When a Martian asks, “What is rock and roll?” this is the track I’ll play

I’ve listened to hundreds—thousands—of rock and roll tracks. Good and great ones. Not the hybrid, genre-blending, genre-bending creative kind of rock. Just straight out unstoppable kickass guitar, bass, drums, maybe a piano, and aggressive or screaming vocals.

There are plenty of those tracks. But when the Martian asks, “What is rock and roll?” I’m going to play Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin on Led Zeppelin IV.

Led Zeppelin played plenty of the other kind of creative rock, many of the tracks becoming so classic that they are almost cliches. But Rock and Roll is 100% as advertised on the label.

When the Martian asks, “Why has it been a long time since he rock and rolled and since he did the Stroll?”, I’ll just say, politely, “Shut up and listen.”