Has the term "Hard Rock" lost its meaning?

With some of these bands on myspace and when others classify them as "HARD Rock"...and their more pop %26amp; far from hard rock. I think the term %26amp; the genre is too lose %26amp; has lost some of its meaning. I feel like hard rock should be a step down from "Metal" %26amp; if the music is heavier than that then theres "Heavy Metal". Some of these bands need to be clasified as just "Rock" "Soft Rock" "Classical Rock" "Pop" or maybe a whole new genre. When i think of "Hard Rock" i think of "its not quite metal", a tad softer than metal. U2 to me is not "HARD Rock" neither is Nickelback %26amp; others imho. What u think?

Has the term "Hard Rock" lost its meaning?

Nickelback used to be hard rock, go back to their old stuff and you will see that.

i agree though, hard rock should be a step down from metal...not quite there.

I think too many critics are labelling bands as they see them these days, but thats critics for ya.

I think everything has got too confusing in terms of labelling, they either need to simplify it or give it up all together.

Me?... i dont even bother with labels anymore, if i like the sounds i like it....no matter what its tagged as.

besides, if you stick to the genre, with all the 'looseness' these days, your gunna miss some good stuff, simply because it is labelled as something else.

Has the term "Hard Rock" lost its meaning?

I think I agree.

Has the term "Hard Rock" lost its meaning?

you gotta factor in what some people call rock is clearly not rock - who knows, Mozart will be called classic rock soon

Has the term "Hard Rock" lost its meaning?

Too many bands that SHOULD be classified as "mainstream rock", "alternative rock", "modern rock" or "radio rock" are being labeled as "hard rock".

I try not to pay too much attention to what genre each and every band out there claims to belong to, but sometimes its brought up and I have to agree.