I have to comment and agree with a very early post that you have a skewed view of what "rock music" is, but I'm not agreeing with the original poster that "non-mainstream" is the issue. My issue is that none of these bands or artists even characterized themselves as rock bands or rock musicians (which is not a criticism of any of them! there are some greats on this list!) but it's not a list of "rock" bands.

Nico, not rock. Classical instruments, harps, etc. -- folk, but not in the Joan Baez sense of the word -- but nowhere near rock.

Rock comes from "rock and roll" which came from r&b when it was still called "rhythm & blues," mixed in with southern music, i.e. "country" though it wasn't called that then. That's why Elvis is called "the king of rock and roll," because he was the first to mix the two, which evolved into rock music. There is nothing of this in the music of most of your list (which again, is a list of some great bands), so, that's my dispute. I may make my own list, but oh, the time it would take me . . . .

I do respect, however, that you've ventured to listen to some great stuff, and appreciate the non-mainstream, I just can't call it rock.