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Yacht rock

From Wikipedia, in a visual modern way
Yacht rock
Other namesWest Coast sound
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsMid-1970s – mid-1980s
Derivative forms
Other topics
For the online video series, see Yacht Rock (web series).
"West Coast sound" redirects here. For the earlier West Coast pop/rock aesthetic, see California sound.

Yacht rock (originally known as the West Coast sound[4][5] or adult-oriented rock[6]) is a broad music style and aesthetic[7] commonly associated with soft rock,[8] one of the most commercially successful genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. Drawing on sources such as smooth soul, smooth jazz,[1] R&B, and disco,[7] common stylistic traits include high-quality production, clean vocals, and a focus on light, catchy melodies.[6] Its name, coined in 2005 by the makers of the online video series Yacht Rock, was derived from its association with the popular Southern Californian leisure activity of sailing.

Discover more about Yacht rock related topics

Soft rock

Soft rock

Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. Soft rock was prevalent on the radio throughout the 1970s and eventually metamorphosed into a form of the synthesized music of adult contemporary in the 1980s.

Smooth soul

Smooth soul

Smooth soul is a fusion genre of soul music that developed in the early 1970s from soul, funk and pop music in the United States. The fusion genre experienced mainstream success from the time of its development to the late 1970s, before its succession by disco and quiet storm.

Smooth jazz

Smooth jazz

Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid-1970s to the early 1990s.

Disco

Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric piano, synthesizers, and electric rhythm guitars.

Yacht Rock (web series)

Yacht Rock (web series)

Yacht Rock is an online video series following the fictionalized lives and careers of American soft rock stars of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The series debuted on Channel 101 at the June 26, 2005 screening. It placed in the top five at subsequent screenings until the June 25, 2006 screening, where it placed seventh and was canceled. The show remained a popular download on Channel 101, convincing the creators to make two additional episodes independently. The 11th episode, featuring Jason Lee as Kevin Bacon, debuted during a screening at the Knitting Factory in New York City on December 27, 2007, and was later included with the other episodes on Channel 101. On May 5, 2010, the 12th and final episode of Yacht Rock was released onto YouTube and Channel 101. The series inspired the term "yacht rock" as a musical descriptor for the songs and artists it features.

Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban agglomeration in the United States. The region generally contains ten of California's 58 counties: Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties.

Sailing

Sailing

Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the water, on ice (iceboat) or on land over a chosen course, which is often part of a larger plan of navigation.

Definition

See also: Soft rock

The term "yacht rock" did not exist contemporaneously with the music the term describes,[6] from about 1975 to 1984.[7][8] It refers to "adult-oriented rock"[6] or "West Coast Sound",[4][3] which became identified with yacht rock in 2005, when the term was coined in J. D. Ryznar et al.'s online video series of the same name.[9][10][11] Understood as a pejorative term,[6] "yacht rock" referred, in part, to a stereotypical yuppie yacht owner enjoying smooth music while sailing. Many "yacht rockers" included nautical references in their lyrics, videos and album artwork, exemplified by Christopher Cross's anthemic track, "Sailing" (1979).[12] Long mocked for "its saccharine sincerity and garish fashion", the original stigma attached to the music has lessened since about 2015.[6][3]

In 2014, AllMusic's Matt Colier identified the "key defining rules of the genre":

  • "keep it smooth, even when it grooves, with more emphasis on the melody than on the beat"
  • "keep the emotions light, even when the sentiment turns sad (as is so often the case in the world of the sensitive yacht-rocksman)"
  • "always keep it catchy, no matter how modest or deeply buried in the tracklist the tune happens to be."[7]

The "exhilaration of escape" is "essential to yacht", according to journalist and documentary-film maker Katie Puckrik. She quoted the lyrics of Cross's "Ride Like the Wind" (1979), "to make it to the border of Mexico", as an example of the aspirational longing that demonstrates "the power of the genre". Thwarted desire is another key element that counters the "feelgood bounce" of yacht in the same song. Puckrik identified a sub-genre, "dark yacht", exemplified in Joni Mitchell's "accidental yacht rock" song "The Hissing of the Summer Lawns" (1975), which described the "tarnished love" of "a woman trapped in a big house and a loveless marriage".[13]

