There are several different genres of rock music. The first is light rock. It is a soft kind of music that is most often heard on pop music stations. The defining modus of rock music is that it has more than one theme playing and as a result then you cannot count to the musical beats. All other kinds of music you can easily count the beats. Not Rock Music. The second genre is metal rock. Metal rock is played primarily with electric guitars as the reason it is called metal is that the strings are made of nickel and steel- metals. Heavy metal rock is a harder sound with louder instruments and usually more complex themes. Heavy metal music may be simply Rock and Roll and you can tell the difference by trying to count to the beats. If it is true rock music you will not be able to count the beats. Heavy Metal Rock Music is typified by Black Sabbath. Hard Rock is complex rock with loud instruments, but the the themes are usually more complex and varied than Heavy Metal Rock. This music is typified by Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Hip Hop is also Rock Music as the beats cannot be counted. Good examples are Beyonce and Destiny's Child. Disco Rock is dance music and is typified by the BGs. Reggae is a form of Rock Music that is more Caribbean sounding and is more similar to older Caribbean style music of the 1950's and 1960s by such people as Harry Belafonte. It is best typified by Bob Marley. Country Rock music is very common on country music stations. It is a regular hard, or soft rock sung with a country twang and more country sounding instruments. The best examples of country rock are Neil Young or Crosby Stills Nash and Young. Classical Rock music is based upon themes that are more similar to the more complex forms of classical music most often played by symphony orchestras. The music of the band Yes is the best example of this genre of Rock. There is no such thing as classic rock. It is a misnomer by producers wanting to advertise their Rock Music stations. They conflated classical rock with classic rock and named their stations as such. There is also nothing known as progressive, or prog rock. This is classical rock and this name was given by rock music critics to classical rock bands as they did not understand the music they were writing. Blues rock is a type of rock that sound similar to regular blues music, but is much more complex and follows rock themes. Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Johnny Winter all have great Bleus Rock titles in their list of titles such as Red House, Leland Mississippi Blues and Since I've Been Loving You.
I hope this helps in your understanding of Rock Music and broadens your horizons as to the full potential of Rock. Once you really learn what Rock Music is you will not want to listen to anything else.