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While summer may be in the rearview mirror, that doesn’t mean there’s no more warm weather to enjoy. If you’re looking to elevate your last few weeks of outdoor relaxation time (or just love an easy backyard upgrade), solar-powered lighting is an effortless way to add ambience.

Right now, Amazon’s Ilanck Solar Pathway Outdoor LED Lights 12-Pack is on sale for just $30 in the warm light option and $32 in the cool light option. This budget-friendly set is earning praise from shoppers for its ease of use and the way it transforms outdoor spaces, earning over 350 glowing five-star reviews.

Ilanck Solar Pathway Outdoor LED Lights 12-Pack, From $30 (was $34) at Amazon

Courtesy of Amazon

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These solar pathway lights are a fuss-free, eco-friendly solution for lighting up walkways, garden beds, patios, or driveways. Each light is powered by a small solar panel that charges during the day and automatically turns on the LED bulb at dusk. There’s no wiring, no batteries to replace, and no need to flip a switch — just place them where you want a little extra glow and let the sun do the rest.

Installation is refreshingly simple. Each light features a sturdy plastic spike that you push into the ground, so setting up the whole 12-pack can take as little as 10 or 15 minutes. Customers love the flexibility, as you can easily move the lights around if you redesign your landscaping or want to highlight a new area. The low-profile design blends in with plants and mulch during the day. But at night, the LEDs cast a gentle, inviting light along your path or garden’s edge.

Durability is another key feature. The lights are built to withstand rain, snow, and heat, so you don’t have to worry about taking them in during bad weather. The plastic construction is lightweight but resilient enough for most climates, and the solar panels are sealed to prevent water damage. Many reviewers mentioned that the lights have continued to work through harsh weather and still looked great after months of use.

At just $30 for 12 lights, you can illuminate a long walkway, border a large flower bed, or outline your patio without spending a fortune. They not only make it easier to navigate your backyard after dark, but also create a beautiful ambience for outdoor gatherings. Shoppers said these lights “work perfectly” and have a “lovely look,” noting that the “nice design” is “very quaint.”

“They were quick to put together and place outside along my home perimeter,” one shopper wrote. “I waited to write a review for a few months to see how they would hold up in the weather, and they are simply great.”

Maintenance is minimal. Just wipe the solar panels occasionally to ensure they’re getting enough sunlight, and the lights will keep glowing night after night. Because they’re solar-powered, there’s no increase to your electricity bill either.

Related: Amazon’s $15 Sunflower Lamp Adds a ‘Ray of Sunshine’ to Any Table

For anyone looking to quickly upgrade their outdoor space, Amazon’s $30 solar lights 12-pack are affordable, easy-to-install, and beloved by buyers. Don’t miss your chance to shop them at this price!

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The Chicago Bears had some unusually good news to share on Friday. By Sunday afternoon, that news had taken a very different turn.

Ahead of their Week 2 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, the Bears announced that, for the first time since Week 7 of the 2022 season, their roster was injury-free.

“For the first time since Week 7 of the 2022 season, we do not have a single player with an out, doubtful or questionable designation on our injury report,” the team wrote on social media Friday.

For the first time since Week 7 of the 2022 season, we do not have a single player with an out, doubtful or questionable designation on our injury report

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 18, 2026

It was a rare bit of good news for a team that has dealt with its share of injuries over the years. Unfortunately for Chicago, that pristine report didn’t even make it through the weekend.

During Sunday’s game at Soldier Field, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams suffered a right hamstring injury in the fourth quarter while scrambling near the goal line. Williams went down without being hit, appeared to be in significant pain, and was unable to put weight on the leg. He was eventually helped off the field and taken to the locker room on a cart.

Williams was ruled out for the remainder of the game, with backup Tyson Bagent taking over at quarterback.

The injury came during a defensive battle against the Vikings, with Minnesota ultimately beating Chicago 9-3. Williams finished the afternoon 15-for-26 passing for 138 yards and an interception, while also rushing for 42 yards on five carries.

After the game, Bears head coach Ben Johnson said the team would know more about Williams’ injury Monday following further evaluation. Johnson said Williams was in “good spirits” and expressed relief that the injury did not appear to involve his knee, though he noted that a hamstring injury could still be significant.

“We’ll see how bad it is tomorrow and we’ll go from there,” Johnson said after the game.

Williams is scheduled to undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the hamstring injury, and there is early optimism that he suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain. While generally considered the mildest form of a muscle strain, Williams may not be ready to go in just eight days when the team is scheduled to host the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football on Sept. 28.

For now, the Bears will have to wait for the MRI results before knowing whether Williams will be available against Philadelphia. Either way, the team’s perfectly clean injury report didn’t stay that way for long. Just two days after announcing their healthiest roster in nearly four years, Chicago watched its starting quarterback leave the field on a cart.

Having a hard conversation is only made more difficult when your conversation partner is combative. If you’re trying to speak about a serious topic or disagreement with someone who is in this state—meaning they are argumentative, defensive and ready to fight—it’s unlikely that you’ll ever come to a calm resolution.

That being said, what is the best way to deal with this type of person? Is it possible to shut down their aggressive behavior and get them to a calm enough place to maturely address the issues at hand?

To find out, Parade spoke with Dr. Cindy Lin, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist and the President of the Bay Area Psychological Association. According to her, there is one phrase that can instantly shut down a combative person, which will emotionally reset them and get them ready for a calm conversation.

“Combativeness rarely stems from malice,” Dr. Lin tells Parade. “It arises from a nervous system that has detected and decided it is under threat.”

Because of this, a person who is aggressive like this often just needs to feel validated and understood. Read on for the best way to instantly stop an antagonist’s behavior, along with an explanation as to why some people are more contentious than others in arguments.

Related: Psychologist Says the 1 Phrase That Instantly Shuts Down a Condescending Person Isn’t What You Might Think

Why Some People Act Combative During Conflicts

“When a person is acting combatively, they are most often under stress and feeling distress, causing their ‘fight’ response to activate via the body’s sympathetic system,” Dr. Lin explains.

“The sympathetic nervous system controls the body’s fight-or-flight responses in the face of danger. In this state, the combative person is preparing for high risk and stress,” she adds. “Their brain is unable to rationally absorb and assess information. Their mind-body system is on guard and vigilantly self-protective.”

In many cases, this manifests as combative behavior, such as “rejection, aggressive opposition or even icy shutout.”

Related: Psychiatrist Says the 1 Phrase That Instantly Shuts Down a Dismissive Person Isn’t What You Might Think

This Phrase Can Instantly Shut Down a Combative Person, Psychologist Says

The phrase that Dr. Lin says can shut down and “effectively reset” a combative person is: “I’m listening. What else do you want to tell me?”

This phrase is effective at calming down an aggressive person “because it validates that they are being heard, indicates willingness and curiosity to engage and invites the person to share more,” she states.

Related: Psychologist Says the 1 Phrase That Instantly Shuts Down a Passive-Aggressive Person Isn’t What You Might Think

Guillermo Spelucin / Getty Images

Why does this phrase shut down a combative person’s behavior?

“Remember, the combative person is in a state of overwhelm and hyperarousal—flooded with feelings of fear, anger, and uncertainty. They feel and believe they have been wronged or misunderstood,” Dr. Lin further explains.

“If you are able to calmly and authentically state otherwise and invite them to say more, it will prompt their brain to pause and reassess the situation,” she continues. “This non-confrontational and inviting phrase signals that you are safe and won’t engage in a fight or attack. Quite the contrary, you are ready to listen, understand and validate. You are not questioning their feelings or views; you are simply wanting to know more. This can feel highly reassuring.”

As the combative person’s brain processes the two-part phrase, “their neurological system and body begin to equilibrate, activating the parasympathetic system,” per Dr. Lin.

This can actually physically calm a person, therefore leading to a more productive—and less combative—conversation.

Related: People Who Were Told They Were ‘Too Sensitive’ as Children Usually Develop These 14 Traits as Adults, Psychologists Say

3 Other Phrases That Can Shut Down Antagonistic Behavior

“Situations and relationships differ, and the more phrases you have in your toolkit, the better,” Dr. Lin notes. “You can prepare and practice how to manage and reconnect when someone behaves combatively.”

Here are three other phrases you can try using to shut down someone acting combatively.

1. “I see you’re upset. What can I do?”

Saying “I see you’re upset. What can I do?” is effective because it “provides clear emotional validation at the outset,” says Dr. Lin. This phrase is particularly productive when the confrontational person is a child or teen who is still learning how to regulate their emotions.

“When using this phrase, you are immediately stepping into care mode,” she shares. It shows that you are “genuinely empathetic and willing to move into a caring, problem-solving mode to help ease the person’s stress.”

“The goal here is to effectively and quickly help the person regulate,” she adds.

Once everyone is calmed down and emotionally regulated, you can return to discussing the original conflict in a more mature way.

Related: People Who Never Felt Validated as Kids Often Develop These 11 Traits as Adults, Psychologists Say

2. “I hear your points and see where you’re coming from. Can we talk about it?”

“This phrase provides strong emotional and viewpoint validation upfront,” Dr. Lin states. “It works very well when you genuinely see the other person’s point of view, empathize with them and agree—at least to some extent.”

Then, the second part of the phrase is designed to “facilitate a two-way conversation, rather than letting the combative person’s behaviors take up all the space.”

“The goal here is to reset and facilitate a productive conversation,” she adds. “For this to develop successfully, it is important to maintain curiosity, an empathic stance and active, reciprocal listening.”

