Genius: That is a very interesting idea you have, but my personal knowledge of acts from that era is practically non-existant. Perhaps Pilsner would be able to help me out on a project like that.
[...]
Oh yeah, Jim, you could probably get several MTS entries out of all those hyped-up, payola-fueled, white-bread "rockers" that were around between Elvis's induction into the Army and the arrival of the Beatles.
Some names that come to mind (besides Pat Boone): Ricky (later Rick) Nelson, Dion, Frankie Valli, Frankie Avalon (still performing— he'll be here in S.F. later this month starring in "Grease," which deserves an MTS "tribute" of its own), Bobby Darin (subject of a new biopic...
why?), and you could always throw in some lounge singers like Vic Damone, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Robert Goulet, and Tony Bennett...
But the lounge singers might be a separate category: suckiness
beyond suckiness.
Kudos on inducting the Captain and Toenail (as my friends and I always referred to them back in the day), they were long overdue. And you're right, they were
never cool, at least not to the hip kids at my junior high... we were all listening to Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, electric Miles Davis, and Led Zep!
Come to think of it, there's a musical combination that really would have clicked: "Captain Beefheart and Tennille." Unfortunately, though, we'll never get to hear her rendition of "Lick My Decals Off, Baby." What a missed opportunity!
As for Kenny G., he's definitely an MTS contender, and you can take that from someone who's heard most of the
real modern jazz saxophonists perform live.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk or Joe Lovano or Steve Lacy, he ain't...