# Why no female artists in the Yacht Rock genre? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [May 28, 2025, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920 "2025-05-28T20:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/41 "2025-05-29T14:21:49Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > Nicolette Larson - Lotta Love Written by Neil Young, not a Yacht rocker. Unless you count Heart of Gold. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/42 "2025-05-29T15:33:13Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Wikipedia lists the artists who are considered to be part of the Yacht Rock genre, and many of them are women: While I generally like Wikipedia, it is, of course, member-created – and, thus, prone to opinion, particularly on less-factual lists like that one. Several of the female artists (and bands led by female singers) feel like serious stretches IMO, as far as actually being yacht rock, versus “had a lighter song that was a hit in the late '70s and early '80s,” including: - Blondie (genre-spanning, but really not yacht rock, IMO) - Terri Gibbs (country, with a couple of crossover pop hits) - Chaka Khan (funk, soul, R&B) - Diana Ross (R&B, pop) If one has a very “big tent” definition of what is and isn’t in the format, sure, include them, I guess? ---
**Author:** ![Tokushizu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@Tokushizu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tokushizu)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/43 "2025-05-29T16:01:44Z")
I see some artists listed here which IMHO are veering into R&B territory. If they can be considered “yacht rock”, then MAYBE Anita Baker would be allowed as well? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/44 "2025-05-29T16:07:47Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > If one has a very “big tent” definition of what is and isn’t in the format, sure, include them, I guess? So go through that list and tell us which ones are Yacht Rock and which ones aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/45 "2025-05-29T16:12:34Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > So go through that list and tell us which ones are Yacht Rock and which ones aren’t. As far as the female artists: I already did tell you which aren’t, in the post to which you replied. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/46 "2025-05-29T16:23:28Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > So go through that list and tell us which ones … aren’t. Jefferson Starship! You can’t lump a whole band with multiple albums of varying degrees of rockingness on the basis of Miracles. Freedom At Point Zero is not YR. Minnie Ripperton! Geeze. Bread, America, is just soft rock. If “The “exhilaration of escape” is “essential to yacht”,” then a lot of bands, including Doobie Brothers (and Steely Dan, to my chagrin 🙂 ) don’t fit. But I think that is in contradiction to the rest of the Wikipedia article and list, so it should be ignored. I guess that’s how they fit Steve Miller Band in there (Take the Money And Run, Jet Airliner), but he doesn’t fit. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/47 "2025-05-29T16:25:16Z")
I nominate Tina Turner for ‘The Best’. Oh and that one off _Mad Max_ ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/48 "2025-05-29T16:58:29Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I already did tell you which aren’t So which ones are? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/49 "2025-05-29T17:03:59Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The modern extension of the few artists who were in the original definition [of Yacht Rock] makes no sense from any possible viewpoint, though. Maybe ask the music director at SiriusXM what criteria they use. Sirius XM once had a very tight set of criteria on their Yacht Rock playlist. They were _gung ho_ on the “_gotta have a nautical tie-in!_” angle, which left their YR playlist wanting. I doubt they spun through even 75 songs back then (~2019-20). Since then, they’ve opened up the floodgates, though nowhere near as much as @Stranger_On_A_Train 's post 37 describes. There is still a rough temporal limit of circa 1975-1985 (though they played Michael McDonald’s “Sweet Freedom” yesterday, a 1986 single release). But the main additions to Sirius XM’s Yacht Rock format have not been those of recency, but of genre – there’s an appreciable amount of soul and R&B on their Yacht Rock channel now. Additonally, they’ve got many channels that are online-only – **[among which is a “Yacht Soul” channel](https://sxm.app.link/BlogYachtRock-YachtSoul)**. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/50 "2025-05-29T18:21:17Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Red Hot Chili Peppers There is no universe in which RHCP are “yacht rock” ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/51 "2025-05-29T19:05:34Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > She’s probably more in the “smooth jazz” category, but I can definitely imagine a Sade album being played on a yacht. SiriusXM’s YR channel played one of their\*\* song’s yesterday. \*\* _Counterintuitively, “Sade” is the name of Sade Adu’s band. Ms. Adu also is (or was) commonly referred to mononymously as “Sade”._ ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/52 "2025-05-29T19:24:51Z")
