re only playing two songs (“Demon Fire” and “Shot in the Dark”) from the 2020 LP. (They were unable to tour when it came out due to the pandemic.) The rest of the set comes from their extensive catalog. It’s a 21-song show with 12 tunes coming from the Bon Scott period, and the other nine coming from Brian Johnson’s era.

Prior to Power Up, it was unclear if AC/DC would ever tour with Johnson again due to the singer’s hearing problems. He had to step away from their 2016 tour per doctor’s orders. The group brought in Axl Rose to finish out the tour, stunning many longtime fans.

“When you run through the different scenarios, none of them were the best options,” guitarist Angus Young told Rolling Stone in 2020. “You think, ‘Should we cancel?’ Then we’d have the other pieces, the legal stuff and whatnot. We got suggestions from management. ‘Maybe if you try put something together that you might get …’ There was a list of people that might fill in. Out of the blue, Axl Rose contacted and said he could help out, which was very good.”

This wasn’t the ideal scenario for Johnson. “I didn’t feel too good myself about the whole thing,” he told Rolling Stone in 2020. “But that was then. With all bands and things, there are little bumps in the road.

But thanks to time away from the stage and a sophisticated new in-ear hearing device, Johnson was able to return to active AC/DC duty for the creation of Power Up. They finally kicked off the tour in May 2024 with a new lineup of the band that included drummer Matt Laug and bassist Chris Chaney.

They wrap up the 2025 leg on Dec. 18 in Brisbane and head to South America in February 2026. Another U.S. stadium leg begins July 11, 2026, in Charlotte, North Carolina. They’ll be joined by the Pretty Reckless at every show, wrapping up September 29 in Philadelphia.

From Rolling Stone US.

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Radiohead‘s four-night stand at Madrid’s Movistar Arena wrapped up Saturday night. These were their first concerts in seven years, and they dug deep into their catalog every night. The third show featured the first performance of “Just” since 2009, and they dug out “Optimistic” on the closing night for the first time since 2018.

“Just” appears on The Bends, and was a live favorite throughout the Nineties and the early 2000s. But it vanished from the rotation following the band’s set at the Reading Festival on Aug. 30, 2009.

“Optimistic” was the first song the public heard from Kid A since it was released as a promotional single just a few days before the album dropped. It gave fans a slightly skewered perception of the LP since it’s the most guitar-based song on the collection. Over the years, it’s become somewhat of a concert rarity with 97 performances, most of which took place in the early 2000s. (By comparison, they’ve done “The National Anthem,” “Idioteque,” and “Everything in it’s Right Place” more than 300 times each.)

This tour marks the first time that Radiohead have gone out without either a new album to promote or new songs to road test. As a result, they’re digging deep into their catalog and dragging out rarities like “Sit Down. Stand Up,” and “(Nice Dream)” that they haven’t played in years.

Amazingly, they’ve done 41 different songs after just four shows. Prior to the tour, bassist Colin Greenwood said they’d rehearsed about 70. “So we’ll play anything in any order, at any time,” he said. “We sort of take a busking attitude to the Radiohead set list.

They’ve also taken a busking approach to the order of songs in the set. “Planet Telex,” for example, was in the encore of the second show, and it was the opener of the third one. It makes it impossible to predict what they’re going to play next. Every night, however, they’ve performed “2 + 2 = 5,” “Everything in Its Right Place,” “Ful Stop,” “Idioteque,” “Let Down,” “Paranoid Android,” “There There,” “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi,” and “You and Whose Army?” at some point.

The tour resumes Nov. 14 in Bologna, Italy. It then heads to London before wrapping up in Copenhagen. They’re playing four shows in every market. As of now, there are no indications about possible North American shows in 2026.

From Rolling Stone US.

