Heart is a great send, doesn't surprise me one bit they scored well, and their older stuff is far from pop imho. Ann Wilson is one of the premiere singers of our time, her version of Stairway to Heaven at the Kennedy Center was a performance of a lifetime.
+1 to all this. I had Heart on my short list of acts to use in the final 2 rounds. I'm honestly baffled Tim is so turned off by them, considering he's a big Pat Benatar fan. I'm being sincere here... no poking fun. Alone is a god-tier ballad, and Crazy On You is a Top 100 song of all time in my books. That block of songs you sent was classic rock gold - far from "pop-rock".
I'm not turned off by Heart. I've just never gotten into them. They've always been available on classic rock radio, and I've always been satisfied by that.
As far as Pat Benatar, In The Heat Of The Night was one of the first 8-tracks
I got. We Live For Love was big on the radio at the time I was really becoming musically aware. So her first two albums are essential for me. I never struck that kind of bond with Heart.
Like I said, once I decided to not send Blondie (which was an easy decision) , I was really kind of stuck. I was perusing year end Billboard charts for the early to mid 80's.
I had no guilty pleasure pop styled bands back then. To play along, I would literally have to grab a band out of thin air. Then I saw Heart.
That was last minute.
I had The Police up and ready to go..