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Yacht Rock Definitive Playlist | |
Jazz has Smooth Jazz. Rock and Roll has Yacht Rock. It’s nostalgic music, if you are of the right demographic, or like to pretend you are. The phrase was started by J.D. Ryznar, who created a series of Yacht Rock videos in 2005/6. A mix of 70s and 80s ‘Adult Contemporary’ pop, and some accidental grooves from the past, Yacht Rock is a mix of the expected, and unexpected. Add some soft and you’re ready to sail. #yuppiemusic #hipstermusic #noedge | |
1. | I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) – Hall and Oates |
2. | Ride Like The Wind – Christopher Cross |
3. | Africa – Toto |
4. | Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes – Jimmy Buffett |
5. | Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl) – Looking Glass |
6. | Breezin – George Benson. |
7. | Yah Mo Be There – James Ingram & Michael McDonald |
8. | Summer Breeze – Seals and Crofts |
9. | Escape (The Pina Colada Song) – Rupert Holmes |
10. | All Night Long – Lionel Ritchie |
11. | Kokomo – The Beach Boys |
12. | Margaritaville – Jimmy Buffet |
13. | What A Fool Believes – Doobie Brothers |
14. | Moondance – Van Morrison |
15. | Lido Shuffle – Boz Scaggs |
16. | Summertime – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince |
17. | Regulate – Warren G Featuring Nate Dogg |
18. | Maneater – Hally and Oates |
19. | Key Largo – Bertie Higgins |
20. | Lovely Day – Bill Withers |
21. | Baby Come Back – Player |
22. | Heart of Rock and Roll – Huey Lewis and The News |
23. | Human Nature – Michael Jackson |
24. | Rosanna – Toto |
25. | Boys of Summer – Don Henley |
26. | FM (No Static At All) – Steely Dan |
27. | Sweet Freedom – Michael McDonald |
28. | Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run) – Billy Ocean |
29. | Dancing in the Moonlight – King Harvest |
30. | Let Your Love Flow – The Bellamy Brothers |
31. | Dreams – Fleetwood Mac |
32. | Southern Cross – Crosby, Stills & Nash |
33. | Give Me The Night – George Benson |
34. | So Into You – Atlanta Rhythm Section |
35. | Baby I’m-A Want You – Bread |
36. | Lowdown – Boz Scaggs |
37. | Dancing In The Moonlight – Thin Lizzie |
38. | I Can See Clearly Now – Johnny Cash |
39. | Sentimental Lady – Bob Welch |
40. | Hold The Line – Toto |
41. | Sail On, Sailor – The Beach Boys |
42. | Hey Nineteen – Steely Dan |
43. | Steal Away – Robbie Dupree |
44. | Reminiscing – Little River Band |
45. | Time Passages – Al Stewart |
46. | Right On Down The Line – Gerry Rafferty |
47. | I Can’t Tell You Why – The Eagles |
48. | Something About You – Level 42 |
49. | Ride Captain Ride – Blues Image |
50. | Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Grows) – Edison Lighthouse |
51. | It’s Too Late To Turn Back Now – Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose |
52. | Moonlight Feels Right – Starbuck |
53. | Groovin’ – The Young Rascals |
54. | Baker Street – Gerry Rafferty |
55. | JoJo – Boz Scaggs |
56. | How Long – Ace |
57. | Don’t You Know – Jan Hammer Group |
58. | I’m Not In Love – 10CC |
59. | Lost In Love – Air Supply |
60. | Do It Again – Steely Dan |
61. | Horse With No Name – America |
62. | White Bird – It’s a Beautiful Day |
63. | Lowdown – Boz Scaggs |
64. | Everytime You Go Away – Paul Young |
65. | Year of the Cat – Al Stewart |
66. | Tupelo Honey – Van Morrison |
67. | Guilty – Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb |
68. | Sexy Eyes – Dr. Hook |
69. | Kiss on My List – Hall and Oates |
70. | Eye In The Sky – Alan Parsons Project |
71. | On and On – Stephen Bishop |
72. | Deacon Blues – Steely Dan |
73. | Graceland – Paul Simon |
74. | This Is It – Kenny Loggins |
75. | Hypnotized – Fleetwood Mac |
76. | Thunder Island – Jay Ferguson |
77. | I Keep Forgettin’ – Michael McDonald |
78. | What You Won’t Do For Love – Bobby Caldwell |
79. | Cherish – Kool and the Gang |
80. | Hearts – Marty Balin |
81. | With Me – Orleans |
82. | Peg – Steely Dan |
83. | Diamond Girl – Seals and Crofts |
84. | Couldn’t Get It Right – Climax Blues Band |
85. | Heart To Heart – Kenny Loggins |
86. | Somebody’s Baby – Jackson Brown |
87. | Don’t Worry, Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin |
88. | Walkin’ in Memphis – Marc Cohn |
89. | If You Could Read My Mind – Gordon Lightfoot |
90. | Rhiannon – Fleetwood Mac |
91. | Smoke From A Distant Fire – Sanford Townsend Band |
92. | – Olivia Newton-John |
93. | Biggest Part of Me – Ambrosia |
94. | Fooled Around And Fell In Love – Elvin Bishop |
95. | If – Bread |
96. | When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman – Dr. Hook |
97. | You’re The Only Woman – Ambrosia |
98. | This Time I’m In It For Love – Player |
99. | Make It With You – Bread |
100. | Cool Change – Little River Band |
Yacht rock isn’t exactly a genre. it’s more a state of mind..
Yacht Rock is the musical equivalent of a mid-afternoon mimosa nap in a nautical location—a balmy lite-FM breeze with the substance of a romance novel and the machismo of a Burt Reynolds mustache comb.
Yacht Rock is ‘70s soft schlock about boats, love affairs, and one-night stands.
Typified by artists like Christopher Cross, Rupert Holmes, and Pablo Cruise, Yacht Rock is not just easy to mock. It’s also deserving of the abuse. There’s a sensitive-male brand of chauvinism that permeates this material—like somehow because you could schnarf an 8-ball of cocaine and sail a boat into the sunset, your indulgences and marital infidelity were actually kind of sexy. Cheap pickup lines and beardly come-ons abound.
And yet, this stuff is irresistible on a slow summer day. It reeks of sunshine and laziness, and couldn’t we all use a little of both?
These are the 25 Best Yacht Rock Songs, in order. Zero suspense. (Sorry if that's less fun for you).
If you would like to learn more about Yacht Rock without getting a sailing license, read on...
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So Yacht Rock refers to a type of soft rock, right? But there’s a ton of soft rock out there that doesn’t fit the bill. There’s no room on my boat for Barry Manilow. At the Copa? Sure. But not so much on my boat. So what makes a great yacht rock song exactly?
