Howard Stern lived up to his self proclaimed status as the King of All Media in 2024 when he hosted some of the best musical guests on his satellite radio show to SirusXM's 34 million listeners.
When Howard wasn't being visited by the POTUS, the VP, and his usual cast of characters, Baba Booey booked some of the most talented musicians on the planet.
So let's hear it for the top nine performances of 2024.
Kate Hudson
Goldie's daughter, it turns out, is a lot more than just a pretty face who can act her tuchus off. Miss Penny Lane can actually sing.
While promoting her debut vinyl. Glorious, the delightful Kate Hudson performed a track off the record and two covers, Stone Temple Pilots' "Vaseline," and the '80s hit "Voices Carry" written by Aimee Mann of 'Til Tuesday.
Kate has a date on her calendar for 2025 where she will be showcasing her originals and hopefully tossing in some of these classic covers. Catch Kate at the Troubadour at the end of January by securing tix on her site.
Pearl Jam
Eddie Vedder and the boys have had a long relationship with America's most successful radio host.
Over the years Vedder and Pearl Jam have given long interviews on the show.
In April they played two live debuts from their Dark Matter album ("Scared of Fear" and "Running), and, since they were letting Howard choose the setlist, two of his favorite songs from their catalogue.
Howard asked for both "Daughter" and "Glorified G," but Eddie vetoed the latter tune and they agreed on "Yellow Ledbetter."
“We played ['Glorified G'] the other day and I thought, there must be one that has more energy to it," Vedder explained about the track they'd only performed five times since 2016.
(When PJ played Madison Square Garden in September, a show Howard attended, they played it for him, then again at Fenway Park.)
Cleverly using modern technology, the band rocked out at their headquarters in Seattle while Howard conducted the interview from his studio in NYC. Yet thanks to the way it was shot and edited it gave the feel of them being in the same room.
PJ's 2025 tour gets rolling again next April. Get tix on their site.
Bruce Springsteen
There are many benefits of Howard being on satellite radio over terrestrial, and one is he can host very long interviews and performances and not have them be abruptly broken up with commercial breaks.
On Halloween Bruce and the E Street Band talked and played for over two hours where the Boss explained how he wrote certain songs and answered all of Howard's questions.
Howard was not a fan of the New Jersey legend for a while but was influenced by the show's producer Gary Dell'Abate as well as his former sidekick Artie Lange who would go on and on about how great the singer/songwriter is.
Over the last few years Howard has seen the light and is now all in. It's sweet to watch a 70-year-old man turn into a fanboy. And fans loved seeing Bruce play the piano, which he rarely does live.
Billy Joel
Billy and Howard have been friends for a long time so when the Piano Man comes into the studio there's a mutual respect and ease that shows up on the air.
Howard is not afraid to ask basic questions as well as inside-baseball ones that can be pretty technical. Some of the reasons he's known as one of the best interviewers of all time is he isn't trying to break news, embarrass the guest, or ask something slightly personal. He claims he has a life of a hermit so this is his chance to ask questions he wants the answers to.
Meanwhile Billy couldn't seem more comfortable at the keyboard going over his vast catalogue, as seen above when talking about "Anthony's Song."
Like 50 Cent, Janet Jackson, and Morrissey, Billy will be performing on New Years Eve in a few weeks. Get tickets from his website.
Jelly Roll
Howard might be known as much for his celebrity interviews as he is for making stars out of oddballs, rejects, and stutters.
So when someone like Jelly Roll, a hugely talented performer, with a checkered past came into the studio with his face tattoos and fascinating life, the two men instantly bonded.
The result was a wonderful interview with Jelly performing some of his songs including "I Am Not Okay," the smash hit that dropped only a few hours before the interview.
"It's as fresh as a baby butt," Jelly proclaimed.
Speaking of butts, Jelly Roll will be co-headlining the Big Ass Arena Tour with Post Malone, returning to Stagecoach, and continuing his Beautifully Broken Tour. Get tix on his website.
Green Day
Even though he's a budding guitarist and in no way a drummer, Howard is obsessed with ranking rock's greatest drummers.
When Green Day returned to the studio in January, Howard asked Tre Cool and Billie Joe who they loved and familiar names like John Bonham and Keith Moon were mentioned.
Billie Joe defended Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich who often gets dissed for a variety of reasons.
"Lars has a really unorthodox way of playing. I think he's a really creative drummer," Armstrong told Howard.
"I think there's like, as far as the metal drummers of his genre — even up until now people that were influenced by Metallica, I think there is something very studious about the way other people play. But I think the way that him and James Hetfield play together is so just in lock step. His drum fills are completely unique to the way Lars plays. I really dig the way Lars plays, he's a great drummer."
Green Day hits the road in less than a month on the Saviors Tour before they headline Coachella. Get your tix on their site.
Heart
Any time you can get Ann and Nancy Wilson in a room to talk about their long history as female trailblazers in rock is a special thing.
Plus if you can get them to play Led Zeppelin, something that brought tears to the eyes of Robert Plant years ago, it is icing on the cake. The sisters were in the studio in April where they did "Going to California" and two of their biggest originals, "Barracuda" and "Magic Man."
Heart's Royal Flush 2025 Tour kicks off in Las Vegas in February. Get your tickets on their website.
Black Crowes
As Sirius' reach continues to grow, so do their studios. The Black Crowes performed a number of songs for Howard and Robin from Sirius' new Nashville studio in March and their hit "Remedy" really showed off how good the new digs are.
Howard, of course, asked the brothers what it was like getting back together after being estranged for so long and producing their first new album in 15 years.
Guitarist Rich Robinson explained, “Chris and I were stuck in this submarine for 24 years — and that’s what being in a band is like. And then you get away, and you can have more of a 10,000-foot view of what just happened.”
Chris Stapleton
The country star returned to the Stern Show where he talked about his fantastic Super Bowl performance that had some of the football stars in tears, becoming best friends with his guitar at an early age, and his collab with Justin Timberlake at the CMA Awards that helped catapult his career.
The he covered what Howard called Willie Nelson's greatest song ever, "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground" which the Red Headed Stranger wrote and performed for the Honeysuckle Rose soundtrack.
You know you've written a good song when Bob Dylan covers it and makes it a B-side.
Chris will be down under in February. Get your tix on his website.