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Charli XCX has teamed up with Velvet Underground’s John Cale to create a trippy video for their new collaborative song “House,” which will appear on the soundtrack to director Emerald Fennell’s upcoming big screen adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

The idea was sparked a few years back when Charli saw the the 2021 Todd Haynes documentary The Velvet Underground. “One thing that stuck with me was how John Cale described a key sonic requirement of the Velvet Underground,” she wrote in a note to fans. “That any song had to be both ‘elegant and brutal.’ I got really stuck on that phrase. I write it down on my notes app and would pull it up from time to time and think about what he meant.”

“When working on music for this film, ‘elegant and brutal’ was a phrase I kept coming back to,” she continued. “One day whilst on tour in Austin, Finn [Keane] and I went to the studio and wrote the bones for a song that would eventually become House. When the summer ended I was still ruminating on John’s words. So I decided to reach out to him to get his opinion on the songs that his phrase had so deeply inspired, but also to see whether he might want to collaborate on any.”

They wound up chatting on the phone, and Charli sent over several songs, including her initial take on “House.” “We spoke about the idea of a poem,” she added. “He recorded something and sent it to me. Something that only John could do. And it was… well, it made my cry.”

The unsettling video shows Charli and Cale isolated together in a remote house, creating the vibe of a horror movie. It includes a spoken-word poem by Cale. “Can I speak to you privately for a moment,” he says. “I just want to explain/Explain the circumstances I find myself in/What and who I really am/I’m a prisoner/To live for eternity.”

“House” is one of several Charli XCX songs that will appear on the Wuthering Heights soundtrack. The project began a year ago when Fennell reached out to see if she’d write a single song for the movie, which stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.

“I read the script and immediately felt inspired so Finn Keane and I began working on not just one but many songs that we felt connected to the world she was creating,” Charli wrote. “After being so in the depths of my previous album I was excited to escape into something entirely new, entirely opposite. When I think of Wuthering Heights I think of many things. I think of passion and pain. I think of England. I think of the Moors, I think of the mud and the cold. I think of determination and grit.”

The Wuthering Heights soundtrack is one of many projects that Charli XCX has in the works. She’s also star to star in Daniel Goldhaber’s Faces of Death, Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex, Cathy Yan’s The Gallerist, Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero, Romain Gavras’s Sacrifice, and Pete Ohs’s Erupcja.

From Rolling Stone US.

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In a more fantastical universe than our own, the 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at L.A.’s Peacock Theater would have featured Jack White and Meg White coming together as the White Stripes for the first time in 16 years, OutKast‘s first performance since their 2014 reunion tour, and Paul Rodgers fronting Bad Company one last time. In our actual universe, Meg was a no-show, OutKast delivered a speech but not a performance, and drummer Simon Kirke was forced to fly the Bad Company banner on his own.

Fortunately, these barely felt like disappointments — as historic as they would have been — because the Hall of Fame once again delivered a spectacular show by bringing in heavyweights like Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan, Doja Cat, Missy Elliott, the Killers, Stevie Wonder, Flea, Donald Glover, David Letterman, Jennifer Hudson, Elton John, and Janelle Monae to speak and perform alongside inductees Salt-N-Pepa, Jack White, OutKast, Soundgarden, and Cyndi Lauper.

And it was Lauper who captured the emotional sentiment of the evening near the end of the show. “I know I stand on the shoulders of the women in the industry who came before me,” she said. “My shoulders are broad enough to have the women that come after me stand on mine. And the little kid in me still believes that rock & roll can save the world. Rock & roll is a big, wonderful quilt of a lot of different styles of music, thank goodness.”

Several hours earlier, Stevie Wonder kicked off the night by honoring Sly Stone with a high-energy medley of “Dance to the Music,” “Everyday People,” Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” and “Higher,” where he was joined by Flea, Beck, Maxwell, Questlove, and Jennifer Hudson. The Hall of Fame clearly meant something to Stone since he made an extraordinarily rare public appearance at the 1993 ceremony when Sly and the Family Stone were inducted, and it felt right to begin the show by honoring his genius even though we lost an astounding number of icons this year.

