Well said. Rock and roll is a big tent in my view. It is limitless. That’s the whole point.
Rap is around fifty years old now (from the mid-1970’s). I think that something changed in music, where young and old people are often listening to the same thing. The only music that would make modern parents scream “turn it down” is classical. 
I eagerly await the arrival of the next genre—supposedly it was EDM—but nothing is changing significantly, Red Bull’s guide to the contrary:
We guitarists had better get busy, huh? 
100% agree.
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I should suffix what I wrote by saying that I’m pretty far from any kind of Nikki Sixx endorphin-seeking badass, so I don’t feel any pressure at all to be more rock in my ways. I just wish I had embraced the nerd sooner. But as you know, in the '80s that would have been like taping a “kick me” sign to your own back.
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Check out how deep this is:
This classic Back to the Future scene includes a nerd, a kick-me sign, was filmed in the 80’s, but takes place back in the 50’s…*when people actually said “Rock 'N Roll”…If only it had a rapper in it I would have summarized this entire thread in one post. I was so close!!! 
Still probably the closest thing that me, a nerd who will certainly never be in the Rock 'N Roll (or any) Hall of Fame, gets to a mic drop moment.
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A little late replying here, but hey, I’m a 40 year old bond analyst. I don’t actually have a pocket protector, but I’ve got a couple good calculators scattered around my place. I know who I am.
But, we as a genre need to do better. Take more chances, bring some fresh blood and some new ideas and a bit of new attitude to bear, throw caution and preconceived notions to the wind, and if not shock some people, at least surprise some people. I love rock, but we HAVE gotten a little stale.
Not saying it’s going to be me who shakes things up either - I write sort of bluesy instrumental “shred” stuff, which has an audience of approximately my parents, and maybe 20 strangers. But we can all just do our part to make rock music a little less predictable, at the margins.
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When the Kinks were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Ray Davies’ speech included this bit: “And seeing everybody here tonight, it makes me realize that rock and roll has become respectable. What a bummer.”
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As everyone knows, there are two types of music:
Country…
and Western.
In that spirit, remember it is Rock AND Roll.
P.S.
That “Gin ‘n’ Juice” cover was so cool.
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