Yacht Rock
Let me paint you a picture. You’re at a marina bar, dock or even on a boat with people you enjoy being around. It’s late August, the weather is still nice but you know it’s coming to an end soon. It’s around 7:30, so the sun is slowly going down as the sky turns into a pinkish orange and purple. You’re drinking a Miller Lite and suddenly you hear “What a Fool Believes” by the Doobie Brothers. Life simply reaches its highest echelons in moments like these and a lot of that can be contributed to the soundtrack.
Yacht Rock {yät -räk} — a term retroactively applied to the soft rock melodies and anthems of the 1970s- early 80s. The term was first coined by J.D. Ryznar, who hosted a web series of the same name which followed various fictional accounts of soft rock acts of the 70s and the 80s.
Fans of the music genre have always been at odds over which songs are truly considered Yacht Rock. Many are very strict, using factors such as the instruments used, the lyrics, and release date to determine whether or not a certain song is considered yacht rock. I choose to have a much more open mind in this regard. To me, if it sounds like music I could listen to on a yacht, it’s yacht rock!
First thing to know, some musical acts just only ever made yacht rock. Kenny Loggins, Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, Toto, Ambrosia, America, the Doobie Brothers and Michael McDonald are names that have become synonymous with the genre. Listening to the discography of these artists, you can hear the vibe that portrays “Yacht Rock”. It is a sort of smoothness and laid back leisure that usually evokes feelings of escapism or reminiscence (a lot of these songs are about love).
One thing you can most definitely hear is how meticulously crafted these songs are. These aren’t simple three chord repetition songs; but rather intricate symphonies with crystalline production. The big winners of this category are Steely Dan; as lead vocalist and keyboardist Donald Fagen is known for intensity and striving for perfection in production. Gary Katz, producer of the Steely Dan albums needs to also be given flowers in this regard, who also largely contributed to the precise and intensive nature of their recordings.
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The standout of the genre is Michael McDonald however. Take a look at any Yacht Rock Playlist ever made. I can guarantee you that a good portion of that playlist can be traced back to Michael McDonald one way or another. It could be a solo record of his or his work with other acts like Steely Dan, Toto and most notoriously, the Doobie Brothers. His unique voice is his special ability, being able to obtain a special grain on particularly high notes. On top of his unique voice, he was a talented keyboardist, an ability best seen on the track “Minute by Minute” by the Doobie Brothers
True fans will notice that I excluded one name in particular from the list of artists synonymous with Yacht Rock. That’s because, like Michael McDonald, his contributions to the genre are so large that they warrant him his own section. While Michael McDonald is the standout, the true hero of Yacht Rock, in my opinion, has to be Christopher Cross. A skilled guitarist and vocalist, Christopher Cross’s abilities as a singer-songwriter truly encapsulate the smooth and glamorous vibe given off by Yacht Rock songs. What more is that the “Yacht” in “Yacht Rock” can be directly attributed to him, as his most successful piece, “Sailing” contained the nautical motifs that would go on to later define the genre. His self titled album, on which “Sailing” is a single, is argued to be one of the most important in the “Adult Contemporary” (a bit of a precursor to the Yacht Rock genre) space of music. Christopher Cross (the album) released in 1979, which would prove to be a monumental year for Christopher Cross (the man), as he took home five grammys, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist of the Year. He was the first artist to ever achieve all these awards in the same year until 2019 when Billie Eillish did the same.
At the end of the day, I cannot force you to listen to these types of songs. A lot of my friends and family have described these songs as a bit too relaxed or “cheesy” or even saying all the songs kind of sound the same and blend together. I can’t exactly refute any of these statements, but what I can promise is that Yacht Rock songs sound incredible. A minimum standard for these songs is great production, so no matter what, it’ll be a good listen. My advice? The first paragraph. A good view, a nice sunset, a 12 pack of your favorite beer and a group of friends.
Works Cited
Brett, Thomas, “On Nostalgia and the Voice of Mike McDonald”, Brettworks: Thinking Through Music, February 2, 2012, https://brettworks.com/2012/02/02/on-nostalgia-and-the-voice-of-michael-mcdonald/
Malcom, Timothy, “This is the Definitive Definition of Yacht Rock”, Houstonia, https://www.houstoniamag.com/arts-and-culture/2019/07/this-is-the-definitive-definition-of-yacht-rock
Tannenbaum, Rob, “The Choppy Waters Underneath Christopher Cross’s ‘Sailing’”, Texas Monthly, September 2022, https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/christopher-cross-sailing/
“Yacht Rock Guide: A Brief History of Yacht Rock”, MasterClass, September 9, 2024, https://www.masterclass.com/articles/yacht-rock-guide