Ideally, one or more of these themes will be present:
Finding the love of your life;
Having a memorable one-night stand; or
These features pretty much capture everything that’s great about this milieu. But there's also an important cheese factor at play here. While Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, CSN, and the Doobie Brothers all made songs that might qualify for inclusion here, the artists themselves are--let's just say it--too good to be considered Yacht Rock.
We'll make sure to include them in our deluxe playlist at the article's conclusion.
But in order for a song to be considered for our list, it must be at least slightly embarrassing. Case in point, the top song on our list...
"The Pina Colada Song" is arguably the most perfect embodiment of yacht rock, fulfilling, as it does, all three of the qualifications cited above. Holmes sings about making love in the dunes, attempts to cheat on his wife, then ultimately, rediscovers that his "old lady" is actually the love he's been searching for all along. That's the holy trinity of Yacht Rock themes, all wrapped up in a breezy story of casual adultery.
And at the turn of a new decade, listeners were feeling it. Released as a single in 1979, "Escape" stood at the top of the charts during the last week of the year. Falling to #2 in the new year, it returned to the top spot in the second week of 1980. This made it the first song to top the charts in two separate, consecutive decades. Fun fact: Rupert Holmes never drank a Pina Colada in his life. He just thought the lyric sounded right. Hard to argue that point.
Formed at Rutgers University in 1969, Looking Glass topped the charts in 1972 with the tale of a lovelorn barmaid in a harbor town haunted by lonely sailors. It would be the band's only hit. Lead singer Elliot Lurie would go on to a brief solo career before becoming head of the music department for the 20th Century Fox movie studio in the '80s and '90s.
That means he was the musical supervisor for the soundtrack to Night at the Roxbury . Do with that information what you will. And with respect to "Brandy," see the film Guardians of the Galaxy 2 for Kurt Russell's surprisingly detailed treatise on its lyrical genius.
The title track from the soft-rock duo's breakout 1972 record, "Summer Breeze" is an incurable earworm, a bittersweet twilight dream that captures everything that's right about Lite FM. From an album inhabited by Wrecking Crew vets and studio aces, "Summer Breeze" curls like smoke drifting lazily through an open window.
Toto singer David Paich had never been to Africa. The melody and refrain for this #1 hit from 1982 came to him fully formed as he watched a late night documentary about the plight of the African continent. The lyrics touch on missionary work and describe the landscape, as inspired by images from National Geographic , according to Paich's own recollection. Putting aside its self-aware inauthenticity, "Africa" is an infectious, 8x platinum AOR monster.
Released in the summer of 1978 and reaching up to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, "Reminiscing" was guitarist Graeham Goble 's nostalgic take on the swing band era. Not only is it the only Australian song ever to reach five million radio plays in the U.S., but rumor is that it was among the late John Lennon's favorite songs.
Originally recorded by a country-swamp rocker named Jeffrey Kurtz, Dobie's 1973 cover became his biggest hit, reaching #5 on the charts. Though not explicitly nautical, "Drift Away" captures the distinct sensation of cruising at sunset.
Pablo Cruise may have the most "yachty" of all band names on our list. And "Love Will Find a Way" is sort of the musical equivalent of a ketch skipping along a glassy surface on a crisp summer dawn. Pablo Cruise was formed in San Francisco by expats from various mildly successful bands including Stoneground and It's a Beautiful Day.
And there is a certain slick professionalism to the proceedings here. Of course, Pablo Cruise was never a critic's darling. Homer Simpson once accurately classified them as wuss rock. Still, they perfectly captured the white-folks-vacationing-in-the-Caribbean energy that was all the rage at the time. Love found a way to reach #6 on the Billboard charts, remaining in constant radio rotation during the red-hot summer of '78.
Blues Image emerged from South Florida in the late '60s and served as the house band for Miami's vaunted Thee Image music venue upon its inception in 1968. This gave Blues Image the opportunity to open for ascendant headliners like Cream and the Grateful Dead. The association landed them a contract with Atco Records. Their sophomore record, Open , yielded their one and only hit. The Blues Image reach #4 on the charts in 1970 with a tune about a bunch of men who disappear into the mists of the San Francisco Bay while searching for a hippie utopia.
This #3 hit from 1982 has nothing to do with sailing. But it's infectiously smooth production sheen, layered synth, and dreamy vocals make it a perfect Lite FM gem--one cut from the stone that gave us yacht rock. The "Project" was actually a British duo--studio wizard Alan Parsons and singer Eric Woolfson.
The title track from their sixth studio album is their very best recording. It's also often paired with the instrumental lead-in "Sirius," a song famous in its own right for blaring over unnumbered sporting arena PA systems.
If that tune doesn't make you think of Michael Jordan, you probably didn't live through the late 80s.
Marty Balin was a pioneer of the San Francisco scene, founding Jefferson Airplane in 1965 as the house band for his own legendary club--The Matrix. But in 1971, deeply shaken by the death of Janis Joplin, Balin quit his own band. Four years later, he was invited to rejoin his old mates on the already-launched Jefferson Starship.
He immediately contributed what would become the biggest hit by any Jeffersonian vessel. "Miracles" reached #3 in 1975. Gorgeous, elegant, and open, this is a complete anomaly in the Airplane-Starship catalogue. Listen closely for the NSFW lyrics that have often flown under the radar of some adorably innocent censors.
In 1972, Robert John had a #3 hit with his cover of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." And yet, just before recording "Sad Eyes", the Brooklyn-born singer was employed as a construction worker in Long Branch, New Jersey.
In the summer of '79, he would again climb the charts, this time to the top spot. In fact, the charting success of "Sad Eyes" was part of a cultural backlash against the reign of disco. A wave of pop hits swept on to the charts, including this slick soft rock throwback. With his sweet falsetto and doo wop sensibility, Robert John knocked The Knack's "My Sharona" from its 6-week stand atop the charts.
Before launching headlong into his music career, Walter Egan was one of the very first students to earn a fine arts degree from Georgetown, where he studied sculpture. The subject would figure into his biggest hit, a #8 easy listening smash from 1978.
Featured on his second solo record, "Magnet and Steel" enjoys the presence of some heavy friends. Lindsey Buckingham produced, played guitar and sang backup harmonies with Stevie Nicks. By most accounts, Nicks was also a primary source of inspiration for the song.
Of course, not all yacht rock songs are about sailing on boats. Some are about missing boats. Boz Scaggs looks dejected on the cover of 1977's Silk Degrees , but things turned out pretty well for him. This bouncy #11 hit is a classic rock mainstay today.
The band you hear backing Boz--David Paich, Jeff Porcaro, and David Hungate--would go on to form the nucleus of Toto that very same year. Toto, as it happens, is essentially a recurring theme of the genre. Before rising to massive success in their own right, the members of Toto absolutely permeated rock radio in the 70s, laying down studio tracks with Steely Dan, Seals and Crofts, Michael McDonald, and more.
