Nonrock

Nonrock refers to music that does not fit within the conventional assumptions of rock as a dominant Western popular music tradition. As a label, nonrock is informal and broadly defined, used more for discussion than classification. It includes genres such as pop, electronic music, hip hop and R&B, jazz, classical, folk, world music, and experimental forms, as well as many regional and diasporic styles that have little or no direct link to rock's guitar-driven repertoire.

Because rock itself covers a wide range of styles, the line between rock and nonrock is not fixed; some listeners consider styles such as metal or post-rock as part of rock, while others treat them as nonrock. In practice, nonrock is used by critics and scholars to discuss markets, listening habits, and cultural identities outside rock. It is also used in music journalism when describing radio formats, festival lineups, or cataloging practices that group diverse genres under a common umbrella.

Critics argue that the term is vague and implies a hierarchy with rock at the center; many scholars prefer more precise, genre-based or regional labels to reduce ambiguity. In contemporary discourse, nonrock is often viewed as a historical descriptor or umbrella term rather than a strict classification, reflecting the increasing blending and crossovers among different musical traditions.