[YogicCowboy]

Rock is not just a macro-genre that covers many styles. (Country Rock is Rock, not Country.) It is also a technical term for a certain kind of beat and rhythm. In other words, the word is ambiguous.

Many Gospel choral pieces say “rock” on the score; it does not mean the genre, but the manner of playing. The music is not “rock music,” but it is done in a rock style.

If one goes to AcclaimedMusic.net, one will see a statistical analysis and aggregation from all major critical lists - worldwide - of popular albums and songs going back decades. (The statistician who wrote the program is Swedish.)

For years, the consistent results from the algorithm have proclaimed the consensus for best popular album of all time to be:

“Pet Sounds” - by The Beach Boys.

Today, many would regard this as adult contemporary or some other sub-style of rock/pop, but it has always been classified as rock music. It is now sometimes called the precursor to the sub-genre/sub-style of Baroque Rock/Pop or Avant Rock/Pop.

(Both Paul McCartney and George Martin have said it was the inspiration for Sgt. Pepper’s; they certainly regarded it as rock music.)

[MarkL]

Very well put... One band that stretched the definition of “rock” to the limit was “The Band.”

At one point, they were one of the biggest bands in the world, and played at Summerjam 73, along with the Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers Band for over 600,000 fans, the biggest rock concert in history at the time.

Mark

[A Navy Vet]

"Many Gospel choral pieces say “rock” on the score; it does not mean the genre, but the manner of playing. The music is not “rock music,” but it is done in a rock style."

Yes, Gospel and Blues is where it all started from.