# What is Rock and Roll? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-rock-and-roll/707902 "2014-12-22T11:43:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-rock-and-roll/707902/41 "2015-02-01T20:44:30Z")
> [@M.L](#): > > There are exceptions to this of course. Billy Joel and Elton John are definitely considered rock musicians even though there is nary a guitar to be heard in their music. “Nary a guitar”? Upon reading this sentence, I immediately began hearing the guitar part to “The Stranger” in my mind. And, piano/keyboards have been a prominent feature of some rock since the days of Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. > [@](#): > > Dance pop artists like Madonna and Michael Jackson are most decidedly not rock and the fact that they were covered on “The Week in Rock” is not a reason to imagine these artists were ever considered rock acts. And here’s where it gets not so cut-and-dried. Are you sure it’s fair to rule out “Beat It” (with its Eddie Van Halen guitar solo) or “Black or White” (guitar-riff driven as it is)? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-rock-and-roll/707902/42 "2015-02-01T21:27:52Z")
> [@M.L](#): > > Heavy Metal is pretty much a dead genre these days but it would unquestionably fall under the umbrella of rock music. This is wrong on both counts. Metal is as active a genre as it’s ever been, and the vast majority of it doesn’t qualify as rock by any reasonable standard. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-rock-and-roll/707902/43 "2015-02-01T21:42:05Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > This is wrong on both counts. Metal is as active a genre as it’s ever been, and the vast majority of it doesn’t qualify as rock by any reasonable standard. Except for the very reasonable standard that uses “rock” to stand for the whole spectrum of that type of music (including the sub-genre itself known as rock), an archetypal example of synecdoche. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-rock-and-roll/707902/44 "2015-02-01T23:06:15Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Except for the very reasonable standard that uses “rock” to stand for the whole spectrum of that type of music (including the sub-genre itself known as rock), an archetypal example of synecdoche. Is [43% Burnt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv8b6RPbnAc) rock? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-rock-and-roll/707902/45 "2015-02-01T23:51:34Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > Is [43% Burnt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv8b6RPbnAc) rock? Why isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-rock-and-roll/707902/46 "2015-02-02T01:09:44Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > the vast majority of [heavy metal] doesn’t qualify as rock by any reasonable standard. I think you’re going to have to explain what that “reasonable standard” is, since I, and I’m sure many people, think of heavy metal as a type of rock. (Not that it’s authoritative, but the Wikipedia article starts out “Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music…” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-rock-and-roll/707902/47 "2015-02-02T03:32:03Z")
Let’s not confuse “rock” with “whatever I like this year.” I like Terence Blanchard and Dirks Bentley just fine and not calling them “rock and roll” is hardly a slur. I’m not a fan of Motley Crue or Poison, but they are undeniably rock and roll. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-rock-and-roll/707902.md?page=2)