This smooth-as-silk tune reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its 1978 release. It also reached #6 on the Hot Selling Soul Singles Chart. This is significant only because of Caldwell's complexion. He was a white man signed to TK Records, a label most closely associated with disco acts like KC and the Sunshine Band.
Catering to a largely Black audience, the label went to minor lengths to hide their new singer's identity--dig the silhouetted figure on the cover of his own debut. Suffice it to say, once Caldwell hit the road, audiences discovered he was white. By then, they were already hooked on this perfect groove, which you might also recognize as a sample in 2Pac's posthumous 1998 release, "Do For Love."
Technically, Michael McDonald's "I Keep Forgettin'" is an adaptation of an earlier tune by the same name. In fact, the original "I Keep Forgettin" was conceived by the legendary songwriting duo Leiber and Stoller--best known for iconic staples like "Hound Dog", "Kansas City", "Poison Ivy" and much, much more.
The original recording is by Chuck Jackson and dates to 1962. But McDonald's 1982 take is definitive. If that wasn't already true upon its release and #4 peak position on the charts, certainly Warren G. and Nate Dogg cemented its status when they sampled McDonald on "Regulate". Get the whole history on that brilliant 1994 time capsule here .
Oh and by the way, this tune also features most of the guys from Toto. I know, right? These dudes were everywhere.
To the casual listener, Gerry Rafferty's name should sound vaguely familiar. Indeed, you may remember hearing it uttered in passing in the film Reservoir Dogs . In a key scene, a radio DJ (deadpan comedian Steven Wright) mentions that Rafferty formed half the duo known as Stealers Wheel, which recorded a "Dylanesque, pop, bubble-gum favorite from April of 1974" called "Stuck in the Middle With You." In the same scene, Mr. Blonde (portrayed with sadistic glee by Michael Madsen), slices off a policeman's ear.
At any rate, this is a totally different song, and is actually Rafferty's biggest hit. "Baker Street" is a tune that reeks of late nights, cocaine, and regret. Peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, "Baker Street" soared on the wings of the decade's most memorable sax riff. Raphael Ravenscroft's performance would, in fact, lead to a mainstream revitalization of interest in the saxophone writ large.
There are several interesting things about Silver that have almost nothing to do with this song. First, bass guitarist and singer Tom Leadon was both the brother of Bernie Leadon from the Eagles and a member of Tom Petty's pre-fame band, Mudcrutch. Second, the band's keyboardist was Brent Mydland, who would go on to become the Grateful Dead's longest-tenured piano guy. Third, Silver put out their only record in 1976, and future Saturday Night Live standout Phil Harman designed the cover art.
With all of that said, Arista executives felt that their first album lacked a single so they had country songwriter Rick Giles cook up this ridiculous, gooey concoction that I kind of love. Let's say this one falls into the "so bad it's good" category. Anyway, the song peaked at #16 on the charts. The band broke up in '78, leading Mydland to accept the deadliest job in rock music. He defied the odds by playing with the Grateful Dead until an accidental drug overdose claimed his life in 1990.
I admit, I'm kind of hard-pressed to make Ambrosia interesting. In fact, they were extremely prolific, and earned high regard in early '70s prog rock circles. And in the 1990s, lead singer David Pack would actually be the musical director for both of Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration concerts.
But this Southern California combo is much better known to mainstream audiences for their top-down, hair-blowing-in-the-wind soft rock from the decade in between. Peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980, "Biggest Part of Me" is the group's best-known tune--a seafoamy bit of blue-eyed soul served over a raw bar of smooth jazz and lite funk.
Player released their self-titled debut album in 1977 and immediately shot up to #1 with "Baby Come Back." Bandmates Peter Beckett and J.C. Crowley had both recently broken up with their girlfriends. They channeled their shared angst into this composition, a self-sorry guilty pleasure featuring former Steppenwolf member Wayne Cook on keys.
Granted, Steppenwolf's edgy disposition is nowhere to be found on this record, but it is pretty infectious in a late-summer-night, slightly-buzzed, clenched-fist sort of way. Player endured various lineup changes, but never returned to the heights of their first hit.
Remember that scene in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) where there's this dude in a turtleneck singing a super cloying folks song before John Belushi mercifully snatches away his guitar and smashes it to smithereens? That guy was Stephen Bishop, who was actually in the middle of enjoying considerable success with his 1976 debut album, Careless .
"On and On" was the album's biggest hit, a vaguely Caribbean soft-rocker that reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in '77. The gentle electric riffs you hear there are supplied by guitarist Andrew Gold--who wrote the theme song for the Golden Girls . (I freakin' know you're singing it right now).
The classic tale of boy-meets-girls, bangs-her-in-his-van, and brags-to-his-buds, all with backing from the world famous Wrecking Crew studio team. In 1975, a lot of people super related to it. It sold over a million copies and reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. I can't tell you this song is good. But I also can't tell you I don't like it.
Firefall's lead guitarist Jock Bartley perfectly captures this song's impact, calling the band's biggest hit "a singing version of [a] Hallmark card." That feels right. The second single from Firefall's 1976 self-titled debut was only a regional hit at first. But it was driven all the way to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the strength of radio requests.
As Bartley explained, "Every female between the ages of 18 and 24 wanted to be the woman portrayed in the song, and that caused their boyfriends and spouses to call radio stations and subsequently flood the airwaves with dedications of the song and the sentiment."
Arguably, "Sailing" is the single most emblematic song of the Yacht Rock genre. Its thematic relevance requires no explanation. But it's worth noting that the song is inspired by true events. During a tough time in his youth, Cross was befriended by Al Glasscock. Serving as something of an older brother to Cross, Glasscock would take him sailing.
He recalls in his biggest hit that this was a time of escape from the harsh realities of his real life. In 1979, Cross released his self-titled debut. In early 1980, "Sailing" became a #1 hit, landing Cross a hat-trick of Grammys--including recognition as best new artist. Though Cross and Glasscock would lose touch for more than 20 years, they were reunited during a 1995 episode of The Howard Stern Show . Cross subsequently mailed a copy of his platinum record to Glasscock.
Apparently, this song was perceived as so blatant a ripoff of Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins' "What a Fool Believes" that legal action was actually threatened.
It never formulated. Instead, Robbie Dupree landed a #6 Billboard Hot 100 hit with the lead single from his self-titled 1980 debut. Critics hated it, but it was a dominant presence in the summer of 1980. It even earned Dupree a Grammy nomination for best new artist. He ultimately lost to the man listed just above--Christopher Cross.
You didn't think we'd get through this whole list without an actual Kenny Loggins tune. This song has the perfect pedigree, teaming Loggins and Michael McDonald on a 1979 composition that became the lead single off of Kenny Loggins' Keep the Fire.