3. “Let’s take a few breaths together”

Saying “Let’s take a few breaths together” is particularly impactful when it’s someone you have a close relationship with, such as a friend or family member.

“Compared to the other phrases, this one emphasizes the collectiveness of the two parties, inviting both to pause together, breathe and co-regulate,” shares Dr. Lin. “It can be highly effective when the relationship carries a foundational level of trust and psychological safety, yet the person is behaving combatively in the moment.”

If you aren’t very close with the combative person in question, you can try saying, “Let’s take a beat together” instead. She says this phrase is a bit less intimate than “Let’s take a few breaths together,” but both phrases have the same goal: “to pause, reset and lower the emotional temperature, then mutually decide on next steps.”

Up Next:

Related: This Is the Key Difference Between Oversharing vs. Being Vulnerable, Psychologist Explains

Source:

• Dr. Cindy Lin, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and President of the Bay Area Psychological Association.

Classic rock history is full of remarkable “what ifs,” but few carry the emotional weight of Bruce Springsteen‘s song for Elvis Presley that another group made a smash.

Written during the spring of 1977, “Fire” was meant to be the ultimate collaboration between two generations of rock icons. When tragic timing prevented the track from ever reaching the King, the song took an unexpected detour into music history.

According to Elvis.com.au, Springsteen was a huge fan of the King of Rock and Roll. He followed his career intently and in 1977 he attended a Presley concert along with E Street bandmate Steve Van Zandt.

Far Out quoted Springsteen as saying that he was somewhat disappointed in the King’s performance. He said, “It was not a good night.”

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Legend has it that afterward, the New Jersey rocker wrote “Fire” for Presley. Ultimately, the song didn’t reach him before his death in August 1977, so the song next went to rockabilly singer Robert Gordon one year later, appearing on the LP Fresh Fish Special.

Later in 1978, legendary soul singers The Pointer Sisters were given the song at the suggestion of their producer, Richard Perry. The song became a hit, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1979.

The trio of Anita, June, and Ruth Pointer released “Fire” as the first single from their album Energy. It became their first gold single.

Springsteen wouldn’t release his own version of the song until November 1986 on the live box set Live/1975–85. It was issued as a live single in January 1987.

Springsteen’s fondness for Presley was so immense that he did the unthinkable. While on tour promoting the LP Born to Run in 1975, he jumped Graceland’s fence in an attempt to meet his idol. He relayed the story during an appearance on the Graham Norton Show.

“Jumped over the wall, ran up the drive, got to the front door, and I was just about to knock on the front door, and a security guy came out of the bushes,” Springsteen explained. “He said, ‘Can I help you?’ I said, ‘Yes, is Elvis here?’”

Ultimately, Presley was in Las Vegas. But Springsteen had a message for his idol.

“I said, ‘Well, okay, can you tell him, and I generally don’t like to do this, but that Bruce Springsteen was here. He may not know who that is, but I was just on the cover of Time and Newsweek,’” he shared. “That was the closest I ever got to Elvis Presley.”

Elvis Presley never got the chance to make “Fire” his own, but the song’s unexpected path to the top of the charts remains an incredible piece of music history. It brought two eras of musical royalty together and delivered a smash hit.

Related: 1969 Elvis Presley Gem Was the Flip Side of a No. 3 Billboard Smash

Adam Levine may have been known as a womanizer for the first decade-plus of his career, but these days, the Maroon 5 frontman only has eyes for his wife, Behati Prinsloo.

“The strongest, baddest, sexiest, most dynamic woman I’ve ever known,” he gushed about her on Instagram. “Your grace and power is astounding. I love you more than words can express.”

Of course, longtime fans know the couple—who tied the knot in 2014—hit a bump in the road in 2022 after several women accused the Voice coach of sending them flirty messages on social media. “I used poor judgment in speaking with anyone other than my wife in ANY kind of flirtatious manner,” he said in response. “I did not have an affair, nevertheless, I crossed the line during a regrettable period of my life.”

Despite the public drama, Levine and Prinsloo remain husband and wife and are now the proud parents of three children. Keep reading to learn more about their relationship.

Related: The Voice Winner Alexia Jayy Reveals Why Adam Levine Was Her Game-Changing Choice (Exclusive)

Who is Adam Levine’s wife?

Levine is married to Behati Prinsloo, a Namibian model who became one of Victoria’s Secret’s most recognizable Angels. She walked for the brand more than a dozen times between 2007 and 2025.

After wearing her wings in November 2015, she paused to welcome daughters Dusty Rose, born September 2016, and Gio Grace, born February 2018. But her 2018 comeback was short-lived, as the show itself was then canceled from 2019 until 2024, at which point she returned again (and then again in 2025).

Victoria’s Secret aside, Prinsloo has also modeled for major fashion houses like Prada, Miu Miu and Versace, and landed covers for top magazines such as Vogue and Elle. 

Related: Singer Adam Levine Reveals Cool ‘Secret’ Hiding in Maroon 5 Song

Are Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo still together? View this post on Instagram

Yes. Some lookie-loos wondered whether they were done for in 2022, when Levine’s online indiscretions came to light, but the pair have indeed stuck together. 

Marking their 12-year anniversary in 2026, Levine wrote on Instagram, “12 years married to my favorite human. I love you…over and over again. for the rest of my life.” 

How did Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo meet?

The pair first connected in 2012, when Adam was looking to cast a model for a Maroon 5 music video and a mutual friend suggested he reach out to Prinsloo. Although she didn’t end up taking the job, the two kept talking over email.

They decided to meet when she was in L.A. for work, with their first flesh-and-blood encounter taking place at a boxing gym. “I remember walking in: I opened the door, and it was the classic moment where the light shines into the dark studio and everyone turned to look at me,” Prinsloo told Net-a-Porter.

“He had boxing gloves on and he came to hug me—it was so awkward.” After that, they went to dinner and “talked for hours.”

Although the couple briefly split in early 2013, they reunited quickly and were married by July 2014. “We broke up for two months, realized that it was the worst decision, then got back together, got engaged and got married,” Prinsloo said. “It was a wild ride!”

In an interview with GQ that hit stands a month before his wedding, Levine called Prinsloo “the coolest person in the world,” and pushed back on the idea that he had a “thing” for models (she wasn’t the first Angel he dated). 

“I don’t date what the person does,” he said. “I date the f–-king person. You know what I mean? I could have been a zitty teenager and walked into a Tower Records, and we would have talked about Pearl Jam, and we would have fallen in love when we were 15. And that’s when you know. It’s like, oh, my God, game over.”

Related: Adam Levine Reveals Hit Song He Thought Would Be a ‘Career Ender’

When did Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo get married? 

The pair tied the knot in July 2014 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in a ceremony officiated by actor Jonah Hill. (Hill’s late brother, Jordan Feldstein, was Levine’s childhood friend and long-time manager. He died in 2017.) 

The wedding was a star-studded event with about 300 guests and a performance by Stevie Nicks.

What’s the age gap between Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo?

Adam Levine was born in 1979, and Behati Prinsloo was born in 1988. That makes their age gap about 10 years.

What happened with Adam Levine’s wife?

In 2022, their marriage suddenly found itself in the headlines after Instagram model Sumner Stroh claimed she’d had a yearlong affair with Levine.

She shared her allegations on TikTok, posting screenshots of what she said were flirtatious messages from the “Moves Like Jagger” singer. One alleged message in particular grabbed the internet’s attention: “Ok serious question,” it read. “I’m having another baby and if it’s [a] boy I really want to name it Sumner. You ok with that? DEAD serious.”

The bizarre query came after Levine and Stroh had already cut ties (according to her) and when Prinsloo was pregnant with her third kid.

Following Stroh’s bombshell reveal, several other women came forward to claim they were on the receiving end of Levine’s flirtatious messages.

Did Adam Levine cheat on Behati Prinsloo?

Depends on who you ask. After Stroh revealed an alleged affair with Levine, he took to Instagram to “clear the air,” insisting that his indiscretions were never “physical.” 

“I used poor judgment in speaking with anyone other than my wife in ANY kind of flirtatious manner,” he wrote. “I did not have an affair, nevertheless, I crossed the line during a regrettable period in my life.”

He continued, “My wife and my family is all I care about in this world. To be this naïve and stupid enough to risk the only thing that truly matters to me was the greatest mistake I could ever make. I will never make it again. I take full responsibility. We will get through it. And we will get through it together.”

Do Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo have kids? View this post on Instagram

Yes! The couple share three children: daughters Dusty, 9, and Gio, 8, and a 3-year-old son whose name they’ve kept private. (“Sumner” presumably didn’t make the cut.)

“I just love being near them,” Levine has said of his kids. “I love to watch every single step. And of course, you miss when they’re tiny, and then they get bigger, and then you say, ‘Oh, my God, they’re so big,’ and then you appreciate all the things you can do with them when they get bigger.”

And there’s still so much more to come, he added. ”It’s just this amazing, never-ending movie, just watching. And it’s the best s— ever. It’s the best thing in the world to me.”

Related: Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani Celebrate 5 Years Married and Fans Are Emotional

In 1978, Boston had one of the biggest albums of the year with Don’t Look Back. The band’s sophomore release featured multiple hits, including the title song and the power ballad “A Man I’ll Never Be.” But the latter song didn’t come easy.

Written by lead guitarist Tom Scholz, “A Man I’ll Never Be” featured an acoustic guitar and piano melody leading to a soaring guitar solo, with emotional lyrics about not measuring up to expectations sung by singer Brad Delp.

The song, which reached No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100, took years to write.