According to Mara Schwartz Kuge, who worked in the L.A. music industry for two decades, "Soft rock was a genre of very popular pop music from the '70s and early '80s, characterized by soft, mostly acoustic guitars and slow-to-mid tempos ... most people have generalized the term to mean anything kind of soft-and-'70s-ish, including artists like Rupert Holmes. Not all yacht rock is soft, either: Toto's 'Hold the Line' and Kenny Loggins' 'Footloose' are both very yacht rock but not soft rock."[14]

Comprehensively defining yacht rock remains difficult, despite agreement that its central elements are "aspirational but not luxurious, jaunty but lonely, pained but polished". Journalist Jack Seale stated that, as in other "micro-genres", certain albums of artists who are accepted as proponents are "arbitrarily ruled in or out". For example, Michael Jackson's Thriller (1982) is accepted as yacht rock, but Fleetwood Mac's Rumours (1977) is not.[15]

Yacht Rock creators

Yacht Rock web series co-creators Ryznar, Steve Huey, Hunter Stair, and David Lyons have attempted to apply precision to what is defined as yacht rock, and have been critical of overly expansive definitions of the term. In 2016 they invented the term "nyacht rock" to refer to songs that have sometimes been classified as yacht rock but that they felt did not fit the definition.[16][17] On their podcasts Beyond Yacht Rock and Yacht or Nyacht?, they have ranked various songs as being either within or outside of the genre.[18]

Factors that the four list as relevant to yacht rock include:

  • High production value[18]
  • Use of "elite"[19] Los Angeles-based studio musicians and producers associated with yacht rock[5]
  • Jazz and R&B influences[5][18]
  • Use of electric piano[5]
  • Complex and wry lyrics[5] about heartbroken, foolish men,[18] particularly involving the word "fool"[5]
  • An upbeat rhythm called the "Doobie Bounce".[5]

Ryznar and co. have argued that many artists sometimes associated with yacht rock, particularly the folk-driven soft rock of Gordon Lightfoot and the Eagles, fall outside the scope of the term as originally conceived.[5] They have also disputed the use of the term as an umbrella for any song whose lyrics include nautical references.[5][17]

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Christopher Cross

Christopher Cross

Christopher Cross is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. He won five Grammy Awards for his eponymous debut album released in 1979. The singles "Sailing" (1980), and "Arthur's Theme " peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. "Sailing" earned three Grammys in 1981, while "Arthur's Theme" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1981.

AllMusic

AllMusic

AllMusic is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne.

Katie Puckrik

Katie Puckrik

Katie Puckrik is an American broadcaster and newspaper columnist. Born in Virginia, Puckrik is best known for hosting British youth magazine shows The Word and The Sunday Show in the 1990s. She also created and hosted the British television talk show Pyjama Party and subsequently its American remake Pajama Party.

Ride Like the Wind

Ride Like the Wind

"Ride Like the Wind" is the debut single by American singer-songwriter Christopher Cross. It was released in February 1980 as the lead single from his Grammy-winning 1979 self-titled debut album. It reached number two on the US charts for four consecutive weeks, behind "Call Me" by Blondie. On the album's inner sleeve, Christopher Cross dedicated this song to Lowell George, formerly of the band Little Feat, who had died in 1979. It features backing vocals by Michael McDonald and a guitar solo by Cross.

Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell

Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her starkly personal lyrics and unconventional compositions which grew to incorporate pop and jazz elements. She has received many accolades, including ten Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Rolling Stone called her "one of the greatest songwriters ever", and AllMusic has stated, "When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century".

Hold the Line

Hold the Line

"Hold the Line" is a song by American rock band Toto from their 1978 eponymous debut studio album. Written by the band's keyboardist David Paich, the lead vocals on the song were performed by Bobby Kimball.

Footloose (song)

Footloose (song)

"Footloose" is a song co-written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins. It was released in January 1984 as the first of two singles by Loggins from the 1984 film of the same name. The song spent three weeks at number one, March 31—April 14, 1984, on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Loggins' only chart-topper, and was the first of two number-one hits from the film. Billboard ranked it at the No. 4 song for 1984.

