Here is a list of 100 “top” soft rock songs of the 1970s.
I know about 80-85% of the songs. I like 25-40% of the songs. Are any of these yacht rock (by any definition)?
I’d have to say Joel does not make the cut. One of the defining things of those groups is being LA-centric. Joel is definably NYC.
Nothing wrong with that. But it’s a diffrrrnt cohort.
I don’t see any songs on that list which scream “yacht rock” to me, but what I also note is that the list is specifically “Top 100 Rock & Roll Song Chart for 1970,” not the 1970s as a decade, and not “soft rock” in particular – bear in mind that yacht rock is really a late '70s/early '80s thing.
Fair enough. I need to read more closely, had searched for 1970s.
I wouldn’t for two reasons. One is that 1970 is too early; the soft rock 70s began closer to 1973.
Two is that soft rock was mostly an FM phenomenon. Some of the songs got air play on top 40 AM radio, of course, but if you’re old enough you remember that it was originally called AOR - album oriented radio. FM stations played albums, or at least songs off albums that weren’t required to have been released as singles. That distinction is completely lost today. Oldies are oldies, whether they were singles or not. But “Stairway to Heaven” was the most-played song of the 70s despite its never having an official single release, all because of FM play.
Yacht rock rides the middle ground; most of the songs were hits and therefore released as singles. But if an artist gets identified with the genre, lots of their songs will be played even if only album cuts.
The song they mention in the web series is “Human Nature”, written by Steve Porcaro from Toto.
Looking at the 1979 list, I’d classify these as yacht rock:
- Escape (The Pina Colada Song) - Rupert Holmes
- What a Fool Believes (Doobie Brothers)
- Wait For Me (Hall & Oates)
- Lonesome Loser (Little River Band)
- Lady (Little River Band)
From the 1980 list:
- Kiss On My List (Hall & Oates)
- Sailing (Christopher Cross)
- Ride Like the Wind (Christopher Cross)
- Him (Rupert Holmes)
- Real Love (Doobie Brothers)
- I’m Alright (Kenny Loggins)
- Never Be the Same (Christopher Cross)
As I noted earlier, I don’t think of Steely Dan as being yacht rock, but for those who do, add “Hey Nineteen” to the 1980 list.
Because I’m avoiding doing work, I took a look at the '78 list, too:
- Hold the Line (Toto)
- Reminiscing (Little River Band)
- Whenever I Call You Friend (Kenny Loggins)
- Love Will Find a Way (Pablo Cruise)
- Right Down the Line (Gerry Rafferty)
- Fool (If You Think It’s Over) (Chris Rea)
Two others to note:
- 10cc’s “Dreadlock Holiday” is on the 1978 top 100 list; the SiriusXM channel plays that song a lot, but I’m not sure if I’d personally classify it as yacht rock.
- Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street” is also on the top 100 list, but I think that it’s darker and moodier than most yacht rock, so I wouldn’t classify it as such.
Ahhh, gotcha. Yeah, as a one-off yacht rock song, by an artist who wouldn’t generally be classified as “yachty,” I can buy that.
The Sirius station plays Steely Dan’s Dirty Work and Any Major Dude Will Tell You a lot as well.
“FM (No Static At All)” features in the Yacht Rock webisode about the Eagles’ rivalry with Steely Dan.
i’ve always thought toto’s rosanna was the definition of easy listening …
Two things:
The story behind how that song came to be is great.
That song just shows how great Cross is. Its just a pun-filled lark play on of a brief bit Fey made up…but its quite touching.
Closest would be Rundgrens “We Gotta Get You a Woman”…
The real question is what Beach Boys songs are Yacht Rock?? ‘Kokomo’ for sure…
(My emphasis)
It kinda sounds like you are. You don’t have to listen to it; you’re allowed to not to like a genre of music. Just say “Nope, not for me” and move on.
I’m really not. You are reading too much into a conversational thread. I like the Eagles and the Beach Boys. But what I’ve heard on Yacht Rock radio doesn’t make me want to listen to more, which is okay. A chacun son gout.
In fact, having learned more about Christopher Cross, I kind of like the idea of him getting more exposure even though I don’t care for his music.
If I do have a problem, it’s not that there wasn’t a lot of good 70s music (there was indeed, some of it soft rock). It isn’t that there is a radio channel people enjoy (great). But “yacht rock” has a lot of arbitrary definitions listed in the Wikipedia article. Even the strong advocates here do not agree. or dislike that article, or say they have not heard the names of the proponents.
There was one song I heard by a group called the Atlanta something. It was very tight, professional, smooth. I liked the first verse - this, I thought, will be pretty good. But the rest of it sounded the same and ultimately I found it a bit dull. It’s like music that has been sanded until it is smooth and perfect except all of the character is gone.
You have literally gone into two separate threads, on top of creating this one, to complain about yacht rock. Trust me, we get it.
Me. And I love yacht rock. So…here’s looking at you kid.
When people mentioned MJ I did think that Human Nature was the yacht rockiest of the songs from Thriller even not know who it was written by. The rest of the album definitely doesn’t count.
Some of his pre-thriller stuff I wouldn’t be surprised to hear on a station that specialized in the broader sort of light rock that yacht rock is part of, but not so for the non-human nature Thriller tracks and everything afterward.
Sometimes, when a poster doesn’t like a movie or a band or a book, other posters who do get a little miffed and jump in to say “Well, don’t watch/listen to/read it, then”, with the subtext “Don’t criticize something I like”. I promise, that’s not what I’m doing (although that’s what my last post sounds like, I concede).
But I don’t get why you keep listening to a genre that doesn’t appeal to you. You’ve made some value judgments about YR, in this thread. Which is completely okay and appropriate; you’re the arbiter of your own taste, and your opinions are as valid as anyone else’s. Unless you think you’ll find a few roses amongst the thorns, which you might.
As to your original OP, I listen to yacht rock occasionally, mainly out of nostalgia for the music of my youth. Little River Band’s “Lady”, for example, instantly takes me back to middle school and my first big crush on a girl. I also happen to like the sound of Christopher Cross and Gerry Rafferty’s voices. YMM (and evidently does) V.