Bad Company emerged onto the scene in 1973, just as Sly and the Family Stone were melting down after one of the greatest five-year runs in music history. It’s been a difficult few years for Bad Company because guitarist Mick Ralphs died in March following a debilitating stroke several years ago, and frontman Paul Rodgers is still recovering from several strokes of his own. (Bassist Boz Burrell died in 2006.) Rodgers was initially optimistic he’d show up and perform a few songs, but he backed out last week because it was simply too stressful for him.

Kirke was on hand to accept the award on behalf of the band from Mick Fleetwood. “They say it’s better to travel than arrive,” he said. “But I don’t know. Tonight I’ve arrived with the band, and I’m so grateful…I want to acknowledge one of the great rock singers of all time, my friend, Mr. Paul Rodgers.”

Rodgers delivered a brief, pre-taped speech of his own. “Be at peace with God,” he said. “Whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. It is still a beautiful world. My prayer for us is that we all choose love.”

Prior to the speeches, Kirke sat behind the drum kit in his tuxedo and banged out “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and “Can’t Get Enough” with Chris Robinson, Bryan Adams, Joe Perry, and Nancy Wilson.

The show jumped from the Seventies to the Nineties when 2023 inductee Missy Elliott came out to welcome Salt-N-Pepa as the first female hip-hop act in the Hall of Fame. “This is historical,” she said. “I watched these three ladies from high school. The reason you even know Missy Elliott’s name is because of Salt, Pepa, and Spinderella. They inspired me to become an M.C…They came out the gate unapologetic, unforgettable, timeless. They were trailblazers and unstoppable. They stepped outside of the box and they broke all the molds. They made women like me feel heard and empowered.”

Salt and Pepa have only recently made peace with Spinderella after a protracted legal spat, and an unfortunate war of words in the press. But they walked up to the podium as a unified force to accept the overdue honor. “This moment right here is bigger than us,” said Cheryl “Salt” James. “This is for every woman who picked up a mic when they told her she couldn’t, for every sister who had to fight twice as hard to be heard, for every artist who ever had to learn that ownership is the real freedom.”

Sandra “Pepa” Denton thanked her mother, who died just a couple of weeks ago. “She was my strength,” she said. “She was my guidance. She taught me to love, to persevere. I want to thank you mom, for everything.”

Spinderella, meanwhile, noted that she was the first female DJ to join the Hall. “When I started, it was a rare thing to see a woman behind turntables,” she said. “It was literally the boy’s club. I had to carve my own lane. I had to show up. It was dedication. It was a craft. And I never missed a beat.”

They went all the way back to 1985’s “My Mic Sounds Nice” at the top of their hits medley before bringing out a crew of background dancers for “Shoop” and “Let’s Talk About Sex.” En Vogue joined them for “Whatta Man,” and Kid ‘n Play made a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo during the grand finale of “Push It.” The entire performance was simply a triumph, and proof that they should have been inducted long ago.

Warren Zevon is also entering the institution at an absurdly late date. David Letterman delivered a heartfelt speech in his honor that touched upon Zevon’s famous 2002 Late Show appearance, just one year before he died from cancer. “That was the last time I saw Warren,” Letterman said. “It was very difficult for me because I’d never talked to someone who pretty much understood that in a short period of time they’d be leaving the planet…After the show, Warren picked up a guitar he’d used every time he did the show and handed it to me and said, ‘Take care of this for me.’”

Letterman held onto the guitar all these years, and he handed it to Killers guitarist Dave Keuning. His band was already onstage to play a joyous rendition of “Lawyers, Guns, and Money” with guitarist Waddy Wachtel, a longtime Zevon collaborator. (This was a rare appearance by all four original members of the Killers since bassist Mark Stoermer was there as well.)

As soon as word hit that the White Stripes were entering the Hall of Fame earlier this year, fans began speculating about Meg White’s possible participation. Unsurprisingly, she didn’t show. Somewhat surprisingly, Jack White revealed that he spoke to her just days before accepting the award from fellow Detroit icon Iggy Pop, who referred to them as “a 21st century Adam and Eve, who had started a rock & roll band.”

