Beowulf wrote: What kind of anime do you watch that doesn't go well with generic rock music?
90% of all anime has either one 16 year old male who gets mad and beats people up, or one 14 year old male who is sexually frustrated. Usually its a combination of both. That is rock music.
Hahaha, that's a new definition for me, but it works so well.
Actually, yeah. AMV's are a hobby so the people that make them most prolifically are going to be using music that they listen to regularly. Exceptions like Les Miserales (sappy self indulgence), Angels Redemption (sound effect from the game DOOM), and of course one of my favorites: Wasteland, are all wonderful, but they are aberrations.
Honestly, I think that a lot of people really DO try to be original with their music choices though. I think that if you spend a few moments just randomly searching you'll see a huge variety, everything from Abba to William Shater reading Beaudelaire poems (shameless plug!), to Romany rave music.