So...getting off of Rage, who I do like, but I don't really feel deserve defending...
Personally, I'm more of a rock guy. Some of my favorite (what I consider) rock bands: Clutch, Powderfinger, Oasis, Muse, Soundgarden, Audioslave (here comes more Morello-hate), The Cult, Four Star Mary, Live, The Tragically Hip, AC/DC, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, Bad Company, Blur, The Frames, Kansas, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Queen, Queens of the Stone Age, Rainbow, Steve Miller Band, The Who.
I will now sit and wait for each of these bands to be classified as something other than "hard rock".