“I spoke with Meg White the other day,” White said. “She said she’s very sorry she couldn’t make it tonight, but she’s very grateful for the folks who have supported her throughout all the years, it really means a lot to her tonight…To young artists, I want to say, get your hands dirty and drop the screens and get out in your garage or your little room and get obsessed. Get obsessed with something, get passionate. We all want to share in what you might create.”

Jack White regularly plays White Stripes songs at his solo shows, but it would have been slightly odd for him to represent the band live at this event without Meg. He remained in the audience as Olivia Rodrigo and Feist locked voices on a tender version of “We’re Going to Be Friends” before Twenty One Pilots tore through an inevitable “Seven Nation Army.” (For those of you who continue to pine for a White Stripes reunion, it’s probably best to give it up. If it didn’t happen here, it ain’t happening anywhere.)

An OutKast reunion seemed significantly more probable because Big Boi and Andre 3000 remain close friends, they went on an extensive reunion tour in 2014, and both are active in music today, even if Andre’s recent flute music is a far cry from the days of Aquemini. The duo sat together in front of the hall as Donald Glover delivered their induction speech.

“Thank you for showing me that brothers may not always see eye to eye and their philosophies or styles, but they need each other in a world that would rather see them both fail together,” Glover said. “Atlanta is not the music Mecca it has become without you. There is no Childish Gambino without you. There is no South without you.”

After winning a game of rock-paper-scissors, Big Boi spoke first, and called the extended OutKast family to the stage as he read off a long list of people to thank. Andre 3000 had no formal remarks prepared and gave a long, impromptu address that grew quite emotional near the end when he brought up Jack White’s speech. “Man, he’s one of my favorites,” he said as his voice began to crack with genuine tears. “He said something about little rooms, and we started…Great things start in little rooms.”

And a great OutKast tribute started in this big room, though Andre 3000 opted to go the Steve Perry route by watching it from the wings as opposed to joining in. It featured “ATLiens” with Big Boi and J.I.D., “Ms. Jackson” with Doja Cat — who seemed to forget the words or simply got lost at one point — an explosive “B.O.B.” with Tyler, the Creator, a wild “Hey Ya!” where Janelle Monáe shook like a Polaroid in the audience and writhed around on the floor, Big Boi and Sleepy Brown teaming up on “The Way You Move,” and Killer Mike closing things out by bringing everyone back for a joyous “The Whole World.” Would this have been better if it was simply Big Boi and Andre 3000 without any special guests? Yes. But with Andre simply unwilling to do that, it was the next best thing.

There was sadly no chance for Soundgarden to stage a complete reunion, but drummer Matt Cameron, guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassists Ben Shepherd and Hiro Yamamoto were all on hand to honor the late Chris Cornell. Before they came out, Jim Carrey delivered their induction speech. “When the Seattle music scene exploded, it resurrected rock & roll for me,” he said. “When I heard Soundgarden for the first time, I wasn’t just excited. I wanted to put a flannel shirt on and run into the streets screaming, ‘My mother smoked during pregnancy!’”

Fronting Soundgarden in the place of Cornell is an extremely difficult task, but Taylor Momsen hit all the right notes on “Rusty Cage” before bringing out Brandi Carlile for a glorious rendition of “Black Hole Sun.” They were joined by Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, creating a one-night-only grunge mega supergroup. (Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic watched from the audience. They already had two bass players. A third one would have brought them into “Big Bottom” territory, and possibly opened up a time portal back to 1992.)

Cornell’s older daughter Lily spoke after Carrey’s speech. “I am just really, really happy that he got to make music with his friends,” she said of her dad. “At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about. I know how much purpose that gave him, and how much it’s meant to people who have heard that music. That’s what I’ll be holding in my heart tonight.”

And his younger daughter Toni sang “Fell on Black Days” with Nancy Wilson on guitar. “It’s so surreal, and I’m so honored that I get to be here to do this for my dad,” she said backstage. “I just wish he were here to see this tremendous honor for himself.”

