RateItAll: The Opinion Network

He was a good singer of primarily ballads in the 1950's. There are lots of "white" singers of later eras who were much worse, I can tell you.

He had lots of good hits.

He's no worse than Eric Clapton.

For some odd reason, he reminds me of Ned Flanders.

You need to catch the knot head on TBN for some good laughs!

This weblist is a low point for RIA and a tribute to a lack of imagination and creativity. I wasn't going to comment on anything until I came across Pat Boone being listed as even a possibility of being a low point for white people and I got so pissed off that I had to make a comment. I suppose that I am expected to say because he did not do "Tutti Frutti" the same way Little Richard did the song I should be ashamed of Mr Boone as a member of the white race. But the way I see it, Pat Boone, in his own way, during a racially hostile time, did what was within his power to bring together blacks and whites. Even though Pat Boone himself grimaces when he speaks about his 1950s rock songs, unless you lived through the 50s as a teenager or have done a detailed study of the period it's difficult for someone who was born years later to get a genuine feel for what was going on back then. It was a very different world and rock and roll was NOT an accepted form of music. Many early rock performers were black and a large number of people saw it as a sacrilege that their white teenage kids were listening to black singers other than those who were "acceptable" such as Nat "King" Cole or Lena Horne. Some rock artists with genuine talent, such as Buddy Holly, were "safe" for those teenagers who lived in strict households but rock was still considered a novelty.....a fad that would have it's moment of glory and then fade away. Some entertainers such as Milton Berle tried to make light of it when, on his television program, he had guest star Elvis Presley sing "Hound Dog" to a Basset Hound dressed up in a tuxedo and top hat. A city in New Jersey (I think it was Jersey City) canceled a concert after a disturbance had broken out during an earlier concert in Orange, Connecticut and at one point they tried to have rock and roll banned all together. It was a difficult time to be a rock performer or a teenage fan of rock music during those early volatile years. Your parents, the local PTA, even the police force, was watching and judging you by what you were wearing ("Dungarees are not acceptable school attire" is a quote I have on tape from a 1950s school board meeting) and they were keeping a sharp ear on what you were listening to. Songs put out by The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and other less aggressive artists was the only type of rock music that some teenagers were allowed to listen to, at least when they were at home. Pat Boone was a popular singer at that time and had already gained acceptance by adults. Some of his ballads were songs that young people in love would dedicate to each other. When he came out and did his "safe white version" of songs such as "Tutti Frutti," even though they were watered down versions of the originals, he was helping to put cracks in the walls that adults had constructed when it came to rock and roll. After all, if Pat Boone is singing Little Richard songs, how bad can they possibly be? Sure, we look back on those songs today (as does Mr Boone) and realize now that they don't compare in quality to the original versions but back in the mid 1950s he was helping rock and roll to gain acceptance by the adults who saw it as a threat to their children's minds, souls, and ethnicity. I know it is a parent's responsibility to monitor and guide what their children see and listen to but we're not talking groups like Deicide or Cannibal Corpse here, we're talking Little Richard and Elvis Presley. Pat's songs may have been too "white" for purists of 1950s rock music but if he would have done a more authentic or raunchy version of the songs he would have been considered as having become corrupted and his credibility among the adults would have been zero. I give the guy accolades for doing what he could to help break down the barriers of racial prejudice and assist other singers to gain acceptance in households where much of rock and roll was forbidden.

HE's a low point for Whites?Let's compare him to his '50s contemporaries,shall we? Chuck Berry?Paedophile. Little Richard?All around insufferable,cocaine addict,childish,crybaby,megalomaniac,hubris,delusional about his "greatness" ,religiously ignorant. Elvis?We all know the stories. Jerry Lee Lewis?Cousin-marrier,violent,alcoholic,etc. To name a few.Will his music be remembered as long as theirs?Not likely,though in a fairer universe,it would.I don't own any of his music,and most likely,never will,but I have gained a whole new respect and understanding for him as I've GROWN UP.A far classier act and person than nearly all the rock and rollers/bluseman/funksters/rappers,especially,etc,etc.

My mom graduated from high school in 1957, so this was the teen idol worship of her generation. I dont think he was that bad since Ozzy Osbourne was his former neighbor. I know this because Sharon mentioned it on the Osbourne's show. She said Pat Boone was a wonderfull neighbor, compared to their new neighbor.

I don't know which belongs on this list more, him or his sappy daughter. Whereas one could blame, and many have, Led Zeppelin or even The Stones, amongst others, for ripping off black artists, well at least they did it well, had real talent, and didn't, to make a huge, insane, and phony adverb, "superblandifywonderbreadedmiddleamericanapplepieificatingethiced" black people's music like this godawful person did.

Yikes. . .remember him wearing the leather? Remember him releasing a 'heavy metal' album? Hilarious and embarrassing. . .