Coming on the tail end of the '70s, "This is It" felt positively omnipresent in the '80s. I may be biased here. I grew up in Philadelphia, where a local television show by the same name adopted "This is It" as its theme song. But then, it did also reach #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
And in that spirit...this is it, the end of our list.
But as usual, here's a bonus playlist--an expanded voyage through the breezy, AOR waters of the mid-'70s to early '80s.
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Ready for more?
The epicenter of yacht rock was the sound studios of LA, the time 1978-82, with some scant but notable ripples lapping out both forward and backward for a couple of years. This is the West Coast Sound , or West Coast AOR: the songs are smooth, shallow, melodic, with a high production value, and made for summer – especially if you’re a yuppie at the top of your game. They nearly always have electric piano right off the top, and a characteristic “ Doobie bounce ” rhythm.
Some of the key bands and artists include Steely Dan, Toto, The Doobie Brothers, Airplay, and Christopher Cross. There are a number of good notable protoyacht tracks from the mid-70s, such as England Dan & John Ford Coley’s “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight”; the few tracks from the mid to late 80s that still contain the same basic rhythm and feel are already postyacht.
Yacht rock was the brainchild of Hollywood writer J. D. Ryznar . Ryznar – along with pals Hunter Stair, Dave Lyons, and Steve Huey – created the Yacht Rock series in the early oughts, debuting during the June 2005 Channel 101 film festival in LA.
Ryznar and company pinpointed a certain era and vein of American soft rock – or “adult-oriented rock” – recorded by experienced studio musicians, mostly based in LA, and very much associated with singer-songwriters Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins. The series was a fictionalized account of those musicians, and it ended up becoming the most important look at American soft rock ever made.
After the success of their series, Ryznar and friends popularized yacht rock with a podcast , which eventually led to the format (or bastardizations of such) being picked up on satellite radio and other streaming technologies , as well as DJ’ed in nightclubs everywhere.
It should be noted that yacht rock is not a genre, and was not contemporaneous with the music it describes. Yacht rock is a format – exactly like “classic rock” and other traditional radio formats. And just like classic rock, yacht rock as a designation applied to a set of music of the past is not a fad and will remain a useful categorization for as long as people are interested in that period of music.
Endless lists have been compiled of “yacht rock songs,” some even possibly canonical , but there have been almost no yacht rock album guides. So, we’ve decided to create one.
Not every song on every one of these albums will be 100% marina-certified yacht rock – for instance, there are definite yacht rock tracks on Michael Jackson’s Thriller . Essential yacht rock , even. But that doesn’t mean that “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” are yacht rock. They’re nyacht , and have absolutely no place in a proper “yacht rock” mix. (That fact shouldn’t stop you from playing those songs on your slip in Marina Del Rey, of course.)
Then, there’s also dark yacht , coined and conceived by journalist and actress Katie Puckrik . She felt that Joni Mitchell had “unintentially” created this new format with the title track of her 1975 album, The Hissing of Summer Lawns. We agree, and feel the suburban anguish and yuppie misery is as strong as what might be found in a Don DeLillo novel. To Pickrik’s discovery we add several of our own, including Valerie Carter’s albums of the era. We’ve identified those dark yacht albums in this list as such.
Airplay, Airplay (1980)
Alessi, Alessi (1976), Driftin’ (1978), Long Time Friends (1982)
Peter Allen, Bi-Coastal (1980)
Ambrosia, One Eighty (1980), Road Island (1982)
Paul Anka, Walk A Fine Line (1983)
Patti Austin, Every Home Should Have One (1981)
George Benson, Give Me The Night (1980), The George Benson Collection (1981), In Your Eyes (1983)
The Brecker Brothers, Detente (1980)
Byrne & Barnes, An Eye For An Eye (1981)
Bobby Caldwell, Cat In The Hat (1980)
Valerie Carter, Just A Stone’s Throw Away (1977), Wild Child (1977) (Dark Yacht)
Bill Champlin, Single (1978), Runaway (1981)
Kerry Chater, Love On A Shoestring (1978)
Paul Clark, Drawn To The Light (1982)
Christopher Cross, Christopher Cross (1979), Another Page (1982)
Dane Donohue, Dane Donohue (1978)
The Doobie Brothers, Minute By Minute (1978), One Step Closer (1980)
George Duke, Dream On (1982)
The Dukes, The Dukes Bugatti & Musker (1982)
Robbie Dupree, Robbie Dupree (1980), Street Corner Heroes (1981)
Exile, Don’t Leave Me This Way (1980)
Dwayne Ford, Needless Freaking (1981)
Randy Goodrum, Fool’s Paradise (1982)
Jimmy Hall, Touch You (1980)
Hall & Oates, Voices (1980)
Finis Henderson, Finis (1983)
Amy Holland, Amy Holland (1980)
Michael Jackson, Thriller (1982)
Al Jarreau, Breakin’ Away (1981), Jarreau (1983)
Quincy Jones, The Dude (1981)
Marc Jordan, Mannequin (1978), Blue Desert (1979), A Hole In The Wall (1983)
Karizma, Dream Come True (1983)
Steve Kipner, Knock The Walls Down (1979)
Bill LaBounty, Rain In My Life (1979), Bill LaBounty (1982)
Larsen-Feiten Band, Larsen-Feiten Band (1980)
Nicolette Larson, Nicolette (1978), In The Nick Of Time (1979)
Larry Lee, Marooned (1982)
Kenny Loggins, Celebrate Me Home (1977), Keep The Fire (1979), High Adventure (1982)
Bobby Martin, Bobby Martin (1983)
Maxus, Maxus (1982)
Michael McDonald, If That’s What It Takes (1982)
Sérgio Mendes, Confetti (1984)
Joni Mitchell, The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975), Hejira (1976) (Dark Yacht)
Jaye P. Morgan, Jaye P. Morgan (1976) (Protoyacht)
Nielsen Pearson Band, Nielsen/Pearson (1980), Blind Luck (1983)
John O’Banion, John O’Banion (1981)
Orleans, Forever (1979)
Pablo Cruise, A Place In The Sun (1977), Worlds Away (1978), Reflector (1981)
Pages, Pages (1981)
Jim Photoglo, Fool In Love With You (1981)
Player, Player (1977)
Lionel Richie, Can’t Slow Down (1983)
Lee Ritenour, Rit (1981)
David Roberts, All Dressed Up (1982)
Diana Ross, Ross (1983)
Brenda Russell, Two Eyes (1983)
The Sanford-Townsend Band, Smoke From A Distant Fire (1977)
Boz Scaggs, Silk Degrees (1976), Middle Man (1980)
Tom Scott, Desire (1982)
Alan Sorrenti, L.A. & N.Y. (1981)
Steely Dan, The Royal Scam (1976), Aja (1977), Gold (Expanded Edition) (1978), Gaucho (1980)
Eric Tagg, Dreamwalkin’ (1982)
Tavares, Supercharged (1980)
Toto, Toto (1978), Hydra (1979), Toto IV (1982)
Roger Voudouris, Radio Dream (1979)
Kelly Willard, Blame It On The One I Love (1978)
Stevie Woods, Take Me To Your Heaven (1981)
These albums are great on vinyl for home and hanging out, but for the car – or the yacht – we highly recommend them on what is probably the ideal yacht rock album format: cassette!