In the liner notes to Boston’s Greatest Hits, Scholz revealed, “’A Man I’ll Never Be’ taught me how fickle inspiration can be. The complete verses for the song came to me one night as I was getting into bed, but I had to wait another six years to find a chorus.”

“A Man I’ll Never Be” was the only Don’t Look Back song not fully recorded and mixed at Scholz’s home recording studio. Hideaway Studios. According to Third Stage, the piano for the song was recorded at Northern Studio in  Maynard, Mass.

Early versions of “A Man I’ll Never Be” were tested out on the road. Leading up to the release of the Don’t Look Back album, Delp said in an interview, “We’ve got more than enough material, and we’ve been working up material, but we had two or three songs before we even got off the road that we did in the live set that hadn’t been recorded. One of them is ‘A Man I’ll Never Be,’ it’s kind of a ballad-type thing, and we knew were gonna use that.”’

Scholz once explained that it sometimes took him weeks to get his songs the way he wanted them because he was a perfectionist. In an interview with The Ottowa Journal, he revealed that after doing the music tracks, he would then work on lyrics. Scholz noted that sometimes the words come right away, such as with “A Man I’ll Never Be.”

“I’m happier with the second album than I was with the first,” the Boston guitarist shared. “I like the music I have written for it much better. I thought when I was doing it, that it would be the ultimate that I could do but now I can see places where I think I can improve.”

Nearly 50 years after its release, “A Man I’ll Never Be” remains one of Boston’s most iconic power ballads—a song that took years to complete but was certainly worth the wait.

Related: 1976 No. 5 Hit Ranked One of the ‘Top Classic Rock Songs’ of All Time Became a Timeless Anthem

Netflix released the first trailer for The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth on Monday, Sept. 21, and Brad Pitt’s stuntman has moved into a new decade, with a new side hustle.

Pitt took home best supporting actor at the 2020 Academy Awards for playing Cliff in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, his first Oscar for acting. In his acceptance speech, he thanked co-star Leonardo DiCaprio and gave a shout-out to stunt performers. That 2019 film, which also starred Margot Robbie, made Cliff the stunt double for fading TV star Rick Dalton in a reimagined 1969. Tarantino wrote the sequel, and David Fincher directed it.

Where Cliff Is Now

Netflix’s synopsis picks up eight years after Cliff’s run-in with the Manson family and calls it “just another summer in Hollywood.” These days, Cliff tends bar and runs film projectors. On the side, he works as a fixer, solving problems for Hollywood’s rich and famous.

Elizabeth Debicki plays talent agent Karen Crosby, and Scott Caan plays TV megastar Charlie Peters. Carla Gugino plays Charlie’s wife, Toni, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Roderick “Hot Rod” Harrison.

The trailer opens with a story about a stuntman who beat up Bruce Lee, a nod to Cliff’s fight with the martial arts star in the first film. Later, someone asks why he stopped working with Rick Dalton. “Rick got too fat for me to double him anymore,” Cliff answers. Netflix first played the trailer in theaters before Resident Evil screenings over the weekend, then posted it online Monday.

The sequel also reunites Pitt with Fincher, who directed him as a newly transferred detective in Seven in 1995 and again in Fight Club four years later.

When You Can Watch It

The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth opens in IMAX theaters on Nov. 25 for a two-week run, then streams on Netflix starting Dec. 23. A tie-in novel arrives Dec. 8. The film already made Parade’s list of fall movies worth seeing in a theater.

Adam Levine may not be the most critically beloved frontman of all time, but he’s certainly one of the most commercially successful. Bolstered in part by his years as a coach on NBC’s hit singing competition The Voice, the Maroon 5 singer has built a long-lasting career with a massive net worth to match it. 

“I’m so happy that I get to have this life,” he said of his success. “No one knows how good my life is as well as I do.”

Levine started out in the ‘90s, when he was just a teenager and part of a group called Kara’s Flowers, and unlike some of his contemporaries, he never pretended he didn’t want to make it big.

“Led Zeppelin, The Who—those bands wanted to be famous. They sought fame,” he said. “It was rock-and-roll to want everyone to hear your record. I don’t know when, maybe like 1991, it stopped being cool to want to be successful, and I just think that’s the stupidest thing I ever heard.” 

Keep reading to find out how Levine turned that unapologetic ambition into global stardom—and how much he’s earned along the way.

Related: Inside Blake Shelton’s Net Worth and How Much He Made on ‘The Voice’

How did Adam Levine get his start?

Levine was born and raised in Los Angeles, Calif., to his mother, Patsy, an admissions counselor, and his father, Fredric, founder of the retail chain M. Fredric. His parents divorced when he was 7 and shared custody of him and his older brother, and Levine has credited both of them with supporting his early interest in the arts. “They loved music,” he said. “So I was always surrounded by music. I remember we’d be in the car and my mother would kind of quiz me on, you know, who’s singing this Beatles song? And I’d usually get it wrong.”

As a student at the prestigious Brentwood School, Levine met Jesse Carmichael and Mickey Madden, and together with Ryan Dusick, they formed the band Kara’s Flowers (which they would later rebrand as Maroon 5 with guitarist James Valentine in the mix). Their first brush with the music industry came in quintessentially Hollywood fashion: A producer overheard the group playing at a house party in Malibu while walking his dog and helped the guys land a record deal.

Kara’s Flowers signed with Warner Bros.’ Reprise Records and released their debut album, The Fourth World, in 1997. Though the record flopped, the experience gave Levine his first taste of major-label life—and disappointment. “Suddenly, we were just these tainted kids who are in this band that no one wants to sign,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. 

After the band was dropped, he and Carmichael briefly attended Five Towns College in New York. But when the group reunited in Los Angeles, added Valentine and reimagined themselves as Maroon 5, their luck finally changed. Their 2002 debut album, Songs About Jane, became a sleeper hit, with singles like “Harder to Breathe” and “This Love” getting constant radio-play. 

Although some critics wrote Maroon 5 off as lame—and still do—Levine generally brushes them off as snobs. In an interview with music journalist Larry Katz, he pushed back on the idea that his band was a group of “lightweight L.A. pretty boys” by saying that they were “lightweight L.A. pretty boys.”

“We’re skinny dudes, we’re attractive, we make pop music,” he said. “It’s a no-brainer. We’re the easiest targets imaginable.”

What song did Maroon 5 get famous for?

Maroon 5’s lead single, “Harder to Breathe,” was technically the song that put them on the map. But it’s hard to separate their rise to fame from their bigger hit singles off Songs About Jane: “This Love” and “She Will Be Loved.” 

Chances are, you now have all three songs stuck in your head.

What is Adam Levine’s net worth in 2026?

According to Celebrity Net Worth, the “Moves Like Jagger” singer has a net worth of $200 million, a figure that reflects earnings from music, touring, television, endorsements and more.

Related: Kelly Clarkson’s Net Worth Hits a High Note Indeed

Has Maroon 5 ever had a number one hit? 

Yep. The band has had four tracks top the Billboard Hot 100. They are: 

• “Makes Me Wonder” (2007) 
• “Moves Like Jagger” feat. Christina Aguilera (2011)
• “One More Night” (2012)
• “Girls Like You” feat. Cardi B (2018)

What are Maroon 5’s biggest hits?

Maroon 5 has released many earworms over the years, including 15 songs that landed them in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, four of which reached No. 1 (see above). Those songs are: 

• “This Love” (2004)
• “She Will Be Loved” (2004)
• “Makes Me Wonder” (2007)
• “Moves Like Jagger” feat. Christina Aguilera (2011)
• “Payphone” feat. Wiz Khalifa (2012)
• “One More Night” (2012)
• “Daylight” (2013)
• “Love Somebody” (2013)
• “Maps” (2014)
• “Animals” (2014)
• “Sugar” (2015)
• “Don’t Wanna Know” feat. Kendrick Lamar (2017)
• “What Lovers Do” feat. SZA (2017)
• “Girls Like You” feat. Cardi B (2018)
• “Memories” (2020)

The band’s chart dominance hasn’t always earned them “cool” points. But Levine has often pushed back on the idea that making radio-friendly hits somehow makes the band less legitimate.  

“As far as I’m concerned, pop is popular,” he said. “People have kind of developed this stigma for what pop is. They think it’s the devil, they think it’s corporate and it’s evil—and a lot of it is, I’ve gotta admit. But popular doesn’t mean bad, and popular doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t like it or that you’re not supposed to. It just means it’s popular and other people like it, too. It’s a shame when people lose sight of it.”

When did Adam Levine join The Voice?

Levine signed on as an original coach when The Voice premiered in April 2011 and stayed for 16 straight seasons before stepping away in May 2019. After several years off, Levine returned in 2025 for Season 27, and he’s slated to take his seat once again for Season 30, which premieres Sept. 21, 2026.

Following the series debut, Levine admitted in an interview with Piers Morgan that he hadn’t anticipated just how dramatically the show would raise his profile. “I didn’t really realize what I was getting myself into as far as that’s concerned because this is what they call TV famous,” he said.

By 2013, he was rolling out a fragrance line, planning a fashion collection and taking on scripted roles, including a part in Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story anthology.

The boost to the frontman’s personal status breathed new life into his band, too, which had otherwise faltered with the 2010 release of its third album, Hands All Over. “The Voice wound up being way beyond the best thing that’s ever happened to me and to the band,” he told THR.

Although Levine initially “scoffed at” the idea of being on a reality TV show, he had no concerns about “selling out.” 

“I think that there was this generation before us that was so hellbent on not selling out that it went too far, and I feel like maybe it’s history correcting itself because it’s more acceptable now to do a lot of the things that musicians would have been terrified to do 10 years ago,” he said. “I was never that guy that thought it was uncool for a band to be successful. I always thought, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to pay your bills and also be a musician?’”

