# 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:** 4
**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, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/61 "2025-05-29T22:14:45Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > 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. Yes, exactly. That is why I said (emphasis mine): > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > **originally** post-hoc identified That original, informal “list” – defined by the mockumentary series, and by the artists which were on the first yacht rock “format” playlists, is pretty small, as I noted. Those groups are what I referred to as the “inner circle” of yacht rock: they were categorized as such pretty much from when the concept got defined (yes, post-hoc), and (Steely Dan as a notable exception) there’s not much debate as to whether they belong in there. I agree with you that, as that “genre”/format has grown more mainstream (as far as being a known thing), additional songs by other artists, which fit the style, have been added into it – if, for no other reason than to make it a viable longer-term format – but not many (if any) other artists beyond the original list have wholesale been re-defined as yacht rock. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/62 "2025-05-30T02:06:00Z")
If it will help anyone to define what Yacht Rock is for themselves, _my personal_ criteria include When it was released - The qualifying songs are 98% from the 70s Can you dance to it? If yes, that’s not YR It’s smooth, and not rocking or edgy or guitar driven It’s not about a singer or band’s usual style, and it doesn’t matter who wrote it. I don’t associate it with a particular format / playlist. It’s just a very small sector of Easy Listening. ---
**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 30, 2025, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/63 "2025-05-30T02:22:09Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > It’s just a very small sector of Easy Listening. To me, “[Easy Listening](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_listening)” is a very different (and probably close to extinct at this point) format – it’s what my parents listened to when I was growing up in the '70s. The “easy listening” station featured a lot of Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Nat King Cole, Mantovani, Percy Faith, Henry Mancini, etc., and there was nothing rock about it. I’d say that Yacht Rock is a subsector of Soft Rock or Light Rock. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/64 "2025-05-30T03:39:27Z")
> [@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. I would not be at all shocked if their cover of The Paragons’ The Tide is High showed up on a Yacht Rock station. I mean, it shouldn’t. But it might. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/65 "2025-05-30T03:49:41Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I would not be at all shocked if their cover of The Paragons’ The Tide is High showed up on a Yacht Rock station. I mean, it shouldn’t. But it might. People might shove it in there because “tide! ocean! boat!”, but it doesn’t qualify(imo). ---
**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 30, 2025, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/66 "2025-05-30T14:31:34Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I don’t think so. Mention of Carly Simon and Rita Coolidge got me thinking of what other female singers did James Bond themes in that era. Would _For Your Eyes Only_ be yacht rock, or at least yacht rock adjacent? ---
**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 30, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/67 "2025-05-30T15:01:27Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Would _For Your Eyes Only_ be yacht rock, or at least yacht rock adjacent? Not in my opinion, at least. The rhythm is much too slow, and the feel isn’t “upbeat” enough. It’s a romantic pop ballad, even if it’s highly produced and synth-y. If you can slow-dance to it, it’s not yacht rock. 😉 ---
**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 30, 2025, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/68 "2025-05-30T15:03:14Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > _For Your Eyes Only_ FYEO is a genre that I haven’t even got a good name for, for my own use, or to talk about and identify it, but I call it “80s movie soundtrack.” It has a sound that, once you notice it, is distinctive. Is it “overproduced”, is the the emphasis on horns, I’m not sure. But I know it when I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/69 "2025-05-30T15:31:17Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Written by Neil Young, not a Yacht rocker. Unless you count Heart of Gold. “Long May You Run” sounds like it could have been written for the Eagles (IMO). