# What makes a song a rock song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [June 6, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562 "2024-06-06T17:44:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [June 6, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/21 "2024-06-06T21:12:22Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > > [@BlankSlate](#): > > > > Can rock rock without an electric guitar? > > IMO, no. So it’s not possible for an “unplugged” version of a rock song to rock? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/22 "2024-06-06T21:14:05Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > > [@BlankSlate](#): > > > > Can rock rock without an electric guitar? > > IMO, no. Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis would like to have a word… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/23 "2024-06-06T21:17:34Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > So it’s not possible for an “unplugged” version of a rock song to rock? “Unplugged” in the MTV sense just means acoustics with contact pickups, not unamplified. IMO, an unamplified acoustic is not going to rock. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis Rock&roll is not the same as the later rock music. It may _rock_, but it’s not rock that’s rocking, IYKWIM. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/24 "2024-06-06T21:28:23Z")
All you people, you know the blues got a soul Well this is a story, a story never been told Well you know the blues got pregnant And they named the baby Rock & Roll ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/25 "2024-06-06T23:01:24Z")
“It’s the beat, Dick” ---
**Author:** ![Deanna\_D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@Deanna\_D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deanna_D)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/26 "2024-06-06T23:08:57Z")
Damn, what a great question! I’ll have to say that rock is something that you’ll know it when you hear it. It’s impossible to find one definition that encompasses all the different variations of the genre. Kinda like ice cream? There’s tons of different flavors, but it’s all ice cream. Except for Christopher Cross. He’s more like frozen yogurt. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/27 "2024-06-06T23:19:27Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > “Unplugged” in the MTV sense just means acoustics with contact pickups, not unamplified. An amplified acoustic guitar is still a different instrument from an electric guitar, though. And “amplified” is a difficult concept to pin down: If a band records a song in a studio (with microphones and recording equipment, of course, but no speakers), and you take that recording and play it on your sound system at a lower volume than the live band would have had with no amplifier, is that still “amplified”? ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/28 "2024-06-06T23:26:09Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley, as well as covers by Fine Young Cannibals and Dwight Yoakam > Enter Sandman - Metallica, album version as well as the version recorded by Metallica with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra > Orion - Metallica > Sailing - Christopher Cross > Everything I Do - Bryan Adams > Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffett > Stayin’ Alive - Bee Gees > Beat It - Michael Jackson > Purple Rain - Prince > Glycerine - Bush “Suspicious Minds” and “Margaritaville” are the only ones on that list that I’m familiar with, and I don’t think of either of those as a rock song. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2024, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/29 "2024-06-06T23:53:58Z")
I know we argue all the time about what the first rock, or rock’n’ roll, song was. Which leads to the influences and the predecessors and the almosts or could-bes or the close misses. Who really knows? Ed Ward. [The History of Rock & Roll, Part 1, 1920-1963.](https://www.amazon.com/History-Rock-Roll-1920-1963/dp/1250138493/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1L64X8E61LZ7W&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.EaPgUjf_7hxAg5j3SmBa3AIg02QO8W4vzDhStZPt7W3MVWDgfHRu1uG16clZVep16WuJIDElv9ptvdpRwve_oqLE-cc4gugtLfhZyAKjK7z4k5YKmNERSWnRsI8lJk1NoMpCUKrNB6LBg2AuwthTMg.TjAcwQLvL1ijz_JrxzXUGurGXzhzQnhNIilfSjjdVyQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=ed+ward+history+of+rock+and+roll&qid=1717715413&sprefix=ed+ward+h%2Caps%2C691&sr=8-4) OK, I may be biased because by sheer coincidence I’m reading it right now. And reviewers on Amazon caught him in some errors. Meh. I’ve read tons of histories of rock and this one seems deeper and more comprehensive than the others. Ward wisely never pinpoints a song that starts rock, although he stops for a minute in a chapter titled “Rock & Roll Is Born … Maybe” at May 1955 to say wow. “Rock Around the Clock” topped the charts. Chess found Chuck Berry and recorded “Maybellene.” Fats Domino finally got a hit with “Ain’t It a Shame.” And young Elvis toured down to Florida and met Mae Axton. A hundred pages into the book and finally a white performer. That’s the history of rock & roll. Also note the dates for volume 1. What happened in 1964 you might ask? Rock was born. That’s my story, too. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/30 "2024-06-07T00:17:23Z")
As I’ve noted before, the music that is now considered to be more “hard core rock” seems, to me, to track back more to Dick Dale and [The Ventures](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKUt-PaJvIk). The music that is now considered to be more “pop music” tracks back more to the Beatles and Elvis. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/31 "2024-06-07T04:42:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > An amplified acoustic guitar is still a different instrument from an electric guitar, though. Sure. But you’re still going to get some of the distortions and other amplification effects that make something “rockier” than mere acoustic - look at Unplugged Nirvana or Pearl Jam, that isn’t just a straight acoustic sound. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/32 "2024-06-07T05:07:51Z")
It’s what I point to when I say “This is a rock song” (paraphrasing Damon Knight). As Samuel R. Delany pointed out (about SF, though it applies widely), that’s the only definition that includes everything you consider a rock song while excluding everything you don’t consider one. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/33 "2024-06-07T15:54:56Z")
Further complicating matters is that how a song is performed varies and can affect how much it rocks. I’ve always thought of _Sweet Caroline_ as a silly pop song, but I once watched a video of a concert performance wherein that song was made to rock. (I think, but I am not certain, it was from a video exhibit at the _Rock and Roll Hall of Fame._) ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/34 "2024-06-07T18:41:27Z")
To me, “rock” is a separate scope from “rock and roll”, the former being a large generality and the latter being a much more specific sub-genre. All of the songs in the OP are ‘rock’ to me, but none of them are ‘rock and roll’. Even back in the 50s/60s at the heyday of ‘rock and roll’, there was still the need to break things smaller into doowop, surf, soul, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/35 "2024-06-07T21:33:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > An amplified acoustic guitar is still a different instrument from an electric guitar, though. The Stones rocked out pretty good with an acoustic on Street Fighting Man. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/36 "2024-06-07T21:42:26Z")
The electric guitar is essentially just a successor to the saxophone; a solo instrument whose sound can be distorted by over powering/blowing it. The advantage of the guitar is that it can be played while also singing. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/37 "2024-06-08T00:16:37Z")
Once microphones or other electronics are involved, it is trivial to distort _anything._ ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2024, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/38 "2024-06-08T03:04:00Z")
The discussion regarding “rock” vs “rock ‘n’ roll” brings to mind the [bathouse scene in Quadrophenia](https://youtu.be/dF1OktWB5og?feature=shared) where Jimmy the Mod and Kevin the Rocker have a _Be Bop A Lula_ vs You R_eally Got Me_ sing-off. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2024, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/39 "2024-06-08T08:37:17Z")
The electric bass guitar is still _an_ electric guitar. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2024, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562/40 "2024-06-08T12:29:49Z")
Keef plays an acoustic guitar on Street Fighting Man. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-song-a-rock-song/1002562.md?page=3)