Related: No Doubt About It! Gwen Stefani’s Net Worth & How Much She Made From ‘The Voice’

How much does Adam Levine get paid on The Voice?

In 2013, two years after The Voice premiered, The Hollywood Reporter claimed that NBC was paying him $10-to-$12 million for each cycle of the show. By the time he exited at the end of Season 16, he was reportedly making north of $14 million per season. 

Of course, that’s to say nothing of how Maroon 5 benefited—and therefore profited—from the show. For example: After the band performed “Moves Like Jagger,” which featured fellow Voice coach Christina Aguilera, on a June 2011 episode, the track became one of biggest digital singles of all time.

Why did Adam Levine quit The Voice? 

Levine left The Voice after Season 16, despite NBC having previously announced that he’d return to the show, to spend more time with family (he had two children with wife Behati Prinsloo at the time; the couple has since welcomed a third).

“I was ready to not be doing it anymore…for a little bit,” he told Howard Stern. “For eight-and-a-half years, I was so busy—[I] had the band, [I] had The Voice. I was beyond fortunate to go through all of it because it was a life-altering experience being on that show…and then it got to the point where I got married, I had two kids, and I wanted to spend time with them.”

His chair was filled by Gwen Stefani. 

Is Adam Levine coming back to The Voice again? 

Levine returned to the red chair in 2025 for Season 27 and will once again take the seat in Season 30, which premieres Sept. 21, 2026.

How many times did Adam Levine win on The Voice? 

Levine is so far a four-time champion, having coached Javier Colon (Season 1), Tessanne Chin (Season 5), Jordan Smith (Season 9) and Alexia Jayy (Season 29) to victory.

Does Adam Levine have a Grammy? 

As frontman to Maroon 5, Levine has won three Grammys, starting with Best New Artist in 2005, which the band controversially took home over Kanye West.

“The one thing that pisses me off about how our win was received, is the critics saying Kanye’s more important or Kanye’s more relevant,” Levine told Larry Katz at the time. “It’s like, listen, that may be. He writes songs about other things and maybe more potent things than I write about on this record, and maybe the way that they were presented was better, whatever that means. But we won the award, and there’s a reason for it. And in a lot of people’s eyes, we’re the best new artist.”

The following year the band took home Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for “This Love,” and in 2008 they won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for “Makes Me Wonder.”

Related: Seeing Stars! The 10 Most Successful ‘Voice’ Competitors of All Time

What has Adam Levine acted in? 

Levine dabbled in scripted acting shortly after joining The Voice, with a small role in American Horror Story: Asylum and a supporting part in the movie Begin Again opposite Keira Knightly. But he hasn’t done much since—and he’s made clear that he isn’t booking roles for the money. 

“I did this movie for no money,” he said while promoting Begin Again. “I’m very lucky that I’m in that position. I want to have good experiences. I don’t want to do a bunch of s–t that I hate. I want to treat [acting] completely differently because I have the very fortunate luxury of not having to think of this in terms of money.”

With a net worth like his, that’s arguably something he can say about a lot of things.

Related: John Legend’s Net Worth in 2026 Is at a High Note! How Much He Makes From ‘The Voice’ and More

Kelly Clarkson‘s world changed forever in August 2025 when her ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock, died at age 48 after a three-year battle with cancer. But perhaps no one feels this loss more deeply than the two children they shared: 12-year-old River Rose and 10-year-old Remy.

The young siblings, who have lived primarily with their mother since Clarkson and Blackstock’s 2022 divorce, now face the unimaginable reality of growing up without their father. Luckily, they have a massive support system with their mom and plenty of other people who love and care about them. 

Here’s what we know about Kelly Clarkson’s children as they navigate this devastating loss.

Related: Why Did Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock Divorce? What We Know

Who are Kelly Clarkson’s children? Kelly Clarkson and her children, Remington Alexander and River Rose, at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, September 2018

Christian Thompson/Disneyland Resort via Getty Images

River Rose Blackstock, 12

Born on June 12, 2014, River Rose is Clarkson’s eldest child and only daughter. The tween has been following in her famous mom’s footsteps for quite a while, appearing on the deluxe version of Clarkson’s 2023 album Chemistry with backup vocals on the track “You Don’t Make Me Cry.”

River Rose has also expressed interest in songwriting, telling her mom on The Kelly Clarkson Show in January 2025 that she spends “hours and hours and hours singing, trying to do a song” in her room. Like mother, like daughter!

The preteen has also made several public appearances with her mom, including at the 2022 People’s Choice Awards, where she served as Clarkson’s date for the evening. She’s also performed onstage during her mother’s Las Vegas residency, singing a duet of “Heartbeat Song” with Clarkson.

And both River and her brother, Remington, joined their mom in support onstage during the finale of The Kelly Clarkson Show in August 2026. How sweet!

Remington ‘Remy’ Alexander Blackstock, 10

Born on April 12, 2016, Remy is—surprise, surprise—also deeply into music. He went viral in 2024 after performing Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” for a live audience on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

The 10-year-old has shown he’s serious about performing, even telling an interviewer at the 2024 Grammy Awards that he wants “Remington Alexander” to be his stage name. So official!

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He also loves to mix it up and keep things adventurous. Unlike his sister, who was initially hesitant about their family relocating from Los Angeles to New York City for their mother’s talk show, Remy was all about the move.

Clarkson shared on the “Las Culturistas” podcast that her son “loves the chaotic energy” of NYC and was ready to leave LA behind.

Related: 23 Interesting Facts About Kelly Clarkson

How did the children cope with their parents’ divorce?

The Clarkson-Blackstock divorce was finalized in March 2022, with the children living primarily with their mom. Clarkson has been open about the challenges of helping her kids through the separation.

“We have a lot of help as far as therapists or child psychologists because we want to do it right,” Clarkson told Extra. “I definitely want to do it right. Everyone’s sad and it’s okay to be sad.”

Recently, Clarkson opened up about the realities of co-parenting with Blackstock on Kylie Kelce‘s Not Gonna Lie podcast. She discussed the “mom guilt” she experiences when unable to attend school functions and talked about the challenges of single motherhood.

“There’s a lot that I keep in because co-parenting is fun,” Clarkson said, acknowledging the difficulties while also being super clear about her commitment to doing what’s best for River Rose and Remy.

Clarkson has also been protective of her children’s privacy regarding family matters, sharing on Today in 2023: “There’s plenty that I will never talk about because you shouldn’t and that’s a personal thing between me and my ex and also me and my children, that relationship.”

How did Kelly Clarkson choose her children’s names? View this post on Instagram

Her daughter, River Rose, got her name because of where they live. “We live on a river, so we’re very original with that,” Clarkson said. She liked that River could work for either a boy or girl.

Her son’s name happened by accident during lunch one day. Before Clarkson was even pregnant with her second kid, she and her friends were talking about baby names.

“We were at a lunch and I wasn’t even pregnant yet, I was like ‘Man, if we have another kid, we’d want an ‘R’ name,'” she said. “I think it was my nanny and assistant who shouted out Remington and we were like ‘Ooo.'”

Everyone calls him “Remy” though, because Clarkson says the full name doesn’t really match his “chill” personality. She jokes that “if he ever wants a real job one day, he can use Remington.” (Which, as we just learned, is already in the works as his stage name!)

Do Kelly Clarkson’s children have any health challenges? Kelly Clarkson, Brandon Blackstock, Savannah Blackstock, River Rose Blackstock, Remington Alexander Blackstock, and Seth Blackstock at an event in Los Angeles, California, April 2019

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Both of Clarkson’s kids have dealt with some tough health and school issues that needed extra help.

Remy’s hearing and speech problems

When Remy was little, he couldn’t hear or talk properly because his ears were clogged up with wax. His parents didn’t realize what was wrong at first. “He had a speech problem because he had this ear problem when he was a baby. We didn’t know,” Clarkson explained. “He spoke as if he was underwater.”

This made him about nine months behind other kids his age in talking. Once they fixed the problem, though, Remy caught up quickly. Clarkson was absolutely thrilled: “The fact that he’s making full sentences now and full-on engaging with us is really a blessing.”

River Rose’s reading struggles and bullying

River Rose has dyslexia, which makes reading harder for her than other kids. Unfortunately, this pretty predictably led to some bullying at school.

Things got better when actor Henry Winkler appeared on her mom’s show. He also has dyslexia and told River, “How you learn has nothing to do with how brilliant you are.” (And this is why we all love Henry Winkler!)

Related: Brandon Blackstock’s Net Worth at the Time of His Death

How has Clarkson supported her children through difficult times?

The American Idol winner has always prioritized her kids’ well-being. She actually postponed her Las Vegas residency dates in 2025 to be present for River Rose and Remy during this difficult time.

“While I normally keep my personal life private, this past year, my children’s father has been ill and at this moment, I need to be fully present for them,” Clarkson shared on Instagram in August 2025.

Related: How Did Brandon Blackstock Die? What We Know About Kelly Clarkson’s Ex-Husband’s Cause of Death

What does the future hold for River Rose and Remy? View this post on Instagram

As River Rose and Remy process the loss of their father, they’ll continue to have the support of their mother, who has built her career around being present for them. 

The Clarkson family now faces the challenge of moving forward without Brandon Blackstock, but with River Rose and Remy surrounded by love and professional support, they have the foundation they need to heal and grow.

