Good try, but...nodubmanshouts wrote:"We are the Sisters of Mercy, and we are a rock'n'roll band"
- Andrew Eldritch, 1997
http://tours.tsom.org/1997dot/
Given that the g*thic genre owes more to the Phrygian mode than it does to blues (whence rock n'roll stems), and that there are few who would argue that either FALAA or Floodland were close to being rock n'roll records, the assertion that TSOM is a rock n'roll band stands on shaky ground. While some may argue that Vision Thing was a rock n'roll album (which is why Keef likes it so much
), the continuing evolution of the Sisters' sound would suggest that while maybe they were a rock n'roll band once, they were something else before and will be something else again. 
has gone on record as saying that he's fascinated by rock n'roll "because it's so bloody stupid" (WOM Magazine, December 1993), so it would be reasonable to conclude that the Vision Thing era was merely a stop on the way to somewhere else. I can't remember where I read it, but there is a quote from Himself somewhere where he mentions that his head is into making "techno with tunes" - so not a rock n'roll band.However, your point is well made - "We are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine. And intellectual love gods in our spare time."
So you can keep the rock n'roll band bit - that's one album and its associated singles. We'll keep the pop band, the industrial groove machine, the first two albums, plus the new one which goes like a freight train painted in the shiniest yellows and blues. Doesn't sound very rock n'roll to me.
