The canon is usually considered to be an inherently elitist concept. However, Carys Wyn Jones here explores the symptomatic reflections of canonical values, terms and mechanisms from the canons of literature and classical music in the reception of rock music. She concludes that in the popular reception of rock music we are not only trying to organize the past, but also mediate the present, and any canon of rock music must now negotiate a far more pluralized culture, and possibly accept a greater degree of change than has been evident in the canons of literature and classical music in the last two centuries.