Related: Kelly Clarkson Makes Unexpected Comment About Her Talk Show Exit in Las Vegas

As Jeff Probst recounts, CBS executives told him, during the years-long process of planning out Survivor 50, that they had to create the “Survivor Super Bowl.” But, as any good TV fan will tell you, as big of a deal as the big game is, the choice of what airs after it is tantamount. Suffice it to say, as the intrepid production team behind the scenes approached whatever would come next, their minds were open.

“I didn’t know what we should do,” Probst admits to Parade in an exclusive interview. “I just knew we had to do something else.”

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With Survivor 51 on the horizon, many fans wondered if the format changes that came with the show’s “new era” (spanning Seasons 41-49) were here to stay, or whether we’d be going back to a game structure more endemic of the show’s first 20 years. As it turns out, what they settled on was a healthy dose of “all of the above” — with all the fixins.

“I weirdly wondered if Survivor the show was a company, what is our most valuable asset?” Probst recounts. “And I realized our most valuable asset is our history, our legacy of 50 seasons. And instantly, it was like, ‘Oh, I understand what to do. We’re gonna take everything we’ve ever done, and we’re gonna exploit it.'”

Thus, the “open era” of Survivor was born. The way Probst describes it, every single past twist, idol and advantage from the show’s 50-season history could now show up in the game at any point in time. Whether these structural elements are simply brought into the modern day or given a new coat of paint, it’s an opportunity to encounter Survivor‘s past to hopefully benefit your Survivor future.

Admittedly, when the Survivor 51 trailer debuted, the understanding of what the open era entails became, well, open-ended. Fans wondered: Wasn’t the idea that anything can happen at any time in the show’s proof of concept? But, in talking with Probst, he reveals that, when it came to the new era, the show’s M.O. was more so to actually build a solid frame to be carried over from season to season, a sturdy canvas for the players to paint on.

As the Emmy winning hots and showrunner explains, “The way I looked at it was, in Season 47, when I would sit down with our team to design the season, we knew we were going to have Beware Advantages, journeys, risk/reward scenarios, Final Three, fire-making. So did the players. That’s part of the fun. They’d be like, ‘Well, he’s probably on a journey, which means he probably has a chance at an advantage.’

“That’s gone. That evolution is gone. There is no evolution. This is not 51, which follows 50. There is no following 50.”

“I weirdly wondered if Survivor the show was a company, what is our most valuable asset?” Jeff Probst says about coming up with the show’s new “open era.” “And I realized our most valuable asset is our history, our legacy of 50 seasons.”

Robert Voets/CBS

Related: ‘Survivor 51’ Cast Reveals the Secret Superpowers They Plan to Weaponize (Exclusive)

The analogy Probst keeps returning to during our conversation is a treasure chest (not to be confused with the chest of money on display at every Tribal Council in the show’s first season, which most certainly will not appear in the open era). But, with no disrespect to the master of Tribal Council metaphors, perhaps the better comparison is a Survivor pantry. The past 26 years have built a stockpile of supplies, all sitting on the shelves. And any given season is now about grabbing an assortment of ingredients and mixing them together to hopefully cook up something delicious.

“I should be able to give you our treasure chest and say, ‘Go for it.'” Probst says. “You could say, ‘I don’t want an aggressive season. I’m only going to have one or two idols. I want maybe one advantage. I don’t want any switches. I want to merge in Episode 6. I don’t want a fire-making challenge. Great, it’ll work. The reason it’ll work is [that] what we’re playing on now is not, ‘Wait, where’s that? Where’s that thing I’m missing?’ That’s not the question. The question for the player is, ‘What’s in the game?'”

And what might be in the game are things fans may have thought would never show up on the island again.

“In the [new era], we were not going to do a theme season,” Probst says. “We were not going to do Redemption Island for sure. We were not going to start with one tribe of 20 for sure. There were tons of things that weren’t going to happen in the new era. They weren’t even discussed. ‘That’s not what we’re doing. The new era is 26 days, dangerous, fast-paced, big decisions, big consequences.’

“51 would never have happened in Season 46. 51 is now going to be what it is. It’s going to have a certain set of twists and advantages and switches and either a Final Three or a Final Two and firemaking or no firemaking. When that’s over, we shake up the toy box, and we do it again.”

The open era comes with a tagline, which Probst tells the 21 new castaways during a rousing monologue on the deck of a ship before sending them off on the adventure of a lifetime: Permanent uncertainty. And that not only implies what could come, but how quickly it can come as well.

“In the middle of a challenge, one day something’s going to happen,” Probst says. “They go, ‘What is happening?’ I go, ‘The game is happening, and it’s happening over there.’ We would have never done that in 47; we never would have done it in 23. We would have set it up and made a big deal and made themed seasons. If we’re in casting and we suddenly go, ‘Wow, we have David vs. Goliath,’ great! We’ll do a theme season in 54. Doesn’t mean we do a themed season in 55, or ever again.”

Related: Every ‘Survivor’ Twist is On the Table for Season 51 — Here Are the 7 That Must Come Back

Jeff Probst says conceptualizing the past twists that went into Survivor 51 was a group effort for the entire crew. “I basically called everybody and said, ‘Just write down everything that you loved as a fan.’ And people were remembering things that I had completely forgotten. So that’s where it really freed us up.”

Robert Voets/CBS

Fans will get a major dose of how the open era is a departure from the past half-decade mere minutes into Wednesday’s premiere episode. As already revealed, Survivor 51 will open with the 21 players separated into two starting tribes, something that has not been seen since Winners at War. And, according to Probst, that hiatus was by design.

“I’m much simpler than I think people think,” he clarifies. “We were never gonna do two tribes in the new era. I didn’t even think about it. We’re doing tribes of six because six is dangerous, and that’s what we’re doing. And everybody wants to push you to, ‘Get out of that faster. You’ve already done that once.’ My job is to remember longevity has to be managed. And if you run away from your idea too early, you’ve given up too much real estate that you still have. So you have to be able to be patient and trust. So I was never doing two tribes. I think two tribes came from our team.”

Indeed, as Probst reveals, the concept of the open era also served as the spark to light the torches of the producers and the rest of the creative team. It was an opportunity to not just innovate, but seek inspiration.

“What was really fun in the beginning was I basically called everybody and said, ‘Just write down everything that you loved as a fan,'” Probst recalls. “And people were remembering things that I had completely forgotten. So that’s where it really freed us up.”

That freedom extends to something as simple as the makeup of the tribes. Ordinarily, with a handful of exceptions, the starting groups have been evenly divided by gender. But with a quite literal odd number of 21 players, Probst says they’re no longer concerned with an even breakdown of men and women, adding, “I fully foresee a season where there’s a lopsided number of one gender on each tribe.”

Related: ‘Survivor,’ ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Amazing Race’ Hosts Admit Reality TV Isn’t What It Used to Be

Like any good alliance, the Survivor production team operates as a melting pot of opinions, with everyone leaving their fingerprint on what goes down in the jungle. And Probst feels, when it comes to picking what comes out of the figurative treasure chest, no man, ironically, is an island.

“I’m not kidding when I say at some point somebody else should design a season,” he says. “The magic is in the players, the shooting, the editing, the interviews. That’s what we’re good at. But whether or not you have an idol here and an idol there is arbitrary. So let someone else do it. I’m no longer in charge of what we’re doing in any way, shape, or form. I haven’t been for years.”

Of course, when it comes to results, implementation and execution can be two incredibly different things. While transitioning to the idea of the open era invigorated the crew, it also brought a healthy amount of trepidation. Would this permanent uncertainty cause players to freeze in a fear of the unknown, or play fearlessly knowing they have no idea what will come tomorrow? While Probst obviously remained mum about what would ensue over the 26 days, he did reveal how he felt by the time the season wrapped and the final votes were cast.

“I was exhausted at the end of 50,” he admits. “Exhausted. It’s as tired as I’ve ever been in my professional life, honestly, like to the point of maybe burnout. 51, I was as high as I could be. I just felt like, ‘We’ve done it.’

“It’s hard to produce a show like Survivor. 26 years, and still find a way to keep it fresh. So I’m also not gonna pretend and be shy about saying when I think we did a good job. I think we did a good job with 50. And I feel very confident, when 51’s over and I talk to you, you’re gonna go, ‘It’s a really good season. I really enjoyed it.’ I was really happy.”

Survivor 51 premieres with a two-hour episode at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Related: ‘Survivor 51’ Cast Revealed: Meet the 21 New Contestants — Including a Former WWE Superstar and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Star

Fat Bear Week is back, and 16 extremely well-fed brown bears are ready to battle for one of the most coveted crowns in the animal kingdom.

Katmai National Park and Preserve and Explore.org have revealed the bracket for Fat Bear Week 2026, the annual single-elimination tournament celebrating the brown bears of Alaska’s Brooks River and the astonishing amount of weight they pack on ahead of winter hibernation.

Voting begins Tuesday, Sept. 22, and continues through Sept. 29, when this year’s Fat Bear Week champion will be crowned.

And yes, reigning champion 32 Chunk is back to defend his title.

Who Is Competing in Fat Bear Week 2026?

This year’s field includes bear families, youngsters and some truly enormous adults.

The five families are 132 and her three spring cubs; 284 and her two spring cubs; 610 and her two spring cubs; 806 with her biological spring cub and adopted 2.5-year-old cub; and 901 with her spring cub.

They earned an especially prominent place in this year’s competition after a record 19 bear families and 37 cubs were seen at Brooks River during the summer of 2026.

The two subadults in the field are 620 and 694, while the single adult females are 131 Marshmallow, 428 Studious, 909 and 910.

Then come the heavyweights.