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a four-decade career, his contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture. Jackson influenced artists across many music genres; through stage and video performances, he popularized complicated dance moves such as the moonwalk, to which he gave the name, as well as the robot.

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarists and vocalists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer and drummer Mick Fleetwood. Bob Brunning was hired as a temporary bass guitarist before John McVie joined the line-up in time for their eponymous debut album. Danny Kirwan joined as a third guitarist and vocalist in 1968. Keyboardist and vocalist Christine Perfect, who contributed as a session musician starting with the band's second album while she was a member of Chicken Shack, married McVie and joined Fleetwood Mac as a full member in 1970, becoming known as Christine McVie.

Jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals.

Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music ... [with a] heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of a piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, one or more saxophones, and sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of relationships, economics, and aspirations.

Electric piano

Electric piano

An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations which are converted into electrical signals by magnetic pickups, which are then connected to an instrument amplifier and loudspeaker to make a sound loud enough for the performer and audience to hear. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument. Instead, it is an electro-mechanical instrument. Some early electric pianos used lengths of wire to produce the tone, like a traditional piano. Smaller electric pianos used short slivers of steel to produce the tone. The earliest electric pianos were invented in the late 1920s; the 1929 Neo-Bechstein electric grand piano was among the first. Probably the earliest stringless model was Lloyd Loar's Vivi-Tone Clavier. A few other noteworthy producers of electric pianos include Baldwin Piano and Organ Company and the Wurlitzer Company.

Origins

The socio-political and economic changes that contributed to the emergence of the genre[20] have recently been described by journalists like Steven Orlofsky, and by documentary-film maker Katie Puckrik. Orlofsky pointed out that some contemporaneous pop groups such as Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan and Supertramp were well-respected by critics and listeners.[21] Yacht rock was art "untouched by the outside world." By contrast to what followed, this "was probably the last major era of pop music wholly separated from the politics of its day."[3] Yacht rock represented an "introspective individualism" that emerged after the death of the "mass-movement idealism" of the 1960s. Its "reassuringly vague escapism" was boosted by the rise of FM radio which brought together two consequences of gender emancipation: women who controlled household spending and men who "felt freer to convey their emotions in song".[15]

The roots of yacht rock can be traced to the music of the Beach Boys, whose aesthetic was the first to be "scavenged" by acts like Rupert Holmes, according to Jacobin's Dan O'Sullivan. Captain & Tennille, who were members of the Beach Boys' live band, won "yacht rock's first Best Record Grammy" in 1975, for "Love Will Keep Us Together," a song that composer Neil Sedaka acknowledged was inspired in part by a Beach Boys riff.[23] O'Sullivan also cites the Beach Boys' recording of "Sloop John B" (1966) as the origin of yacht rock's predilection for the "sailors and beachgoers" aesthetic that was "lifted by everyone, from Christopher Cross to Eric Carmen, from 'Buffalo Springfield' folksters like Jim Messina to 'Philly Sound' rockers like Hall & Oates."[24]

Some of the most popular yacht rock acts (who also collaborated on each other's records) included Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Steely Dan and Toto.[12][25][26][27]

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Katie Puckrik

Katie Puckrik

Katie Puckrik is an American broadcaster and newspaper columnist. Born in Virginia, Puckrik is best known for hosting British youth magazine shows The Word and The Sunday Show in the 1990s. She also created and hosted the British television talk show Pyjama Party and subsequently its American remake Pajama Party.

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarists and vocalists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer and drummer Mick Fleetwood. Bob Brunning was hired as a temporary bass guitarist before John McVie joined the line-up in time for their eponymous debut album. Danny Kirwan joined as a third guitarist and vocalist in 1968. Keyboardist and vocalist Christine Perfect, who contributed as a session musician starting with the band's second album while she was a member of Chicken Shack, married McVie and joined Fleetwood Mac as a full member in 1970, becoming known as Christine McVie.

Jacobin (magazine)

Jacobin (magazine)

Jacobin is an American political magazine based in New York. It offers socialist perspectives on politics, economics and culture. As of 2021, the magazine reported a paid print circulation of 75,000 and over 3 million monthly visitors.