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/70 "2025-05-30T17:53:03Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > Can you dance to it? If yes, that’s not YR Gotta disagree. if [Johnny Rivers “Slow Dancin’”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmiNLVTDFDI) doesn’t fit the genre, I don’t know what does. You can dance to anything if you really want to. ---
**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 30, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/71 "2025-05-30T18:02:03Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > You can dance to anything if you really want to. I agree. Christopher Cross is always mentioned in these threads as one of the most fitting examples for yacht rock, and his biggest hit “Ride Like The Wind” sounds very danceable. ---
**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 30, 2025, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/72 "2025-05-30T18:05:27Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > if [Johnny Rivers “Slow Dancin’”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmiNLVTDFDI) doesn’t fit the genre, I don’t know what does. Unless you have a _very_ wide definition of yacht rock, which makes it just essentially “any soft rock from the late 1970s and early 1980s,” I don’t see “Slow Dancin’” being a fit. It’s too slow, and it doesn’t have the upbeat feel that the prototypical yacht-rock songs do. It’s a nice song, but it’s a slow-dance ballad. YMMV, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/73 "2025-05-30T18:07:19Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’d say that Yacht Rock is a subsector of Soft Rock or Light Rock. I think that it falls under AOR - [Album-Oriented Rock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Album-oriented_rock). > US radio stations dedicated to playing album tracks by rock artists from the hard rock and progressive rock genres initially established album-oriented radio. In the mid-1970s, AOR was characterized by a layered, mellifluous sound and sophisticated production with considerable dependence on melodic hooks. The AOR format achieved tremendous popularity in the late 1960s to the early 1980s through research and formal programming to create an album rock format with great commercial appeal. ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/74 "2025-05-30T19:29:08Z")
In this definitive ranked list of Yacht Rock, you can find female artists high in the list: [Yacht or Nyacht](https://www.yachtornyacht.com) ---
**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 30, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/75 "2025-05-30T19:38:44Z")
> [@DaveRaver](#): > > In this definitive ranked list of Yacht Rock, you can find female artists high in the list: The list appears to be the result of four people ranking each song on its relative “yachtiness,” and the resulting average score being used to create the rankings. I’m not sure how “definitive” that is. 😉 (Also, a number of their “most yacht” songs are ones which barely charted, if at all, from minor artists. Doesn’t mean they aren’t yachty songs, but they’re reaching to create a big list, IMO.) ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/76 "2025-05-30T19:38:45Z")
> [@DaveRaver](#): > > In this definitive ranked list of Yacht Rock, you can find female artists high in the list: [Yacht or Nyacht](https://www.yachtornyacht.com) I have been vindicated! Brenda Russell is all over that list (even if the song I chose isn’t to be found). ---
**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 30, 2025, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/77 "2025-05-30T19:39:24Z")
I presume that JD, Hunter, Steve, and Dave are four people who gave their opinion on whether the song is Yacht Rock. I presume that 100 means that they think that it definitely is and 0 means that it definitely isn’t. Numbers between 0 and 100 means that that person thinks that it’s somewhere between definitely yes and definitely no, I presume. ---
**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 30, 2025, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/78 "2025-05-30T19:40:57Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I presume that JD, Hunter, Steve, and Dave are four people who gave their opinion on whether the song is Yacht Rock. I presume that 100 means that they think that it definitely is and 0 means that it definitely isn’t. That’s how I read it; it also looks like the ratings were given by them in a podcast, also entitled “Yacht or Nyacht” (that’s what the last column on the table refers to). ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2025, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/79 "2025-05-30T20:09:23Z")
Some things about that “definitive” list: It’s a list of Yacht Rock songs, not artists. If you are going to define an artist as in the Yacht Rock genre if they have one song in the filtered Yacht Rock category (which seems to be defined as any song that got a single Yachstki vote above 60), then **Prince** , **The Allman Brothers** , and **Aretha Franklin** are in the Yacht Rock genre. How many female artists are in the Yacht Rock list of songs? About 5%? The first female artist in the Essential list is at number 30. I think that the OP’s title is not much of an exaggeration. Who the hell is Brenda Russell? (I’ve never heard of her, but it seems like I must have heard her songs during some shopping trip or restaurant visit) ---
**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 30, 2025, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920/80 "2025-05-30T20:27:02Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > Who the hell is Brenda Russell? She’s an [R&B singer/songwriter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Russell). She had two top-40 hits in the U.S. (“So Good, So Right” in '79, “Piano in the Dark” in ‘81), neither of which are the one on those guys’ list. Her biggest claim to fame is that she won a Grammy in 2006, for co-writing the music for the musical adaptation of _The Color Purple_, [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-female-artists-in-the-yacht-rock-genre/1018920.md?page=5)