Speaking of Yacht Soul, perhaps the most undeniably Yacht Rock entry featuring a female vocalist is Just the Two of Us, although the woman is not the lead vocalist. I think the backing vocalist is what makes it Yacht Rock thematically since it turns it a breezy and confident journey, instead of a man trying too hard to reassure someone that everything will be alright. It’s quite an eclectic song also, having characteristics of straight-up soft rock/r+b, yacht, and 80s jazz pop. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/53 "2025-05-29T19:27:34Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > > > Red Hot Chili Peppers > > There is no universe in which RHCP are “yacht rock” What **Stranger** was describing in post 37 sounds to me like what’s called an “_at-work station_” in the local terrestrial radio market – meaning a radio station that can play in an office or shop and appeal to a wide variety of people. Yacht Rock songs (small tent) might make up only 5% of an at-work station’s playlist in 2025. The acts that **Stranger** specifically name-checks will get spun from time to time in the at-work format. Heart’s “Who Will You Run To?” Sure. Glenn Frey’s “One You Love”? Don Henley’s “Sunset Grill”? Yep and yep. Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Under The Bridge”? Of course. Can’t speak for any Weezer, though. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/54 "2025-05-29T20:07:05Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > So which ones are? If one defines “yacht rock” mostly by the artists which were originally post-hoc identified with it (e.g., Toto, Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross, etc.), and by which artists most people who are familiar with, and enjoy, the genre/format would agree qualify as “yacht rock,” then, frankly, the answer is “none” – there simply aren’t any female artists in that inner-circle grouping. But, looking again at that Wikipedia list, because I’m bored this afternoon, and considering the other female artists are in that list (beyond the four I’ve already argued are _not_), I could argue that at least _certain songs_ by these artists feel like they are a reasonably good fit with a somewhat-broader definition of the format: - Patti Austin: really R&B, but her duet with James Ingram, “Baby, Come to Me,” could fit - Captain & Tennille: Daryl Dragon’s captain’s hat does not automatically make them “yacht rock,” and they were really just pop, but “Do That To Me One More Time” could fit - Rita Coolidge: Mostly pop and country, but “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher” might qualify - Fleetwood Mac: As someone else above noted, some of Christine McVie’s songs (“You Make Loving Fun,” maybe “Think About Me” and “Little Lies”) could fit - Amy Holland: I didn’t recognize her name, but she’s been married to Michael McDonald for 42 years, and he has apparently produced at least some of her stuff. “[How Do I Survive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSyHmjEp0FM)” (her first hit) sounds (not surprisingly) like a McDonald song with a female singer, so sure. - Olivia Newton-John: started out country, then went pop, but as already noted, “Magic” (as well as, maybe “A Little More Love,” which had Toto’s Steve Lukather and David Hungate on guitar and bass) are at least a bit yacht-y. - Nicollette Larson: @Just_Asking_Questions disqualified her hit, “Lotta Love,” because it was written by Neil Young, but I feel like [her version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80PTNnrwUO8) is considerably different [from his](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5mLgLI4814), as far as orchestration and sound (Young’s is more instrumentally sparse and downbeat), and could qualify. She also sang on Christopher Cross’s “Say You’ll Be Mine,” and The Dirt Band’s “Make a Little Magic,” both of which feel yachty to me. - Carly Simon: her hits in the early-mid '70s would be better-classified as singer-songwriter soft rock, but her songs from a few years later on, like “You Belong to Me” (later covered by Michael McDonald and the Doobie Brothers) and “Jesse” have a feel and instrumentation which feel yachty. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/55 "2025-05-29T20:10:47Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Blondie (genre-spanning, but really not yacht rock, IMO) Blondie are as far apart from yacht rock as Barry Manilow from Slayer. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/56 "2025-05-29T20:13:22Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Blondie are as far apart from yacht rock as Barry Manilow from Slayer. I mean, Blondie made music across a lot of genres: rock, punk, new wave, disco, rap, reggae, etc., but I can’t think of any of their well-known songs which would qualify as yacht rock. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/57 "2025-05-29T20:38:42Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I mean, Blondie made music across a lot of genres: rock, punk, new wave, disco, rap, reggae, etc., but I can’t think of any of their well-known songs which would qualify as yacht rock. Yeah, they maybe had the broadest range of all bands in the new wave/punk world (except for the Clash, who had songs in all the genres you mentioned and additionally in rockabilly, ska, gospel, folk, funk and dub), but they never were easy listening which IMHO also is a signifier of yacht rock (that’s why I also cringe at including Steely Dan in the genre, they were much too clever, sophisticated and sarcastic). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/58 "2025-05-29T21:14:47Z")
Would amy of the following qualify? Sheena Easton Katrina and the Waves The Bangles ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/59 "2025-05-29T21:30:33Z")
I don’t think so. They’re all pretty much just 1980s pop (with the Bangles rocking a little harder than the others); IMO, they lack some of the prototypical elements of yacht rock, particularly the “smooth,” highly-produced sound, and the jazz and/or R&B influence. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/60 "2025-05-29T21:50:55Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > If one defines “yacht rock” mostly by the artists which were originally post-hoc identified with it ALL artists were post-hoc identified with yacht rock. The genre, or style, or pop subset, or whatever you want to call it, didn’t exist at the time the music was recorded. IMHO you can’t label any artist as simply “yacht rock,” but you can label an individual song that way. It’s better to say that a given song fits the label, even if it happens to be the only song the artist recorded that fits the label. It’s silly to say “X can’t be yacht rock because they record _this_” when X also happened to record _that,_ and _that_ happens to be a perfect example of what we’re arguing about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920.md?page=4)