The five adult males are defending champion 32 Chunk, 89 Backpack, 151 Walker, 164 Bucky and 903 Gully.

Chunk has quite the story behind his championship defense. The massive male suffered a broken jaw in June 2025, leaving him with a distinctive scar on his muzzle and a protruding canine tooth. Despite the injury, he adapted, recovered and eventually became the 2025 Fat Bear Week champion.

He largely disappeared from Brooks River this summer before returning in September. But judging by what park officials describe as his “low hanging belly,” Chunk certainly wasn’t skipping meals while he was away.

Backpack has a pretty great origin story, too. His mother is 2019 Fat Bear Week champion 435 Holly, and he earned his nickname as a cub because he would climb onto his mother’s back while the two swam through the river.

Why Do the Bears Get So Fat?

For Katmai’s brown bears, becoming impressively chunky isn’t merely an achievement. It’s survival.

The bears spend the summer and fall consuming huge quantities of food, particularly the sockeye salmon running through Brooks River. They need those fat reserves because during winter hibernation, the bears don’t eat or drink and may lose as much as one-third of their body weight.

The biggest adult males at Brooks River can weigh more than 1,200 pounds by late summer and fall.

Fat Bear Week began on a much smaller scale in 2014 as “Fat Bear Tuesday.” The following year, it expanded into a weeklong online competition, with fans comparing photos and voting for the bears they believe have done the most impressive job preparing for winter.

The contest has since become an international phenomenon. More than 1.7 million votes were registered in 2025.

Now Chunk just has to prove that one year at the top wasn’t enough.

Voting for Fat Bear Week 2026 runs Sept. 22 through Sept. 29, with fans able to follow the bears through Explore.org’s live cameras and cast their votes online.

John Farnham’s enduring legacy was celebrated with a star-studded event as fellow musicians came together to honor the music icon, affectionately known as “The Voice.”

Although the 77-year-old retired singer was unable to attend the special event due to his declining health, the love and admiration for the British-born Australian legend filled Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena as artists and fans gathered for a tribute concert.

Celebrating his extraordinary 55-year music career spanning adult contemporary, pop rock and powerful ballads, iconic TV presenter Richard Wilkins served as the event’s host, teasing the crowd with a “cavalcade of supreme talent,” referring to the spectacular lineup of performers.

John Farnham performs on stage in the Lyric Theatre on September 3, 2009 in Sydney, Australia.

Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Moreover, he playfully recalled Farnham’s 94 sold-out shows at Rod Laver Arena throughout his career, reportedly more than any other performer.

“So I guess tonight makes it 95, an unbelievable 95,” the host said.

The event kicked off with an all-star lineup featuring Jessica Mauboy, Jack Jones, John Stevens, Mahalia Barnes and Human Nature, who performed some of John Farnham’s songs, including “Age of Reason,” the title track from his 1988 album Age of Reason, “Reasons” from his album Whispering Jack and “Have a Little Faith (In Us)” from his 1996 album Romeo’s Heart.

‘You’re the Voice’: Music legends from around the world unite to honour John Farnham https://t.co/BK4VfGfewY pic.twitter.com/1pr67KFbBt

— The Sydney Morning Herald (@smh) September 21, 2026

The special tribute also honored John Farnham’s legacy in theater, with his former co-stars from the 1992 Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar, Kate Ceberano and Jon Stevens, performing “Everything’s Alright.”

Adding to the list of heartwarming tributes were virtual appearances by top stars such as Celine Dion, who performed via a live satellite simulcast from a stage in Paris, where she sang “You’re the Voice.”

“John, you’ve always been such a deep inspiration to me; I always loved to hear you sing,” Dion said. “The way you sang one song in particular is one of my very, very favourite performances ever.”

Also appearing via simulcast was Hugh Jackman, who performed John Farnham’s 1990 track, “Talk of the Town.”

Recalling the time when he snuck in to watch the music icon during his sound check at the Perth Entertainment Centre, he mentioned being “a fan” of him for as long as he can remember.

“I have seen you at least 30 times live, and I would say you are one of the greatest I have ever seen onstage,” Jackman said. “The person I am onstage, the entertainer I am, is largely because of you.”

The tribute was not only a celebration of John Farnham’s music legacy but also an effort to raise awareness and support for Head and Neck Cancer Australia.

Following his 2022 oral cancer diagnosis and after undergoing extensive reconstructive surgery , the “Pressure Down” hitmaker has experienced a significant decline in his health in recent months, according to his family.

Related: 1983 Hit, Ranked Among ‘Greatest Songs of All Time,’ Was Written in a Rolls-Royce in California

All you have to do is think about French toast, and you can almost smell it. That sweet combination of cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup just makes breakfast feel like the weekend. But whipping up a batch on a weekday morning isn’t always practical. If you’re a big fan of those flavors, Sam’s Club is making it easy to enjoy them all week long.

The Sam’s Club bakery is now offering Member’s Mark French Toast Sliced Bagels, bringing those familiar cinnamon, vanilla, and sweet maple syrup notes together in one easy bakery find. The pre-sliced bagels come six to a package for just $3.82, or about 64 cents each.

They’re prepared fresh in-club daily and combine the chewy texture of a New York-style bagel with those classic flavors. They’re also made without artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.

The new bakery treat was spotted by @samsclubfavorites, who shared the bagels in a Sept. 20 TikTok video. And shoppers are already thinking about what they’ll make with them.

@samsclubfavorites

🥯 NEW French Toast Bagels at Sam’s Club sound like such a good breakfast treat! They have that sweet French toast-inspired flavor that’s a combination of cinnamon, vanilla, and sweet maple flavors! 😋 Add your favorite spread and breakfast is ready! 🙌🏻 ($3.82) #samsclub #samsclubfinds #bagels

♬ original sound – Sam’s Club Favorites

“These will make perfect breakfast sandwiches,” one person said.

Another couldn’t help but make a comparison to a popular bakery-cafe, writing, “Omg I’ll have to get. Reminds me of Panera.”

And the appeal is easy to see. Toast one until the edges are golden and add a swipe of cream cheese for an easy breakfast, or lean into those sweet-and-savory flavors with egg, cheese, and bacon.

Related: Costco Just Brought Back a Fan-Favorite Bakery Muffin Shoppers Thought Was Gone for Good

How Sam’s Club French Toast Bagels Can Replace a $6 Drive-Thru Breakfast

Tomas Llamas Quintas / Getty Images

The savings become even more noticeable if you use these bagels for breakfast sandwiches. Start with the $3.82 package of bagels. A dozen eggs for around $4 works out to roughly 33 cents per egg, so six eggs come to about $2. Add a $7 package of bacon and about 50 cents of cheese per sandwich, or $3 for six. Altogether, that’s $3.82 (bagels) + $2 (eggs) + $7 (bacon) + $3 (cheese) = $15.82 total for six breakfast sandwiches, or about $2.64 each.

For comparison, my local Dunkin’ currently charges $5.89 for a Maple Sugar Bacon Breakfast Sandwich with egg and white cheddar. Buying six would cost $35.34. That’s $19.52 in savings for six breakfasts. And since you’d still have six eggs left from that dozen, some of those groceries will stretch even further.

For anyone who regularly grabs breakfast on the way to work, that’s a small swap that can make a surprisingly big difference over time. And with cinnamon, vanilla, and sweet maple already baked into the bagel, this homemade version doesn’t exactly sound like settling.

Classic rock history is packed with legendary love stories, but few captured the electric spirit of the late 1960s quite like the affair between Pamela Des Barres and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.

As Zeppelin was conquering America, the ultimate rock muse and the legendary musician forged a bond that defined an entire era. Looking back on their whirlwind connection, Des Barres is opening up about intimate memories, backstage moments, and the real dynamic behind one of rock’s most famous romances.

In a new Instagram clip, Des Barres read a diary entry from 1968. She shared intimate details of a phone call between her and Page.

“This is my diary from 1968,” she began. “I arrived home and the phone was off the hook.”

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“And I thought, ‘Oh no. Even if Jimmy tried to call, he’d say, ‘oh your phone was off the hook again,'” she read.

“As soon as I put the phone back, it rang. Long distance calling, Mr. Page,” Des Barres continued.

“The first thing he said was, ‘Oh, the elusive Miss Pamela. You took the phone off the hook again because you know I was calling.'”

The rock muse added, “We talked for half an hour about everything. He said he was going to come to the store where I was working, sweep me off my feet, and take me away in his white chariot. Amazing. I wish I could write everything he said.”

“He told me about his house on the river and the peacocks walking by his bedroom window. “I wish I would have known you for years and years,” he said to me,” she continued.

“Jimmy, Jimmy, what am I doing? Good question, right?” Des Barres laughed.

Fans responded to Des Barres’ diary entry from 58 years prior. They expressed gratitude for her warm memories of one of rock and roll’s most notorious figures.

One fan responded, “I loved hearing the warmth and affection in the way you remember those conversations.” A second penned, “Miss P, I had just gotten into Led Zeppelin in the early 90s with an eye for Mr. Page when I found [your book] I’m With the Band on my mom’s bookshelf! That was truly a formative read for my adolescent self!”

A third Instagram user wrote, “Jimmy Page is a fascinating personality and drop dead handsome. He is still an enigma to the public, lucky you.”

Des Barres further explained her relationship with Page in an interview for Interview Magazine. She said, “I was in love with Jimmy Page. I thought he was being true to me on the road, which was ridiculous. But I was an innocent 20-year-old, and I learned a lot with Jimmy. He was crazy about me.”

