How dare you imply that pop and rap music are not somehow rock music.

In regard to pop, that's like saying, "How dare you imply that a coin is not somehow a nickel."

It may be a drawn out explanation, but it really is quite a simple explanation. Britney and 50 Cent may not sound like Zeppelin, but Zeppelin don't sound like Fats Domino or the early rock pioneers either.

well we are making a distinction between two different definitions of "pop"... one being a term that refers to all non-classical music, the other being a specific subgenre of rock that takes its base from funk and r&b and brings in dance and electronica influences.

Wait a minute, so you're saying that there's a "Pop" of which Rock 'n' Roll is a subgenre, and then there's "Pop" which is a subgenre of Rock 'n' Roll? Huh.

I am still waiting to hear whether the line is drawn with tramp-pop like Britney or Ke$ha, somewhere else, or if there is a line at all. Britney isn't on the same planet as rock music.

If it clearly originates from rock/one of the main rock subgenres than it's rock. If it doesn't, then it isn't. What you think of the artist should have nothing to do with it.

generally, for a "Rock Artists" list, i draw the line at Rock Artists... which include rock n roll, r&b, blues-rock, prog, funk, punk, soul, protopunk, postpunk, new wave, hip hop, alternative rock, metal, hard rock, folk-rock, dance pop, etc. if you trace back its lineage to rock n roll, its here. thats where the line is drawn. you can trace it back further if you want, but for this list the line is drawn at rock n roll and its many many branches. there is a clear split from blues and country to rock n roll. the split from rock n roll into any of its subgenres is not as clear and it has evolved gradually into very different forms. if history decides to split any of those branches off into its own genre, its probably gonna have to break them all off. as of now, its generally accepted that hip hop, pop and prog are all as much rock music as hard bop and swing are jazz.

It's not generally accepted that this is rock:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IH8tNQAzSs

Why not? It's a rap song. Rap is a rock subgenre, as has been explained many times.

So how is Britney a rock artist?

edited the top 7 a bit.

Any chance Bob Dylan could be higher on this list? Two of his albums have had a great deal of acclaim and he's hit #1 in the U.S. twice as well. And I'm pretty sure Modern Times went platinum.

I'm not saying that I think he deserves to be higher, but I'm just wondering if it's a possibility.

I agree with moving up Kanye and Jay-Z. Both are a good deal more popular than Radiohead, and a good deal more acclaimed than Britney, and both have some influence.