Captain & Tennille

Captain & Tennille

Captain & Tennille were American recording artists whose primary success occurred in the 1970s. The husband-and-wife team were "Captain" Daryl Dragon (1942–2019) and Toni Tennille. They have five albums certified gold or platinum and scored numerous hits on the US singles charts, the most enduring of which included "Love Will Keep Us Together", "Do That to Me One More Time", and "Muskrat Love." They hosted their own television variety series on ABC in 1976–77.

Love Will Keep Us Together

Love Will Keep Us Together

"Love Will Keep Us Together" is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. It was first recorded by Sedaka in 1973. American pop duo Captain & Tennille covered the song in 1975, with instrumental backing almost entirely by “Captain” Daryl Dragon, with the exception of drums played by Hal Blaine; their version became a worldwide hit.

Neil Sedaka

Neil Sedaka

Neil Sedaka is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard "Howie" Greenfield and Phil Cody.

Sloop John B

Sloop John B

"Sloop John B" is a Bahamian folk song from Nassau. A transcription by Richard Le Gallienne was published in 1916, and a version was included in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag in 1927. Since the early 1950s there have been many recordings of the song with variant titles including "I Want to Go Home" and "Wreck of the John B".

Christopher Cross

Christopher Cross

Christopher Cross is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. He won five Grammy Awards for his eponymous debut album released in 1979. The singles "Sailing" (1980), and "Arthur's Theme " peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. "Sailing" earned three Grammys in 1981, while "Arthur's Theme" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1981.

Eric Carmen

Eric Carmen

Eric Howard Carmen is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist. He was first known as the lead vocalist of the Raspberries. He had numerous hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Raspberries, and then with his solo career, including hits such as "All by Myself", "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", "She Did It", "Hungry Eyes", and "Make Me Lose Control".

Buffalo Springfield

Buffalo Springfield

Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", released three albums and several singles from 1966 to 1968. Their music combined elements of folk music and country music with British Invasion and psychedelic rock influences. Like contemporary band the Byrds, they were key to the early development of folk rock. The band took their name from a steamroller parked outside their house.

Jim Messina (musician)

Jim Messina (musician)

James Messina is an American musician, songwriter, singer, guitarist, recording engineer, and record producer. He was a member of the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield, a founding member of the pioneering country rock band Poco, and half of the soft rock duo Loggins and Messina with Kenny Loggins.

Kenny Loggins

Kenny Loggins

Kenneth Clark Loggins is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. His early soundtrack contributions date back to A Star Is Born in 1976, and he is known as the King of the Movie Soundtrack. As a solo artist, Loggins experienced a string of soundtrack successes, including an Academy Award nomination for "Footloose" in 1985. Finally Home was released in 2013, shortly after Loggins formed the group Blue Sky Riders with Gary Burr and Georgia Middleman. He won a Daytime Emmy Award, two Grammy Awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Tony Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Resurgence

Recent positive reappraisals of the genre have appeared in The Guardian,[28] The Week,[3] and on BBC Four, which broadcast Puckrik's two-part documentary, I Can Go for That: The Smooth World of Yacht Rock, in June 2019.[15][29] (That documentary is a play on the 1981 Hall & Oates song "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do).")[13]

Orlofsky has argued that the genre's resurgence is partly due to its function as an antidote to the negativity of the Trump era in the US just as in its original context, when yacht rock created "the perfect soundtrack for listeners trying to ignore Watergate and Vietnam",[15] it now again represents "a defiant, fingers-planted-firmly-within-ears disregard of any and all political unrest."[3]

New yacht rock bands such as Young Gun Silver Fox have garnered popularity and media recognition in recent years. Glide magazine describes Young Gun Silver Fox's album AM Waves as having "its brand of 70’s SoCal-infused pop rock" and compares it to the likes of other yacht rock bands such as Ambrosia and the Doobie Brothers.[30] S. Victor Aaron of Something Else! reviews described their Rolling Back album as "as another fine example of the neo-yacht rock that YGSF has absolutely mastered."[31] While Something Else! reviews consider Young Gun Silver Fox to fall under the category of "neo-yacht rock," Talia Woodridge of The Spill Magazine classifies Young Gun Silver as a yacht rock band.[32]

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The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian, and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers, The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of The Guardian free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for The Guardian the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK.