Michael Stutz
The Smooth Late Show with Martin Collins 10pm - 1am
Hard Habit To Break Chicago Download 'Hard Habit To Break' on iTunes
27 July 2022, 17:50
By Tom Eames
We can picture it now: lounging on a swish boat as it bobs along the water, sipping cocktails and improving our tan. Oh, and it's the 1980s.
There's only one style of music that goes with this image: Yacht rock.
Also known as the West Coast Sound or adult-oriented rock, it's a style of soft rock from between the late 1970s and early 1980s that featured elements of smooth soul, smooth jazz, R&B, funk, rock and disco.
Although its name has been used in a negative way, to us it's an amazing genre that makes us feel like we're in an episode of Miami Vice wearing shoulder pads and massive sunglasses.
Here are the very best songs that could be placed in this genre:
Player - Baby Come Back
Not the reggae classic of the same name, this 1977 track was Player's biggest hit.
After Player disbanded, singer Peter Beckett joined Australia's Little River Band, and he also wrote 'Twist of Fate' for Olivia Newton-John and 'After All This Time' for Kenny Rogers.
It's tough just choosing one Steely Dan song for this list, but we've gone for this banger.
Used as the theme tune for the 1978 movie of the same name, the song is jazz-rock track, though its lyrics took a disapproving look at the genre as a whole, which was in total contrast to the film's celebration of it. Still, sounds great guys!
Bobby Goldsboro - Summer (The First Time)
A bit of a questionable subject matter, this ballad was about a 17-year-old boy’s first sexual experience with a 31-year-old woman at the beach.
But using a repeating piano riff, 12-string guitar, and an orchestral string arrangement, this song just screams yacht rock and all that is great about it.
Kenny Loggins - Heart To Heart (Official Music Video)
If Michael McDonald is the king of yacht rock, then Kenny Loggins is his trusted advisor and heir to the throne.
This track was co-written with Michael, and also features him on backing vocals. The song is about how most relationships do not stand the test of time, yet some are able to do so.
Nothin' You Can Do About It
You might not remember US band Airplay, but they did have their moment on the yacht.
Consisting of David Foster (who also co-wrote the Kenny Loggins song above), Jay Graydon and the brilliantly-named Tommy Funderburk, this tune was a cover of a Manhattan Transfer song, and was a minor hit in 1981.
Boz Scaggs - Lowdown (Official Audio)
We've moved slightly into smooth jazz territory with this track, which is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
The song was co-written by David Paich, who would go on to form Toto along with the song's keyboardist David Paich, session bassist David Hungate, and drummer Jeff Porcaro.
Steve Winwood - Valerie (Official Video)
This song is probably as far as you can get into pop rock without totally leaving the yacht rock dock.
Legendary singer-songwriter Winwood recorded this gong about a man reminiscing about a lost love he hopes to find again someday.
Eric Prydz later sampled it in 2004 for the house number one track ‘Call on Me’, and presented it to Winwood, who was so impressed he re-recorded the vocals to better fit the track.
Toto - Rosanna (Official HD Video)
We almost picked 'Africa' , but we reckon this tune just about pips it in the yacht rock game.
Written by David Paich, he has said that the song is based on numerous girls he had known.
As a joke, the band members initially played along with the common assumption that the song was based on actress Rosanna Arquette, who was dating Toto keyboard player Steve Porcaro at the time and coincidentally had the same name.
Chicago - Hard To Say I'm Sorry (Official Music Video)
Chicago began moving away from their horn-driven soft rock sound with their early 1980s output, including this synthesizer-filled power ballad.
The album version segued into a more traditional Chicago upbeat track titled ‘Get Away’, but most radio stations at the time opted to fade out the song before it kicked in. Three members of Toto played on the track. Those guys are yacht rock kings!
Michael Jackson - Human Nature (Audio)
A few non-rock artists almost made this list ( George Michael 's 'Careless Whisper' and Spandau Ballet 's 'True' are almost examples, but not quite), yet a big chunk of Thriller heavily relied on the yacht rock sound.
Michael Jackson proved just how popular the genre could get with several songs on the album, but 'Human Nature' is the finest example.
The Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes (Official Music Video)
Possibly THE ultimate yacht rock song on the rock end of the spectrum, and it's that man Michael McDonald.
Written by McDonald and Kenny Loggins, this was one of the few non-disco hits in America in the first eight months of 1979.
The song tells the story of a man who is reunited with an old love interest and attempts to rekindle a romantic relationship with her before discovering that one never really existed.
Michael Jackson once claimed he contributed at least one backing track to the original recording, but was not credited for having done so. This was later denied by the band.
Christopher Cross - Sailing (Official Audio)
We're not putting this in here just because it's called 'Sailing', it's also one of the ultimate examples of the genre.
Christopher Cross reached number one in the US in 1980, and VH1 later named it the most "softsational soft rock" song of all time.
The Boys Of Summer DON HENLEY(1984) OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
Mike Campbell wrote the music to this track while working on Tom Petty’s Southern Accents album, but later gave it to Eagles singer Don Henley, who wrote the lyrics.
The song is about the passing of youth and entering middle age, and of a past relationship. It was covered twice in the early 2000s: as a trance track by DJ Sammy in 2002, and as a pop punk hit by The Ataris in 2003.
England Dan & John Ford Coley - I'd Really Love To See You Tonight.avi
A big hit for this duo in 1976, it showcases the very best of the sock rock/AOR/yacht rock sound that the 1970s could offer.
Dan Seals is the younger brother of Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts fame. Which leads to...
Summer Breeze - Seals & Croft #1 Hit(1972)
Before The Isley Brothers recorded a slick cover, 'Summer Breeze' was an irresistible folk pop song by Seals & Crofts.
While mostly a folk song, its summer vibes and gorgeous melody make for a perfect yacht rock number.
Ride Like The Wind Promo Video 1980 Christopher Cross
If Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins are in charge of the yacht rock ship, then Christopher Cross has to be captain, right? Cabin boy? Something anyway.
The singer was arguably the biggest success story of the relatively short-lived yacht rock era, and this one still sounds incredible.
The eagles - I can't tell you why (AUDIO VINYL)
Many Eagles tunes could be classed as yacht rock, but we reckon their finest example comes from this track from their The Long Run album in 1979.
