Now that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2025 has been announced, a new question emerges: What reunions can fans expect at the induction ceremony?
The momentous occasion has previously been enough to coax musicians out of retirement or back together after years of estrangement. When Judas Priest performed at their 2022 induction, they did so with former guitarist K.K. Downing, who left the band in 2011.
It’s just one of several examples of mending fences in the name of rock. The 2025 Rock Hall class has the potential for a few such reunions, with varying degrees of likelihood.
Read on to see three huge reunions that could happen at the 2025 Rock Hall ceremony.
Soundgarden
Any Soundgarden “reunion” comes with the obvious caveat that it won’t include late frontman Chris Cornell, who died in 2017. But a partial reunion featuring guitarist Kim Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd isn’t out of the question.
The surviving members of Soundgarden reunited in 2019 for the “I Am the Highway” tribute concert to Cornell, and again in December 2024 to play a benefit show under the anagram Nudedragons, joined by Seattle singer Shaina Shepherd. They’ve all expressed a desire to continue working together and honor Cornell’s legacy. “We’re going through natural healing, then thinking about the natural next step,” Shepherd said in 2018.
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Thayil also acknowledged the significance of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame after the band’s 2023 nomination. “If you’re a fan, it’s a validation of your choices and your appraisals in your musical tastes,” he said. “So that changed my understanding of it, and made me realize it’s important.”
A Rock Hall reunion, however brief, could offer a sense of catharsis and validation for both the remaining members of Soundgarden and their legion of fans. “Now that Chris is gone, it’s even more important,” Thayil said. “It’s for Chris’s memory and the band’s legacy. And for our fans – for the love and commitment they’ve shown us for all these decades.”
The White Stripes
Since breaking up in 2011, the White Stripes’ Jack and Meg White have taken polar opposite career paths. The former has continued to release music and tour at a relentless pace as a solo artist and member of the Raconteurs and Dead Weather, while the latter retired from music and retreated from the public eye to her native Detroit.
“I don’t think anyone talks to Meg,” White told Rolling Stone in 2014. “She’s always been a hermit.” As for their different perspectives on making music and overall demeanors? “We’d be working in the studio and something amazing would happen: I’m like, ‘Damn, we just broke into a new world right there!’ And Meg’s sitting in silence.”
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Although White has always been quick to defend his ex-wife and bandmate’s musical contributions (including in a 2023 social media episode regarding Meg’s skills behind the kit), Meg’s staunch refusal to do interviews and apparent disillusionment with the music industry makes a White Stripes Rock Hall reunion seem especially unlikely.
The band’s frontman has expressed ambivalence over the institution as well, telling WRIF’s Meltdown in 2022: “I haven’t really thought about that. I mean, you know, all the awards are political, really. So it’s hard to really grasp any real thought about what they actually mean. You know, maybe it should be called the Music Museum instead.”
Outkast
It’s been nearly two decades since Atlanta hip-hop duo Outkast released their last studio album, 2006’s Idlewild — a commercial comedown following the 2003 diamond-selling smash Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Andre 3000 and Big Boi embarked on a festival-circuit reunion tour in 2014, headlining massive gatherings such as Coachella, Austin City Limits and more. Fast-forward a decade, however, and new music doesn’t seem to be in the cards.
“I’ll say maybe 10, 15 years ago, in my mind, I thought an Outkast album would happen,” Andre told Rolling Stone in December 2024. “I don’t know the future, but I can say that we’re further away from it than we’ve ever been. I think it’s a chemistry thing. We have to be wanting to do it. It’s hard for me to make a rap, period, you know? And sometimes I’m in the belief of ‘Let things be.'”
READ MORE: Top 10 Moments From 2023 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony
Outkast expressed their gratitude for their Rock Hall nomination in a joint Instagram post. While Andre declined to comment further on the nomination, Big Boi — who helped induct Kate Bush in 2023 — told Vulture that he would “definitely” attend the ceremony if the duo was inducted.
“It’s like the last Infinity Stone in my Thanos glove. It’s not even something I thought was on the table when we started making music,” he said. “When you think about the Rock Hall, you think of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and all of these legendary rock bands. It’s been cool to see them move into other genres and it’s a huge honor to be considered alongside people I’ve admired since I was a kid.”
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Gallery Credit: Corey Irwin