The Week

The Week

The Week is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's edition, The Week Junior, has been published in the UK since 2015, and the US since 2020.

BBC Four

BBC Four

BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 and shows a wide variety of programmes including arts, documentaries, music, international film and drama, and current affairs. It is required by its licence to air at least 100 hours of new arts and music programmes, 110 hours of new factual programmes, and to premiere twenty foreign films each year. The channel broadcasts daily from 7:00 pm to 4:00 am, timesharing with CBeebies.

Hall & Oates

Hall & Oates

Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two write most of the songs they perform, separately or in collaboration. They achieved their greatest fame from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s with a fusion of rock and roll, soul music, and rhythm and blues.

I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)

I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)

"I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" is a song by the American duo Daryl Hall and John Oates. Written by Daryl Hall, John Oates and Sara Allen, the song was released as the second single from their tenth studio album, Private Eyes (1981). The song became the fourth number one hit single of their career on the Billboard Hot 100. It features Charles DeChant on saxophone.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump

Donald John Trump is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

Watergate scandal

Watergate scandal

The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's persistent attempts to cover up its involvement in the June 17, 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C., Watergate Office Building.

Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The north was supported by the Soviet Union, China, and other communist states, while the south was supported by the United States and other anti-communist allies. The war is widely considered to be a Cold War-era proxy war. It lasted almost 20 years, with direct U.S. involvement ending in 1973. The conflict also spilled over into neighboring states, exacerbating the Laotian Civil War and the Cambodian Civil War, which ended with all three countries becoming communist states by 1975.

Ambrosia (band)

Ambrosia (band)

Ambrosia is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1970. Ambrosia had five top 40 hit singles released between 1975 and 1980, including the top 5 hits "How Much I Feel" and "Biggest Part of Me", and top 20 hits "You're the Only Woman " and "Holdin' on to Yesterday". Most of the original band members have been active with the group continuously for over thirty years to the present day, with the notable exception of original lead vocalist and guitarist David Pack since 2000.

The Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in 1970 in San Jose, California, known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies. Active for five decades, with their greatest success in the 1970s, the group's current lineup consists of founding members Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons, alongside Michael McDonald and John McFee, and touring musicians including John Cowan, Marc Russo (saxophones), Ed Toth (drums), and Marc Quiñones (percussion). Other long-serving members of the band include guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (1974–1979), bassist Tiran Porter and drummers John Hartman, Michael Hossack, and Keith Knudsen. They performed gospel influenced songs such as "Take Me in Your Arms " and "Jesus is Just Alright".

Reception and legacy

Perspectives

A 2012 Jacobin article described yacht rock as "endlessly banal, melodic and inoffensive, fit to be piped into Macy's changing rooms".[33] The article describes the popularity of yacht rock as reflective of a regressive Reagan-era American society and "about the garden of nightmares America had become". According to the Jacobin article, yacht rock served as "an escape from blunt truths" about sociopolitical issues of the day. In an article in The New Inquiry, music scholar J. Temperance stated that yacht rock "sterilized the form of its soul and blues elements and instead emphasized disinterested, intentionally trite lyrical themes".[34] In a uDiscovermusic article, Paul Sexton expressed how yacht rock as a genre seemed to "exude privileged opulence: of days in expensive recording studios followed by hedonistic trips on private yachts."[35] According to writer Max McKenna in a 2018 Popmatters article, the lack of political messaging in the yacht rock genre is a "conservative gesture(s) flying under the radar in a climate of poptimist reappraisal."[36]