Don Henley described the song as "straight Al Green", and that Glenn Frey, an R&B fan, was responsible for the R&B feel of the song. Frey said to co-writer Timothy B Schmit: "You could sing like Smokey Robinson . Let’s not do a Richie Furay, Poco-sounding song. Let’s do an R&B song."
Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street (Official Video)
Gerry Rafferty probably didn't realise he was creating one of the greatest yacht rock songs of all time when he wrote this, but boy did he.
With the right blend of rock and pop and the use of the iconic saxophone solo, you can't not call this yacht rock at its finest.
Michael McDonald - Sweet Freedom (1986)
If you wanted to name the king of yacht rock, you'd have to pick Michael McDonald . He could sing the phone book and it would sound silky smooth.
Possibly his greatest solo tune, it was used in the movie Running Scared , and its music video featured actors Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines.
Daryl Hall & John Oates - I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) (Official Video)
This duo knew how to make catchy hit after catchy hit. This R&B-tinged pop tune was co-written with Sara Allen (also the influence for their song 'Sara Smile').
John Oates has said that the song is actually about the music business. "That song is really about not being pushed around by big labels, managers, and agents and being told what to do, and being true to yourself creatively."
Not only was the song sampled in De La Soul's 'Say No Go' and Simply Red 's 'Home', but Michael Jackson also admitted that he lifted the bass line for 'Billie Jean'!
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Published April 28, 2023
Yacht rock is a subgenre of soft rock. It became prevalent in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and while it’s no longer as popular now, it still continues to be loved by fans today.
It’s best known for the jazzy arrangements, sophisticated harmonies, and lyrics that would often encapsulate the laid-back lifestyle of yacht owners. Needless to say, yacht rock targets a specific niche, and even those outside of that niche can enjoy the songs the genre offers.
If that sounds like you, then you’re in luck. In this post, we’ve compiled a list of the best yacht rock songs of all time, from deep cuts to classics that came out from 1972 to 1990.
While yacht rock is often associated with the late 1970s and early 1980s, there have been some recent songs that were able to capture the yacht rock vibe or sound. They’re now quite popular among fans of this genre. Here’s a yacht rock songs list of these songs:
Yacht rock has proven to be a timeless genre that has, for decades, captured the hearts of not only yacht enjoyers and owners, but also music lovers in general. Whether you’re a newcomer to yacht rock or a long-time enthusiast of the genre, the top yacht rock songs in this list will offer a glimpse into the melodic, smooth sound that defines the yacht genre.
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July is here and it’s prime season for Yacht Rock Songs. Time to sit back on your yacht, or ummm dingy, and listen to the smooth sounds from the mid-70s to the mid-80s, with temp hopefully right there as well. The seagulls cry the white caps slap against the fiberglass hull, and you hold your glass of buttery chard oh so gently while inspecting those bikinis. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s yachtta do it!
According to AllMusic , Yacht Rock is a broad music style and aesthetic commonly associated with Soft Rock, one of the most commercially successful genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. Drawing on sources such as Smooth Soul, Smooth Jazz, R&B, and Disco. Meanwhile, common stylistic traits include high-quality production, clean vocals, and a focus on light, catchy melodies. [6] The term yacht rock was coined in 2005 by the makers of the online video series Yacht Rock , who connected the music with the popular SoCal leisure activity of boating. It was considered a pejorative term by some music critics.
Furthermore, In 2014, AllMusic ‘s Matt Colier identified the “ key defining rules of the genre :”
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Yacht Rock Memes (@yacht_rock_memes)
This is 100 percent my own opinion. Top Ten does not leave a lot of room for error. I consider myself a pretty solid Yacht Rocker, and quite the musicologist. However, in the rare case you feel I make a mistake and leave off one of your Yacht Rock favs, have my people call your people and we’ll get together off the coast of Island Beach State Park for some Sangria and Cheese, and a little Yacht Rock, of course!
By The By, Lovey, if you’re looking for the perfect Yacht Rock swag to rock this summer, check this article out!
Plus if you need a place to dry dock and yacht rock, here’s a spot that Yachts every Sunday all summer long!
The late great former front man of Stealers Wheel, had later solo success with this and a few other songs. However, there is no way Gerry could have known his Saxophone anthem balancing life and love while living in London, would go on to become the Stairway To Heaven of Yacht Rock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU6w56epBdc
If Baker Street is the Stairway of Yacht Rock, this most certainly is the Layla. A 1979 masterpiece about a boy and his sailboat that Cross has said was inspired by sailing with his older friend. Ridiculed throughout the 80s as a symbol of 70’s schmaltz, it has found life and love as a Yacht Rock staple for a whole new generation.
The oldest of our Top 10, this song was released in the late summer of 1972, and immediately became a top 10 hit on the Billboard charts. It screams Summer, and beachy vibes, and of course the smell of Jasmine and the line “July is dressed up and playing her tune” cannot be denied as all time Yacht Rock.
The song most people who know nothing about Yacht Rock, most closely associate Yacht Rock with. Now that’s fine, and yes it is an all time great Yachtty classic, but think of it as your gateway drug to so much more: Next you’ll be wearing a captains hat and a Hawaiian shirt.
The New England Patriots of Yacht Rock songs right here my friends. Too much of a good thing can be dangerous. Great band, great song, but it’s flown way too far over the radar for way too long. Still, It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from singing along.
A few years before they were blessing the rains down in Africa, the boys from Toto were much sought after studio musicians. They helped good ol Boz on this 1977 super hit, that has gone on to become the go to song for doing Green Tea shots on the deck before the Saturday Night fireworks kick in. And I quote: “Whoa Whoa Whoaoooo ooooo oooooo”
Old George really came through for the soft rock/jazz world with this 1976 classic. Plus it’s the perfect Yacht Rock song for some early morning Mimosas and below deck nookie.
Kind of a toss up here between FM and Do It Again, but this has more of a party feel so I’m going with the kicking off of the high heel sneakers, and the grapefruit wine. Hey don’t knock it til ya try it on the bow at sunset, baby!
You can have heartache, just as long as it has a good groove and doesn’t bring the party down. Just ask Hall and Oates, they do it here to a tee. Talk to Isaac about your problems buddy, or whatever your yacht’s bartender is named.
What can I say. The man is the muse of a genre. With apologies to great Yacht Rock songs like Brandy, What A Fool Believes, Couldn’t Get It Right, and just about the entire catalog from Pablo Cruise, Ride Like The Wind is just captivating when you listen to it out on the bay doing 12 knots. Plus, at least we get our daily dose of Michael McDonald in!
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Louis Armstrong said, “If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.” Duke Ellington said, “There are simply two kinds of music: good music and the other kind.” Christopher Cross said, “If you get caught between the moon and New York City, the best that you can do is fall in love.”
What do these pieces of wisdom add up to? Music, like love, doesn’t follow rules. Musicians as diverse as Armstrong, Ellington and Cross don’t want to be boxed in by genre. They want to write, record and perform and not spend time deciding if they play bebop or hard bop, blues or Southern rock, funk or disco.