Pamela Des Barres’ whirlwind affair with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page was one of the most celebrated rock and roll romances of the era. Looking back on those years, the author offered fans a rare, unfiltered look into the backstage magic, intimate quiet moments, and passion that defined the genre’s golden age.

Related: 60s Rock Muse Drops First Song in 57 Years—And It’s All About Her Romance With a Led Zeppelin Legend

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There’s never a bad time of year to refresh your bedding. If the lighter, longer days have you craving a fresher, softer look in your bedroom, Macy’s has an array of summer-ready bedding sets discounted right now. French countryside and Paris-inspired designs are especially trendy for summer, bringing relaxed elegance and charm. Right now, Macy’s has a gorgeous comforter set on sale that beautifully captures this romantic aesthetic.

The $100 Elodie 8-Piece Comforter Set has been slashed to just $37 in every single size. You can shop this deal in twin, twin XL, full, queen, king, and California king sizes for a complete bedding refresh that includes everything you need to upgrade your space.

Elodie 8-Piece Comforter Set, $37 (was $100) at Macy’s

Courtesy of Macy's

Shop at Macy's

This eight-piece set includes one comforter, two standard shams, one bedskirt, one flat sheet, one fitted sheet, and two standard pillowcases. However, if you’re shopping for a twin or twin XL bed, those sizes include just one sham and one pillowcase.

The comforter’s reversible design lets you switch between two coordinating patterns, giving you two fresh looks in one set. One side has a Parisian motif with gold Eiffel Tower silhouettes and delicate pink roses on a white background, and the other is adorned with crisp white and light gray stripes. 

The sheets and pillowcases are all light pink, while the shams boast the same French-inspired theme as the comforter, and the bedskirt matches the striped side of the comforter. Each piece is made from 100% polyester and is machine washable, so it’s easy to care for. Reviewers noted that the set holds up well when washed and dried without pilling or fading.  

Shoppers said this “pretty” set looks “super cute” and feels even better. One reviewer compared the luxurious feeling of curling up in this bedding to “sleeping on a cloud.” Plush filling inside the comforter has a light and airy loft that shoppers say gives their bed a “fluffy and beautiful” look. 

Related: Macy’s ‘Dainty’ $22 Pendant Necklace Is the Cutest Way to Add Sparkle to Any Look

Give your bedroom a cloud-like upgrade for less with the Elodie 8-Piece Comforter Set while it’s on sale for just $35. We rarely see large bed-in-a-bag sets marked down this low!

Don’t miss future deals! Sign up for Parade Picks to receive our commerce team’s curated selection of discounts and sales, twice a week.

Whether the bottle is made of glass, aluminum or plastic, anyone who drinks Coca-Cola can recognize the soda’s contour-shaped bottle from a mile away.

However, Coca-Cola bottles didn’t always look this way. In fact, for the first 16 years of the company’s existence, Coca-Cola sold its drinks in pretty standard bottles before they evolved into the design that their customers know today.

But why exactly do Coca-Cola bottles have that distinctive shape? To learn more, we spoke with branding expert Marty Bauer, Director of Partnerships & Ecommerce Expert at email and SMS marketing platform Omnisend.

Bauer is a huge fan of the design of the Coca-Cola bottle, telling Parade that the decision to sell drinks in this unique bottle was “a genius move by the early Coca-Cola marketing team.”

Keep reading to learn more about the history of the Coke bottle and how it got its singular shape!

Related: 11 Vintage Logos You Probably Forgot Existed

The Original Coca-Cola Bottle Designs Were Nothing Extraordinary These Coca-Cola bottles were introduced in the early 1900s.

Joi Joi / Getty Images

The very first Coca-Cola bottle, which came out in 1899, was “very ordinary, functional, jar-like,” per Bauer. The straight-sided bottles came in both clear and brown glass with the Coca-Cola logo embossed on the side.

Over the coming decade and a half, Coca-Cola tweaked the design a bit, eventually adding a longer neck and diamond-shaped paper label, as seen in the above photo.

According to the Coca‑Cola Company, these small changes were made in response to competitors knocking off the Coca-Cola logo on their bottles. This led the Coca‑Cola Company to seek a fresh way to differentiate their bottles from the other ones on the market.

Related: The Truth Behind the Wendy’s Logo

The Surprising Reason Coca-Cola Bottles Have That Unique Contour Shape

omersukrugoksu / Getty Images

“In 1915, the company had a design competition, which aimed to come up with something potentially iconic,” Bauer explains. The company asked a group of glass companies to come up with a “bottle so distinct that you would recognize if by feel in the dark or lying broken on the ground,” per the Coca-Cola Company.

The winning bottle was designed by Root Glass Company in Indiana. When developing their idea, the glass company’s team was inspired by a drawing of a cocoa bean, after noticing that the bean had an elongated shape and ribbed texture.

“The winner was the design we all know today,” says Bauer. “That’s what’s so visionary about it. Coca-Cola was among the first ones that realized the importance of branding in modern commerce.”

Kriangkrai Thitimakorn / Getty Images

Related: Vintage Glassware Is Trending—and These 7 Gorgeous Styles Deserve a Comeback

Why The Shape of Coca-Cola Bottles Is So Iconic

Bauer thinks the contour shape of the Coca-Cola bottle is “beyond iconic.”

“All you need is to see its silhouette to make that connection to the brand,” he points out. “The design is simple, elegant, memorable, but at the same time functional.”

The bottle shape leads to “instant brand recognition” for customers, says Bauer. “You don’t even have to look at the label. You see the familiar shape and grab the bottle,” he says. “Plus, the bottle is very ergonomic, which seems minor, but in reality adds to the customer experience.”

That said, the bottle didn’t become iconic all on its own. According to Bauer, the Coca-Cola Company clearly made efforts to popularize the design.

“Coca-Cola invested heavily in saturating the market with its image,” he says. “It was the first commercial product to appear on Time magazine covers, iconic superstars appeared in ads drinking from it and Andy Warhol made an iconic art piece out of it. At this point, the design has a life of its own, promoting the product itself free of charge.”

One of Andy Warhol’s Coca-Cola bottle paintings.

Jack Taylor / Getty Images

How The Shape of Coca-Cola Bottles Has Evolved Over The Past Century

“The shape of Coca-Cola has remained basically the same for a century,” says Bauer. “Yes, there’s been some slight changes, but that’s it. If it ain’t broken, why fix it? In fact, changing the design probably wouldn’t be met with enthusiasm, as people all around the world love it as it is.”

Even when Coca-Cola started selling its sodas in bottles made of materials besides glass, the company retained the contour shape. To this day, you can buy Coke in glass, plastic and aluminum bottles, all in variations of the silhouette from 1915.

No matter the material, “the only disadvantage is that bottles of this shape take up more space,” says Bauer. “Although it’s difficult to imagine Coca-Cola complaining about that.”

NurPhoto / Getty Images

No Other Bottle Is As Legendary As Coca-Cola’s, But Some Have Come Close

“Another genius move that Coca-Cola made was the decision to trademark the design,” Bauer about the Coke bottle. “This means that no other company can use it, and is forced to try and come up with their own iconic design—something that no one else has managed to do so far.”

However, a few brands have come close, in Bauer’s opinion. He points to Perrier, whose mineral water bottle “is also very easily recognizable.”

monticelllo / Getty Images

“Then there’s Corona with its long neck,” he says, noting the beer brand. “Similarly to Coca-Cola, this beer can be advertised without even mentioning the brand name.”

Maksim Safaniuk / Getty Images

Up Next:

Related: Coca-Cola Debuts Chilling New Limited-Edition Flavor Just in Time for Fall

Sources:

• Marty Bauer, Director of Partnerships & Ecommerce Expert at email and SMS marketing platform Omnisend.
• The History of the Coca‑Cola Contour Bottle. The Coca‑Cola Company.

Winter is still a few months away, but a new map from the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center is giving Americans an early look at which parts of the country could be in for a particularly wet season.

NOAA released its latest seasonal outlook on Sept. 17, including a precipitation map for December 2026 through February 2027. The outlook favors wetter-than-normal conditions across a broad stretch of the United States, including California, the Southwest, southern Plains, Gulf Coast and Southeast, with the wet pattern extending northward along much of the East Coast.

And a strengthening El Niño could have a lot to do with it.

Where Could the U.S. See the Most Rain and Snow This Winter? The 2026-2027 seasonal precipitation outlook for the United States

NOAA

The biggest precipitation signal on NOAA’s winter map is across parts of the Southeast.

During the winter months, NOAA says the chances for above-normal precipitation climb to 70 to 80 percent across southern Georgia and northern Florida. Wetter-than-normal conditions are also favored across the southern Plains, where probabilities reach 40 to 50 percent.

California is another area to watch.

The odds favoring above-normal precipitation increase as winter arrives, reaching 50 to 60 percent near the California coast during the December-January-February period. The wetter pattern could extend as far north as central Oregon, according to the Climate Prediction Center.

The wet signal also stretches across southern and central portions of the country and northward along the Atlantic Coast into New England. NOAA says that pattern is associated in large part with the expected position of the subtropical jet stream and storm track during El Niño.

Of course, more precipitation doesn’t automatically mean more snow.

NOAA’s map forecasts the chances of above-, near- or below-normal total precipitation, rather than snowfall specifically. Whether that precipitation falls as rain, snow or a wintry mix will depend on temperatures and individual weather systems as they develop.

The outlook also doesn’t mean every location shaded for above-normal precipitation will have a wet or snowy winter. Seasonal outlooks describe how the odds are tilted over a three-month period rather than forecasting individual storms.

