Rainard Jalen

That's exactly my point. It needn't necessarily be guitar-driven at all,if you look at the full range of types of music that fall under the term "rock" (piano rock for one!). In fact, there sometimes isn't even a guitar involved at all. And even if it "usually" has a bass guitar, keyboards and a drum set, what if it does not? Often these days, with many experimental rock bands, the entire set of sounds may be synthesized. Ok then, let's say instead "a bass sound and a drum sound somewhere within there". Well, that could describe jazz, hip-hop, and country. In fact, isn't country music typically guitar-driven, usually with a bass, keys and a drum set somewhere within? I guess then you could say that country music is a subset of rock. But hang on, it isn't. Country precedes "rock music". Maybe then, rock is a subset of country. I'm sure nobody's gunna go for that.

All "guitar driven with bass, keys and drums" describes, ultimately, is a classical rock set-up (and the set-ups of some other popular music genres outside of rock, too). But things moved on ages ago. There are now (and have for a while been) many, MANY exceptions to the rule within rock and its widely recognized subgenres.

Is rock as it is today then to be defined on purely musical and stylistic grounds, or on something else entirely?