But as temperatures heat up and people think of sailing away to find serenity, yacht rock playlists start to float in on the breeze. And that means drawing boundaries with enough latitude that artists don’t object to being boxed in and still foster playlists with a sense of meaning, a sense of continuity and depth. Peaks and valleys must be smartly balanced against the total annihilation of a common aesthetic. (Yes, despite a fascination with sailing and pina coladas, yacht rock can be taken seriously!)
And so, much to Armstrong’s chagrin, we have to ask, “What is yacht rock?” If it seems obvious, take a look at Spotify’s recent “Yacht Rock” playlist . Spotify is a global streaming leader with some 350 million monthly users, an army of music experts and cutting edge artificial intelligence, and yet the company filled its playlist with songs such as Tears for Fears ’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me,” Van Morrison ’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and Bruce Hornsby ’s “The Way It Is.”
If somebody wants to create and enjoy a stack of songs that runs from tunes by the J. Geils Band , to the Police , to Bad Company , to Talking Heads (yup, the company has all these artists on its playlist and even included Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters”), they should do that with gusto! It sounds like an evening full of classic jams and fun left turns so cheers to the endeavor. But if a major player in the music business wants to do that and call it yacht rock, we need to take a step back and consider what is and isn’t yacht.
We know breezes, islands, keys, capes, cool nights, crazy love and reminiscing help define the yacht aesthetic (see works by Seals & Crofts , Jay Fergeson, Bertie Higgins, Rupert Holmes, Paul Davis, Poco , and Little River Band ). But let’s get beyond the captain’s caps and map the waters of this perfect-for-summer style.
Watch Bertie Higgins' Video for 'Key Largo'
Before 2005, people generally placed Toto ’s “ Africa ” and Holmes’ “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” in the soft rock genre. Maybe if they were getting fancy, they’d call them AM Gold. But in 2005, the online video series Yacht Rock debuted. It fictionalized the careers of soft rock artists of the late ’70s and early ’80s. The cheeky show capitalized on the building renaissance of artists such as Steely Dan and Michael McDonald , who embraced the silliness of the series.
“When it came on I remember watching it pretty avidly,” McDonald admitted in 2018 . “My kids got a huge kick out of it. We would laugh about the characterizations of the people involved. At this point it’s a genre of its own. You’re either yacht or you're not.”
He might be right that you’re either yacht or you’re not. But calling it a genre doesn’t quite work (more on that in a minute).
Listen to the Doobie Brothers' 'Minute By Minute'
By the late ’60s, rock ‘n’ roll had become “art.” The Beatles started as simple teen heartthrobs covering early rock ‘n’ roll, but graduated to the supreme weirdness of the White Album . Chuck Berry gave birth to the Rolling Stones who gave birth to Led Zeppelin and the gonzo bombast of “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You.” And all sorts of acts went wild from the Grateful Dead , to Pink Floyd , to Frank Zappa and beyond. The sunshine of ’70s AM Gold came as a reaction to these wonderful excesses. Singer-songwriters aimed to take rock and pop back to the simple pleasures of tight, light tunes such as Beach Boys ’ classics, Motown hits and Brill Building-crafted songs.
Hippies looking for revolution and Gen X-ers on the hunt for rage, irony and sharp edges bristled at the genuine lyrics of tenderness and heartbreak neatly packaged in finely-crafted Top 40. Where the stars and fans of '60s and ’90s rock wanted arty and experimental music, anger and angst, yacht took listeners on a voyage powered by pure earnestness: think of the sincere and intense conviction of Dave Mason’s “We Just Disagree,” Captain & Tennille's "Love Will Keep Us Together," and “Love is the Answer” by England Dan & John Ford Coley.
(Which is why placing the Police or Talking Heads on any yacht mix doesn’t work.)
Yacht rock embodies the final charge of unbridled, heartfelt pop.
“I think these songs remain so popular because they are unabashedly pop,” Nicholas Niespodziani, leader of the hugely successful tribute band Yacht Rock Revue , explains to UCR. “They’re not self conscious. You couldn’t write a song like ‘Africa’ now. What are they even singing about? Who knows? But it’s fun to sing.”
Watch Captain & Tennille's Video for 'Love Will Keep Us Together'
Yacht rock doesn’t just have an earnestness to its lyrics, the sax solos come with the same level of sincerity.
If the style was the last gasp of unadulterated pop, it was also the dying breath of jazz’s influence on rock. Jazz rock started in the ’60s with Zappa, Chicago , Santana and Blood, Sweat & Tears , but slowly simple drums and growling guitars stomped horn lines and rhythmic shifts into the ground. However, yacht rock features echoes of swingin’ saxophones, big band horns and Miles Davis ’ fusion projects.
Yacht rock is very pop, but legitimate musical talents made those hooks. Chuck Mangione logged time in jazz giant Art Blakey’s band then took what he learned and crushed complex harmonic ideas into the pop nugget “Feels So Good,” which is basically a Latin-bebop-disco-classical suite. (If you dig “Feels So Good,” dig deeper and groove to smooth jazz mini-symphony “Give It All You Got.”)
Nearly every classic from the style features either an epic sax solo or dazzling guitar part. For horn glory, go spin Little River Band’s “Reminiscing,” Gino Vannelli’s “I Just Wanna Stop” or Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers ’ “Just the Two of Us." For six-string wizardry as astounding as anything Jimmy Page came up with (and much more economical), try Atlantic Rhythm Section’s “So Into You,” Pablo Cruise’s “Love Will Find a Way” and pretty much every Steely Dan cut.
(Which is why placing Tears for Fears’ “ Everybody Wants to Rule the World ” and Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me” on any yacht mix doesn’t work).
Watch the Little River Band's Video for 'Reminiscing'
Being a style, a feeling, an aesthetic, a vibe means that yacht rock can pull a song from a wide variety of genres into its orbit. It also means that it’s not just a catalog of hits from bearded white dudes. Yes, Kenny Loggins , McDonald and both Seals and Crofts helped define yacht rock. But quintessential songs from the style came from the women and artists of color, soul singers, folk heroes and Nashville aces.
For every Loggins' tune in a captain’s hat, there’s a Carly Simon track dressed up as your cruise director. Yes, there's Steely Dan's jazz influence, but also Crosby, Stills & Nash 's folk legacy (“Southern Cross” remains definitively of the style). Yacht rock playlists should also be littered with appropriate R&B gems, such as the Raydio’s “You Can’t Change That” (which features Ray Parker Jr.!), Hall & Oates ’ “Sara Smile” and Kool & the Gang’s “Too Hot.” Likewise, country acts of the era tried to go Top 40 while attempting to retain some twang and managed to make Love Boat music (see Juice Newton’s “Angel of the Morning,” Eddie Rabbit’s “I Love a Rainy Night,” Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers ’ “Islands in the Stream”).
