But you have to look beyond the constraints of mainstream rock for a truly memorable account of what it means to make a musical life the purpose of existence.
Progressive rock often discards the blues inflections and pentatonic scale-based melodies of mainstream rock in favor of modal melodies.
In a keynote address at Brisbane music industry conference Bigsound on Wednesday, the musician and visual artist said Sonic Youth, which relied on the fiery interplay between guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, had never played acoustically before and were performing for a mainstream rock audience at a 1991 benefit concert for Neil Young's the Bridge School.
The producer's idea was to gather together performers who were too shocking for the mainstream: Rock's co-stars included Tim Allen, who hadn't yet tamed his horny-Neanderthal act for television, and Bill Hicks, who presented antisocial rants as psychedelic parables.
Who You Selling For, the follow-up to 2014's Going to Hell that's my pick for best mainstream rock record of the year, is a robust 51 minutes, 46 seconds long.
When disco, a subversive dance movement that spoke to black people and women and gays, broke through, it was vilified by mainstream rock lovers for being kitsch and plastic.
Then, in the early hours, we move on to the bright lights of Calle Uruguay, where minimalist S6IS satisfies Xili's craving for reggaeton, and the more mainstream rock venue Sahara fits the bill when she has a sudden "need for David Bowie".
It's an aggrandised self-image for a Welsh sextet whose mainstream rock is always listenable, yet rarely unique (has any band ever been described as "Lostprophetsesque"?), but they play these songs with passion and swagger, and do what they feel is right.
The record attained gold status and featured the UK hit single "Better Things" as well as "Destroyer", a major Mainstream Rock hit for the group.