In response to the Jacobin article, music scholar J. Temperance wrote in The New Inquiry that, rather being a reactionary genre, yacht rock was essential to the growth of pop music in a time of "cultural darkness", "serving as a dialectical pole to progressive rock as well as to punk, postpunk and even proto-postpunk, spurring drastic retrenchments".[34] J. Temperance attributed the "smooth" sound that is characteristic of yacht rock to an indifferent approach to capitalist culture and a "regressive tolerance of allegedly transgressive music with a truly liberatory anality" by using existing symbols rather than create new anti-establishment symbols that are eventually added into the establishment symbols. The New Inquiry article describes the role of yacht rock as a genre that would help people differentiate music appreciation from status by using common symbols and "rendering the popular into the smooth."[34]

Yacht rock has also faced racial criticism, given the genre's associations with "the revival of white rock forms" as writer Max McKenna stated in the 2018 Popmatters article.[36] Wesley Morris compares in a New York Times op-ed piece the recognition given to black artists and white artists that possess the "absurd" quality of blackness in their music.[37] Due to its perceived lack of political involvement and borrowed elements from black music genres, yacht rock has garnered the perception of racial ignorance amongst certain critics of the genre.[37] The Jacobin article described Michael McDonald, a musician well known within the genre of yacht rock, as a "bleached, blue-eyed soul cracker".[33]

Yacht rock is listed as a genre on Spotify, Amazon Music, AccuRadio, and Pandora. Since 2015, there has been a "Yacht Rock" channel on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. The channel reverts to the off-season channel after summer,[38] but is available year-round on the SXM app. iHeartRadio also has a dedicated "Yacht Rock Radio" station that airs this format 24/7 on its website and app.[39]

Twenty-first century musicians have formed cover bands centered on the yacht rock idea, such as Yacht Rock Revue, which has done national tours.[40][41] The band hosts an annual Yacht Rock Revival concert where they invite members of the original bands that they cover to join them on stage for a few songs, including Walter Egan, Robbie Dupree, Peter Beckett (Player), Bobby Kimball (former lead singer of Toto), Jeff Carlisi (.38 Special), Bill Champlin (Chicago), and Denny Laine (Wings).[41]

In 2018, Jawbone Press released The Yacht Rock Book: The Oral History of the Soft, Smooth Sounds of the 70s and 80s by author Greg Prato, which explored the entire history of the genre.[42] The book featured a foreword by Fred Armisen, and interviews with Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, and John Oates, among others.[17]

Inspired music

Yacht rock bears strong similarities to the Japanese genre of city pop in that they both peaked in the early 1980s, featured jazz and R&B influences arranged and produced by elites in their fields, and gained newfound popularity in the 2010s through the Internet. The link between city pop and yacht rock was made explicit in 1984 when Tatsuro Yamashita, one of Japan's most influential city pop artists and producers, traveled to California to record the album Big Wave, a mix of Beach Boys covers and original English-language compositions written in collaboration with Alan O'Day.

Yacht rock had some influence on the creation of progressive rock, punk rock, postpunk, and proto-postpunk.[34]

Elements of yacht rock have been adopted by new acts such as Vampire Weekend, Foxygen, and Carly Rae Jepsen while the vaporwave genre of electronic music, which began in the 2010s, appropriated the "nautical iconography" of yacht rock.

The 2017 album by Thundercat, Drunk, featured a song that included guest vocalists Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald, entitled "Show You the Way" (all performed the song together on an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon the same year).

The band Sugar Ray's 2019 album Little Yachty is a conscious homage to yacht rock; it includes a cover of the 1979 Rupert Holmes song "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)", which lead singer Mark McGrath has called "the torch bearer of all things yacht rock".

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Jacobin (magazine)

Jacobin (magazine)

Jacobin is an American political magazine based in New York. It offers socialist perspectives on politics, economics and culture. As of 2021, the magazine reported a paid print circulation of 75,000 and over 3 million monthly visitors.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He previously served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952 and from 1959 until 1960.

Blues

Blues

Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, and is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale, and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes, usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove.

PopMatters

PopMatters

PopMatters is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater, visual arts, travel, and the Internet.

Rockism and poptimism

Rockism and poptimism

Rockism and poptimism are two ideological arguments about popular music prevalent in mainstream music journalism. Rockism is the belief that rock music is dependent on values such as authenticity and artfulness, and that such values elevate the genre over other forms of popular music. So-called "rockists" may promote the artifices stereotyped in rock music or may regard the genre as the normative state of popular music. Poptimism is the belief that pop music is as worthy of professional critique and interest as rock music. Detractors of poptimism describe it as a counterpart of rockism that unfairly privileges the most famous or best-selling pop, hip hop, and R&B acts.

Progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the style was an outgrowth of psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop traditions in favour of instrumentation and compositional techniques more frequently associated with jazz, folk, or classical music. Additional elements contributed to its "progressive" label: lyrics were more poetic, technology was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of "art", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening rather than dancing.

Punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced short, fast-paced songs with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often shouted political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through independent record labels.

Post-punk

Post-punk

Post-punk is a broad genre of rock music that emerged in the late 1970s in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experimental approach that encompassed a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-rock influences. Inspired by punk's energy and DIY ethic but determined to break from rock cliches, artists experimented with styles like funk, electronic music, jazz, and dance music; the production techniques of dub and disco; and ideas from art and politics, including critical theory, modernist art, cinema and literature. These communities produced independent record labels, visual art, multimedia performances and fanzines.

Michael McDonald (musician)

Michael McDonald (musician)

Michael McDonald is an American singer, keyboardist and songwriter known for his distinctive, soulful voice and as a member of the bands the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan (1973–1974). McDonald wrote and sang several hit singles with the Doobie Brothers, including "What a Fool Believes", "Minute by Minute", and "Takin' It to the Streets." McDonald has also performed as a prominent backing vocalist on numerous recordings by artists including Steely Dan, Christopher Cross, and Kenny Loggins.

Cracker (term)

Cracker (term)

Cracker, sometimes white cracker or cracka, is a racial epithet directed towards white people, used especially with regard to poor rural whites in the Southern United States. Although commonly a pejorative, it is also used in a neutral context, particularly in reference to a native of Florida or Georgia.

Amazon Music

Amazon Music

Amazon Music is a music streaming platform and online music store operated by Amazon. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights management (DRM) from the four major music labels, as well as many independents. All tracks were originally sold in 256 kilobits-per-second variable bitrate MP3 format without per-customer watermarking or DRM; however, some tracks are now watermarked. Licensing agreements with recording companies restrict the countries in which the music can be sold.

AccuRadio

AccuRadio

AccuRadio is an independent, multichannel Internet radio property founded in 2000, and based in Chicago, Illinois, US. It currently offers over a thousand pre-developed 'music channels'. Some channels also highlight music from different locations around the world.

Source: "Yacht rock", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, February 11th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacht_rock.

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Further Reading

Kenny Loggins

Smooth jazz

Yacht Rock (web series)

Danger Zone (song)