The members of Soundgarden also reflected on Chris during their speeches. “Chris Cornell, we are so missing you tonight on this stage,” said Yamamoto. “We all love you. All love to you. We would not be here without you. Somewhere up there Chris, we’re talking to you, baby.”

The bassist, who left the band in 1989 and now works as a chemist, also made one of the only overly political statements of the night. “Thanks to my parents, whose story as American citizens who were rounded up and placed in prison camps just for being Japanese during World War II, that effected my life greatly, and it really echoes strongly today. Let’s not add another story like this to our history.”

The Soundgarden segment was followed by the “In Memoriam” montage and a heartfelt take on “God Only Knows” with Elton John on lead vocals backed by drummer Kenny Aronoff, keyboardist Benmont Tench, and bassist Don Was. (Ozzy Osbourne was only given a brief moment at the top of the “In Memoriam,” but he was present last year for his induction as a solo artist.)

Chappell Roan came dressed in a vintage Cyndi Lauper-style outfit. Her dress was made of newspaper clippings that she chose and that had personal significance, including an article about Rocky Horror Picture Show star Tim Curry. The corset was comprised of pieces bought through the internet. The silver headpiece featured images of Cyndi throughout her career. Roan admitted she failed to bring her contacts, and struggled to read Lauper’s induction speech from the teleprompter without squinting heavily. “Tonight,” she said, “we honor a woman who redefined what a pop star could look like, sound like, and be.”

Lauper assembled an all-female band featuring Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock, and former Smashing Pumpkins bassist Ginger Pooley to back her on “True Colors,” “Time After Time” with guest singer Raye, and “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” with Avril Lavigne, Raye, and Salt-N-Pepa.

“See what happens when you let the riff-raff in,” Lauper said during her speech. “I just want to say thank you to all the love that I’ve gotten over my whole career. And Chappell, I was back there crying, and you can’t lose an eyelash in rock & roll.”

Earlier in the evening, Lenny Waronker, Carol Kaye, Thom Bell, and Nicky Hopkins were inducted via quick video montages. Chubby Checker booked a gig on the same night as the ceremony after trying to get inducted for decades, but he gave a quick speech via satellite and sang a portion of “The Twist.”

As the clock hit midnight on the East Coast, Bryan Adams walked out to induct Joe Cocker. “It’s one thing to cover a song, it’s another to make it your own,” he said. “That’s what Joe could do. Even Paul McCartney acknowledged how Joe had transformed his Beatles classic [‘With a Little Help From My Friends’] into a soul anthem. The list of songs that Joe did that do is mighty. There’s not a person in this room who wasn’t moved by his version of ‘You Are So Beautiful.’”

The Tedeschi Trucks Band closed out the evening by resurrecting the Mad Dogs and Englishman renditions of “The Letter” and “Feelin’ Alright” with help from Nathaniel Rateliff and Teddy Swims. They then invited Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams, Chris Robinson, and Brandi Carlile back out for a euphoric “With a Little Help From My Friends.” Intentionally or not, it brought the ceremony full circle since it started with another set of Woodstock songs by Sly and the Family Stone.

The Woodstock era is now nearly six decades behind us. And the Hall of Fame is now starting to take in acts like the White Stripes who broke after the turn of the millennium. In the coming years, they might be followed by the Strokes, the Killers, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And as crazy as it sounds, Taylor Swift is eligible in just a few short years.

Meanwhile, Joy Division/New Order, the Smiths, Devo, Sonic Youth, the New York Dolls, the Monkees, King Crimson, the Replacements, the Pixies, Weezer, Alice in Chains, and Smashing Pumpkins all await their turns. It’s too late for the Dolls, but let’s hope the others make it while at least one member is still around. These tributes are great fun, but it’s more fun to watch survivors like Salt-N-Pepa, Cyndi Lauper, and Jack White take the stage and revel in the moment.

From Rolling Stone US.

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