It’s hard to tell if the Commodores’ “Sail On” is pop or R&B, harder still to know if George Benson’s “Give Me the Night” is pop, R&B or jazz. But they both feel yacht.
(Which is why Santana can do psychedelic Latin music and can do yacht on “Hold On,” and why the Pointer Sisters can do new wave disco with “Neutron Dance” and yacht with “Slow Hand.")
Spotify was right to think about diversity when making its playlist, though the company got the type of diversity wrong. Yacht has some pretty specific sonic parameters, but has no demographic restrictions when it comes to the kind of artists contributing to the style’s catalog. That means when you hit the high seas of yacht, you don’t need to be afraid to fight for your favorites to be included, just please don’t have one of those favorites be “Ghostbusters.”
We began talking about drawing boundaries with enough latitude that artists don’t object to being boxed in. The wide latitude yacht rock affords matters because music comes to define eras and outlines cultural trends (remember that yacht came in reaction to art rock and that says a lot about the swing from the late '60s to the early '80s). Calling Christopher Cross soft rock might feel right, but it doesn't tell us much about where he was coming from and what he was trying to accomplish. Calling Cross yacht rock, now that we know it's not a pejorative, illuminates his aesthetic.
Cross came out of the Texas rock scene that produced blues aces the Vaughan Brothers and guitar shredder Eric Johnson (who plays on a lot of his albums). He loves Joni Mitchell and that shows in his craft. He's jazzy but not jazz (see those horns and guitar on "Ride Like the Wind") with a vibe that's completely yacht -- developed from the scene that took '60s pop, updated it and sheltered it from the trends of punk, metal, new wave and hip hop. The same can be said for Loggins, McDonald, Simon, Lionel Ritchie and so many others.
Spotify needs to tweak its algorithm so it gets this right. Or, better yet, connect with the genre-crossing vibe that makes yacht so unique.
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5. Escape (The Piña Colada Song) - Rupert Holmes. The second tune in our top ten that found its way onto one of the three Guardians of the Galaxy soundtracks—as well as its original LP release—comes from yacht rock icon Rupert Holmes. Escape (The Piña Colada Song) tells a story that feels more comical today than it might have in the ...
1983 Yacht Rock album releases. A list of all music releases for 1983. Find the best music on Album of the Year.
20. "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)," Looking Glass (1972) Like "Summer Breeze" (found later in our list of Top 50 Yacht Rock Songs), Looking Glass' tale of an alluring barmaid in a busy harbor town ...
94. YAH-MO BE THERE [James Ingram with Michael McDonald; 1983; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #19] ... who will be even more involved with another Yacht Rock classic that you'll find ...
Yacht Rock Definitive PlaylistJazz has Smooth Jazz. Rock and Roll has Yacht Rock. It's nostalgic music, if you are of the right demographic, or like to pretend you are. The phrase was started by J.D. Ryznar, who created a series of Yacht Rock videos in 2005/6. A mix of 70s and 80s 'Adult Contemporary' pop,… Read More
Putting aside its self-aware inauthenticity, "Africa" is an infectious, 8x platinum AOR monster. 5. "Reminiscing" by Little River Band. Released in the summer of 1978 and reaching up to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, "Reminiscing" was guitarist Graeham Goble 's nostalgic take on the swing band era.
Stream Full Concert with Passport: https://to.pbs.org/yachtrockA sneak peek of this nostalgic musical journey through the late 70s and early 80s, featuring h...
And just like classic rock, yacht rock as a designation applied to a set of music of the past is not a fad and will remain a useful categorization for as long as people are interested in that period of music. ... (1980), Blind Luck (1983) John O'Banion, John O'Banion (1981) Orleans, Forever (1979) Pablo Cruise, A Place In The Sun (1977 ...
Christopher Cross. 14 June 1980. Yacht Rock Adult Contemporary Soft Rock. Singer-Songwriter Sophisti-Pop. 3.52 / 406 8. Through the Fire / La flamme. Chaka Khan. 1984. Contemporary R&B Pop Soul Yacht Rock.
Sailing: The Best Of Yacht Rock is the ultimate #YachtRock playlist of the smoothest classic rock songs ever written.
The 30 best yacht rock songs of the 80s (in my opinion) from least favourite to most. George Benson - Lady Love Me (Official Video) Remastered Audio HD. Happy Charlie. 3:05.
Seals & Crofts - 'Summer Breeze'. Summer Breeze - Seals & Croft #1 Hit (1972) Before The Isley Brothers recorded a slick cover, 'Summer Breeze' was an irresistible folk pop song by Seals & Crofts. While mostly a folk song, its summer vibes and gorgeous melody make for a perfect yacht rock number.
Playlist · Yacht Rock - 100 Best Ever - Top Yacht Rock Songs · 113 songs · 2.2K likes.
The greatest Yacht Rock albums of the 1980s, as voted by RYM/Sonemic users. sign in. RYM. new music genres. charts. lists community. Close. ... 23 March 1983 Album. Pop Soul Jazz Pop Yacht Rock. Boogie Funk. 218 Ratings 10 Reviews 3.43 Average Cat in the Hat. Bobby Caldwell. 3.42 188 ...
"Baby Come Back" by Player (1983) "Say You Love Me" by Fleetwood Mac (1983) "All Out of Love" by Air Supply (1984) ... 10 Yacht Rock-Inspired Songs from the 2010s and Beyond. While yacht rock is often associated with the late 1970s and early 1980s, there have been some recent songs that were able to capture the yacht rock vibe or ...
The Ultimate Collection of Yacht Rock/70's and 80's hits. This is the ultimate playlist of favorites from the 70's, 80's and in between. No fillers or obscure artists you've never heard of. Only the greatest rock, soft-rock and pop hits.
Ship's about to go down!Some songs have been muted to comply with copyright claims._____I'm an open format DJ from Toronto Canada.All of ...
According to AllMusic, Yacht Rock is a broad music style and aesthetic commonly associated with Soft Rock, one of the most commercially successful genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s.Drawing on sources such as Smooth Soul, Smooth Jazz, R&B, and Disco. Meanwhile, common stylistic traits include high-quality production, clean vocals, and a focus on light, catchy melodies.
Sailing the Seas of Yacht Rock. Jed Gottlieb Published: July 4, 2021. UCR. Louis Armstrong said, "If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.". Duke Ellington said, "There are ...
Yacht Rock top charts and more of your top songs of the year 2023 including 'Right Down the Line", "Everywhere", "On the Beach", "Summer Breeze", "Reelin' in...
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Founded in 2014, the Yacht Rock Music channel is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of the smoothest rock that ever existed. Yacht Rock Music features tracks and videos from Michael ...
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