Katie Puckrik
See also
References
  1. ^ a b Malcolm, Timothy (July 12, 2019). "This Is the Definitive Definition of Yacht Rock". Houstonia. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  2. ^ Hinkes-Jones, Llewellyn (July 15, 2010). "Downtempo Pop: When Good Music Gets a Bad Name". The Atlantic.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Orlofsky, Steven (June 15, 2019). "In defense of yacht rock". theweek.com. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Cross, Christopher (February 22, 2014). "Hall & Oates Are Genuine Rock Stars in My Book". The Huffington Post.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i That '70s Week: Yacht Rock. NPR World Cafe, March 15, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "From Haim to Chromeo: The new wave of Yacht-rockers". The Independent. June 6, 2014. Archived from the original on May 7, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d "AllMusic Loves Yacht Rock". AllMusic. June 25, 2014.
  8. ^ a b Berlind, William (August 27, 2006). "Yacht Rock Docks in New York". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on May 18, 2011. Retrieved July 29, 2008.
  9. ^ Crumsho, Michael (January 9, 2006). "Finally, a name for that music: "Yacht Rock"". The Seattle Times. Retrieved July 29, 2008.
  10. ^ Toal, Drew (June 26, 2015). "Sail Away: The Oral History of 'Yacht Rock'". Rolling Stone.
  11. ^ Ryznar's webs series "followed fictionalized versions of the stars" and "gently poked fun at the crooners", according to Orlofsky.
  12. ^ a b Kamp, Jon (October 11, 2015). "Can You Sail to It? Then It Must Be 'Yacht Rock'". The Wall Street Journal.
  13. ^ a b Puckrik, Katie (June 11, 2019). "I can go for that: five essential yacht rock classics". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  14. ^ Lecaro, Lina (November 19, 2016). "This Monthly Club Is a Non-Ironic Celebration of Rock's Softer Side". LA Weekly.
  15. ^ a b c d Seale, Jack (June 14, 2019). "I Can Go for That: The Smooth World of Yacht Rock review – lushly comforting". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  16. ^ Nyacht Rock. Beyond Yacht Rock, March 18, 2016.
  17. ^ a b c Greg Prato, The Yacht Rock Book: The Oral History of the Soft, Smooth Sounds of the 70s and 80s. Jawbone Press, 2018.
  18. ^ a b c d NeahkahnieGold (September 11, 2018). "What Even Is Yacht Rock Anyway?". Discogs blog.
  19. ^ Matos, Michaelangelo (December 7, 2005). "Talk Talk: J.D. Ryznar". Seattle Weekly. Archived from the original on April 14, 2006. Retrieved October 9, 2006.
  20. ^ Yacht Rock: A History of the Soft Rock Resurgence|Mental Floss
  21. ^ "In defense of yacht rock". theweek.com. June 15, 2019.
  22. ^ Spence D.; Brian Linder (May 30, 2006). "Top 10 Yacht Rock Songs Of All Time". IGN. Retrieved October 9, 2006.
  23. ^ Neil Sedaka's mini-concert, September 1, 2020 from Sedaka's official YouTube account
  24. ^ O'Sullivan, Dan (September 4, 2012). ""California Über Alles": The Empire Yachts Back". Jacobin.
  25. ^ ""NOW That's What I Call Yacht Rock" compilation is sailing into record stores next month – Music News – ABC News Radio". abcnewsradioonline.com.
  26. ^ 'NOW That's What I Call Yacht Rock 2' compilation cruising your way in May – Music News – ABC News Radio
  27. ^ What Is 'Yacht Rock'? - Rolling Stone
  28. ^ Bickerdike, Jennifer Otter (April 20, 2016). "Cruise control: how yacht rock sailed back into fashion". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  29. ^ "BBC Four – I Can Go For That: The Smooth World of Yacht Rock". BBC. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  30. ^ Glide; Glide (August 30, 2018). "Young Gun Silver Fox Create Best Yacht Rock Album Of Last 35 Years With 'AM Waves' (INTERVIEW)". Glide Magazine. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  31. ^ Aaron, S. Victor (September 24, 2022). "Young Gun Silver Fox, "Rolling Back" (2022): Something Else! sneak peek". Something Else!. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  32. ^ Wooldridge, Talia (July 15, 2016). "SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: YOUNG GUN SILVER FOX - WEST END COAST". The Spill Magazine. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  33. ^ a b "The Yacht Rock Counterrevolution". jacobin.com. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  34. ^ a b c d Temperance, J. (September 5, 2012). "The Birth of the Uncool: Yacht Rock and Libidinal Subversion". The New Inquiry. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  35. ^ Sexton, Paul (September 17, 2022). "Yacht Rock: A Boatload Of Not-So-Guilty Pleasures". uDiscover Music. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  36. ^ a b "Reactionary Rockism: The Dangerous Obsession with "Authenticity" in Indie Rock, PopMatters". PopMatters. August 13, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  37. ^ a b Morris, Wesley (August 14, 2019). "Why Is Everyone Always Stealing Black Music?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  38. ^ "How Yacht Rock Ended Up on Sirius XM". Wall Street Journal Speakeasy blog. October 12, 2015.
  39. ^ Yacht Rock Radio - iHeartRadio\\ (accessed September 21, 2021)
  40. ^ Murdock, Deroy. "Yacht Rock Revue Sails Into Gramercy Park". Townhall. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  41. ^ a b "The accidental success of Yacht Rock Revue – Atlanta Magazine". Atlanta Magazine. August 20, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  42. ^ Rock and Roll Book Club" 'The Yacht Rock Book'|The Current
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