A Potentially Historic El Niño Is Strengthening

There’s another reason this winter is drawing attention.

El Niño is already present and continuing to strengthen, and NOAA now puts the chance of a very strong El Niño this fall and winter at greater than 90 percent.

Even more striking, forecasters say there is a 75 percent chance that El Niño reaches a level during October through December that would exceed previous events in NOAA’s record dating back to 1950.

A stronger El Niño increases the chances of seeing weather patterns commonly associated with the climate phenomenon, but NOAA stresses that those impacts aren’t guaranteed.

The agency’s winter precipitation forecast leans heavily on historical El Niño patterns as well as current computer-model guidance. For late fall through early spring, NOAA describes the wet pattern across the southern and central United States and along the Atlantic Coast as the “dominant precipitation signal” for the season.

Not everyone is leaning wet, however. Parts of the interior Northwest and Great Lakes have modestly increased chances for below-normal precipitation through the winter, while much of Alaska is also favored to be drier than normal during the December-through-February period.

And this outlook isn’t set in stone. NOAA issues updated 90-day outlooks every month, with the next update scheduled for Oct. 15, giving forecasters another month’s worth of observations and model data before winter gets underway.

Related: 5000+ Flights Canceled or Delayed as Storms Disrupt Travel Across the U.S.

It’s been 50 years since Happy Days fans met Al Delvecchio for the first time. After a full season of Pat Morita in the role of Arnold’s Drive-in owner, Arnold Takahashi, Al Molinaro was introduced in Season 4 as Al Delvecchio, the diner’s new owner—and things would never be the same.

The episode, “Fonzie Loves Pinky,” aired on Sept. 21, 1976, on ABC. It featured an early scene set at the drive-in as an event for the Leopard Lodge took place. With Arnold nowhere in sight, a sign outside the restaurant said, “Arnold’s: New management, same name.”

New diner owner Al was introduced as “a nice guy” who supplied all the free pizza and the free soda pop for the evening. A smitten Marion Cunningham (Marion Ross) gushed, “Isn’t Alfred cute?” Her husband Howard’s (Tom Bosley) sarcastic response? “Marion, Arnold is cute. Alfred is humble. And Italian.”

ABC Photo Archives / Getty Images

The switch was major. Fans had already grown to love Morita’s Arnold character, who appeared in a total of 26 Happy Days episodes, the majority of them in Season 3.

Producer Lowell Ganz told The Television Academy that Arnold had been an “unseen character” in the show’s first two seasons.

“Nobody had ever seen Arnold. Arnold was an unseen character like, you know, Carlton the Doorman [from Rhoda],” he shared. “You know, Arnold was an unseen character and the surprise was that he was an Asian American.”

Known for his offbeat humor and wacky ”bwaaa haha” laugh, Morita’s character was a hit with fans. His final Season 3 episode, “Arnold’s Wedding,” featured a storyline about Arnold’s arranged marriage to a woman named Momo (Nobu McCarthy).

RELATED: “Happy Days’ Jumped the Shark in 1977 and Still Lasted 6  More Seasons

Morita once reflected on the episode, telling the Television Academy Foundation that he was in “70, 80 percent of the episode suddenly.”

“I was always this little spot character throughout, “ he said. “So that episode for me was the first time that on a national program scale that I got to be the centerpiece of something and it just gave me great, great courage.”

ABC Photo Archives / Getty Images

Following the wedding episode, there was no indication to fans that Arnold was leaving Happy Days. In fact, Morita had signed on for another season of the ABC sitcom.

In an interview with The Television Academy Foundation, Morita recalled that producer James Komack and ABC executive Michael Eisner approached him when his “signature hadn’t even dried barely on [his] pickup option for the next season for Happy Days” to ask him if he would be interested in starring in his own show.

“I said, ‘You guys, I just signed my option for Happy Days next two or three seasons or something,’” Morita recalled. “So they convinced me I would be the right move to make, and of course, you know it was totally exciting.”

The series, Mr. T and Tina, was canceled after just five episodes in the fall of 1976.

RELATED: ‘Happy Days’ Guest Star’s 1978 Debut Changed Everything

Meanwhile, Happy Days fans came to love Molinaro and his character’s catchphrase “yep, yep yep.” His calming, fatherly presence was nothing like Morita’s more chaotic character and marked a shift in the dynamic on the show. Molinaro sometimes did double duty playing Al’s Catholic priest brother, Father Anthony Delvecchio, and ultimately appeared in way more episodes of Happy Days than Morita did: 146 in total from 1976 to 1984.

Morita, who later played martial arts mentor Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid movies, reprised his role as Arnold in Season 10 of Happy Days, where it was revealed that he divorced his wife and was back in the restaurant business. It was Al who left the show this time, to appear in the short-lived Joanie Loves Chachi spin-off, which was canceled almost as fast as Mr. T and Tina.

Fifty years later, fans remember both Arnold and Al as two very different Happy Days characters—owners of the same drive-in who each brought their own flavor to the iconic sitcom.

Related: 1974 ‘Happy Days’ Episode Ranked ‘Greatest’ of the Series Marked the Final Appearance of One Character

No band captured the transition from breezy country-rock to the heights of stardom quite like the Eagles.

During their peak 1970s run, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Don Felder, Joe Walsh, and Randy Meisner seemed incapable of missing the mark. Yet critics pointed out a rare stumble hidden on one of their greatest full-length efforts, a song that many believe stands out as an absolute misfire on an otherwise excellent album.

Released in 1976, Hotel California was the band’s fifth LP. It was the Eagles’ fifth studio album and their first featuring guitarist Joe Walsh.

The record became a critical and commercial monster, spawning defining hits like “Hotel California,” “Life in the Fast Lane,” and “New Kid in Town.” Yet, nestled on side two lies the song that Rolling Stone ranked as one of its “50 Terrible Songs on Great Albums.”

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Sung and written by Meisner, “Try and Love Again” was intended to give fans a breather from the album’s darker themes. But critics didn’t buy it, dismissing it as forgettable filler that couldn’t compete with the album’s massive hits.

Rolling Stone ranked the song at No. 12 on its list, writing, “Randy Meisner was a man of many talents. He was a gifted bassist, and his achingly tender voice was a critical part of the harmony blend that gave the Eagles such a distinct sound.”

The outlet continued, “His lead vocals on ‘Take It to the Limit’ are simply magnificent, and all attempts to pull off that song without him have fallen flat. But he simply couldn’t compete as a songwriter in a band with Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Joe Walsh. And these guys were operating at their absolute peak when Hotel California came around.”

The review concluded, “This was Meisner’s last album with the group, and they included his country-rock tune ‘Try and Love Again’ on the second side. It’s the only dud on the otherwise perfect album. Vince Gill did his best with it when the remaining Eagles played Hotel California straight through about five years back, but it was a bathroom break for many between “Pretty Maids All in a Row” and “The Last Resort.”

American Songwriter notes that the relatable track captures the struggle of a relationship at a crossroads. It wrestles with a classic dilemma: “Should I stay or go? I really wanna know. Would I lose or win? If I try and love again?”

“Try and Love Again” would mark the end of an era for the band in more ways than one. As the final song founding bassist Randy Meisner wrote and sang lead on for the Eagles, it served as his swan song before his high-profile exit in September 1977.

Reportedly exhausted by intense touring pressure and the anxiety of singing his hit “Take It to the Limit” night after night, Meisner exited the Eagles at the absolute peak of their success.

Years later, Henley told The New York Times of Meisner’s exit, “The band was built around songs, not around personalities, not around a front man, but the music.” Though critics might debate its place on the tracklist, the song remains a bittersweet milestone and proves every member’s musical contribution helped shape one of the greatest records in rock history.

Related: Forgotten 1980 Country Pop Hit Made Vince Gill Famous Before Anyone Knew His Name

On Monday, Sept. 21, 1998, two sitcoms debuted on the same night.

NBC launched Will & Grace at 9:30 p.m., and CBS premiered The King of Queens. One ended up praised by a vice president. The other outlasted the doubts of one of its own stars.

From NBC to Meet the Press

Will & Grace, created by David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, starred Eric McCormack and Debra Messing as best friends Will and Grace, with Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally as Jack and Karen. It was one of the first network sitcoms built around openly gay lead characters. It ran from 1998 to 2006, then came back from 2017 to 2020. Hayes signed on in March for a recurring role in season 5 of The Morning Show.

James Burrows, who died in June at 85, directed every episode. “Jimmy changed my life 28 years ago,” Messing wrote in tribute.

In May 2012, then-Vice President Joe Biden told Meet the Press the show “probably did more to educate the American public” than almost anybody had so far. McCormack cheered him on Twitter.

Jerry Stiller on Playing Arthur Spooner

The King of Queens starred Kevin James and Leah Remini as Doug and Carrie Heffernan, a working couple in Queens, with Jerry Stiller as Carrie’s father, Arthur Spooner. It ran nine seasons and 207 episodes, ending May 14, 2007.

Stiller looked back on the role in a 2005 Television Academy Foundation interview, taped while the show was still on the air. He said he had not expected it to succeed. He described Arthur as the kind of man who believed that if life had gone his way, there would be a national holiday in his honor. He also said James had wanted him for the part of the father. Stiller died in 2020 at 92.

James has since found a new favorite. In January, he named his Solo Mio character, not Doug, as the best role he has played. Plenty of fans have stayed with Doug. When the series turned 25 in 2023, Remini wrote that she saw the comments from fans who say they “fall asleep every night to The King of Queens.”

Twenty-eight years later, one is remembered for what it taught America and the other for the rough days it got fans through.