I thought it was cool! You roll low and don't do a lot of extra damage NOW, you get extra later! It's give and take!
Sure, and I totally get that and agree. In another RPG, even a D&D clone like PF, that would likely have been popular. Hell, in 3E, when most people weren't the dreadful grogs that they are now (according to this survey), it would probably have been popular (it would have been too meta for early 2E, but late 2E might have loved it as well). But in 5E, land of safe design (much of it good, to be fair, save the encounter idiocy), it's not going to fly.
Mozart was the pop music of his time.
I mean, as far as I understand it, that's not true. Mozart was extremely popular with a wealthy elite, but his music didn't really filter down to a broader audience until either very late in his life, or after his death.
I agree with your general point that "pop does not mean bad", though.
However, this right here, this whole "We do what the audience wants, we don't take risks, or make people try new things" approach that Crawford is taking? That's the opposite of the Beatles or Mozart. The Beatles had this insane giant audience who liked specific things and instead of going with that, they did wild, crazy, experimental stuff, because they had a huge audience and were artists. I'm not trying to be horrible to 5E, but it can't wear the same mantle as the Beatles or Mozart, because it's profoundly low-risk, where they were both high-risk.
That could change, of course - maybe 5E right now is early Beatles and we'll see a wilder and more daring phase before 6E.