# Yacht Rock: what is it and what's its origin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [December 24, 2024, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120 "2024-12-24T15:49:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/201 "2025-01-05T19:15:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, that Steve Gadd beat is legendary. I can’t imaging a drum machine reproducing the subtleties and feel. If recorded today, Gadd would be quantized enough to sound exactly like a drum machine. /beato ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/202 "2025-01-06T01:40:55Z")
Several bands mentioned in this thread surprised me. How about Chicago? Is it in the Yacht Rock category. Their Love Songs album is on frequent rotation on my phone. > **[Love Songs (Chicago album)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Songs_(Chicago_album))** > > Love Songs is a compilation album of romantic songs by the American band Chicago, their twenty-ninth album overall, released in 2005 through Rhino Records. > Featuring a sampling of many of their love songs over the course of their long career, this set spans from their 1969 debut album to two exclusive new live recordings with Earth, Wind & Fire in 2004. Versions released outside of the US also include solo efforts by former member Peter Cetera which were never recorded by the band. > Released in ... ---
**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:** [January 6, 2025, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/203 "2025-01-06T01:47:14Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > How about Chicago? Is it in the Yacht Rock category. > > Their Love Songs album is on frequent rotation on my phone. Early Chicago (i.e., before Terry Kath’s death) is rock with a horn section, and a bit of a jazz influence. Later Chicago is prom music. Neither are yacht rock, IMO. ---
**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:** [January 6, 2025, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/204 "2025-01-06T01:52:03Z")
Did Michael McDonald ever sing background high notes for them? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/205 "2025-01-06T02:10:25Z")
Chicago had several singers. Terry Kath, Peter Cetra and Robert Lamm are the three I’m familar with. I don’t think Michael McDonald guested with Chicago. But it’s hard to know for sure. He got around a lot. ---
**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:** [January 6, 2025, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/206 "2025-01-06T02:15:53Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Chicago had several singers. Exapno is tweaking you; pretty much any song that McDonald sang on (either as a lead vocalist, or a background vocalist) in the late '70s and early '80s is _de facto_ yacht rock. And, no, I don’t think he ever sang with Chicago. ---
**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:** [January 6, 2025, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/207 "2025-01-06T02:29:37Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Did Michael McDonald ever sing background high notes for them? I suppose there’s no need for a Michael McDonald when you have Peter Cetera. I’m not sure if time frame has been mentioned but in my mind it’s necessarily tied to the 70s and part of the 80s. Obviously that’s arbitrary and completely subjective but it’s essential to _my_ idea of YR. ---
**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:** [January 6, 2025, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/208 "2025-01-06T02:50:07Z")
I stopped deliberately listening to Chicago after they changed their style to match the times. First two albums were amazing. Five and later were, frankly, not. Of course cuts from them were played incessantly; the newer style seemed enormously more profitable. The Doobies didn’t much like McDonald changing their sound, but his songs gave them number one albums and singles and they cried all the way to the bank, in the classic phrase. Those later Chicago songs - released during the heyday of the yacht rock era - might well be included in the definition. They were smooth and certainly featured top-level musicianship. The YR canon is entirely arbitrary and retrospective. Something about Chicago just puts them outside the box. Not enough rock in their hit singles, maybe. Good question. I have the same question why some Beach Boys 70s’ music isn’t included. “Sail On, Sailor,” from 1973s _Holland_ album, should be as basic as Christopher Cross’ “Sailing.” Somebody made a decision somewhere and we all live with the consequences. ETA: This was supposed to be a reply to @Aceplace57. Another snafu. ---
**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:** [January 6, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/209 "2025-01-06T02:56:14Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I have the same question why some Beach Boys 70s’ music isn’t included. “Sail On, Sailor,” from 1973s _Holland_ album, should be as basic as Christopher Cross’ “Sailing.” Thinking solely about my own mental model of YR, maybe it’s time frame. To me, most of the songs that I consider to be in the Yacht Rock canon are from a little later in the '70s (or the very early '80s). (But, I don’t disagree about “Sail On, Sailor” - it does feel like it should fit.) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/210 "2025-01-06T02:58:01Z")
Chicago did a lot of albums and changed styles as personnel shifted. I stick with the Best of Chicago: 40th Aniversary Edition and the Love Songs compilation albums. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/211 "2025-01-06T03:38:58Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@aceplace57](#): > > > > How about Chicago? Is it in the Yacht Rock category. > > > > Their Love Songs album is on frequent rotation on my phone. > > Early Chicago (i.e., before Terry Kath’s death) is rock with a horn section, and a bit of a jazz influence. > > Later Chicago is prom music. > > Neither are yacht rock, IMO. The producers of [NOW That’s What I Call Yacht Rock Vol 2](https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Yacht-Rock-Various-Artists/dp/B085RTT2G5) would seem to disagree with you. Chicago as a band, strictly speaking, isn’t Yacht Rock. But the following songs do appear on several top YR song lists: If You Leave Me Now Saturday In The Park Hard to Say I’m Sorry People sail yachts on Lake Michigan. [I also found this link to a Chicago-based Yacht Rock cover band.](https://www.anchorsawaychicago.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/212 "2025-01-06T03:43:39Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Chicago did a lot of albums and changed styles as personnel shifted. More specifically, they changed styles when David Foster started producing them. He is reviled by classic Chicago fans, but he knew how to write 80s hits. ---
**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 29, 2025, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/213 "2025-05-29T14:20:56Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > But he’s perhaps better known for non-yacht rock songs from rockin soundtracks for Tom Gun, Footloose, and Caddy Shack. > > The Yacht Rock web series focuses specifically on these songs as the epitome of YR. My memory is that the plot of the web series (using the term “plot” loosely) was that Loggins fell out of the “smooth music” fold with Caddyshack and Footloose and McDonald was trying to bring him back in. ---
**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, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/214 "2025-05-29T14:36:32Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Saturday In The Park > > People sail yachts on Lake Michigan. Despite their name, Chicago writes songs about NYC (“the park” is Central park, even on another rainy day in New York City) and they know from yachts there! I don’t know why they didn’t just call the band NYC Port Authority instead… ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2025, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/215 "2025-05-29T14:45:50Z")
Yeah, that’s one of the episodes. In another, producer Ted Templeman gets lured away from the ‘smooth music’ world to produce Van Halen. And so on. The funny thing is that nowhere in the series that created the term do they use the phrase “Yacht Rock” to describe the music. It’s just smooooth music. The series is called Yacht Rock because the central character, a fictional producer at the heart of the scene, uses the money he earns on the music to buy and live on a yacht in Marina del Rey. And later vanishes into a storm on the Pacific, presumably to die. _ **That’s** _ the yacht they’re talking about. Not the music itself. ---
**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:** [September 6, 2025, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/216 "2025-09-06T23:03:33Z")
Revised to note that our cable music channels (Music Choice) added a Yacht Rock channel. Yes Steely Dan is very prominent, and Christopher Cross, but the number one artist is… Michael McDonald. He’s everywhere. Aside from his prodigious solo output, and his Doobie Bros work, he does more duets than Natalie Cole and Stevie Nicks combined. There was even a song by some guy I’d never heard of, and MM was unmistakably doing backing vocals. I looked up the guy, and he was a founding member of the Doobie Bros. huh. go figure. I wonder how many yachts MM owns, and if he goes saiiiiiling… ---
**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:** [September 6, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/217 "2025-09-06T23:16:26Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > but the number one artist is… Michael McDonald. He’s everywhere. In my opinion, Michael McDonald is “patient zero” of Yacht Rock. In many ways, defining which songs are, or are not, Yacht Rock, is an exercise in “Six Degrees of Michael McDonald.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/218 "2026-05-26T03:09:54Z")
Bumped. A local FM radio station just had a Yacht Rock Weekend, and these were some of the songs I heard them play: ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3tWts0Nrceg/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/3tWts0Nrceg?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RD3tWts0Nrceg ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/QYwTaAl0ZOg/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/QYwTaAl0ZOg?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RDQYwTaAl0ZOg ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/z72waY0sCuM/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/z72waY0sCuM?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RDz72waY0sCuM ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9QYk1E8zdxU/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/9QYk1E8zdxU?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RD9QYk1E8zdxU ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/I-hKBmTAADo/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/I-hKBmTAADo?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RDI-hKBmTAADo ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LmTP0wLPK3g/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/LmTP0wLPK3g?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RDLmTP0wLPK3g ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/YOuhYuZLNYw/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/YOuhYuZLNYw?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RDYOuhYuZLNYw ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/vfWQS5fWxxU/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/vfWQS5fWxxU?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RDvfWQS5fWxxU ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/219 "2026-05-26T04:18:30Z")
I’m still cringing from a genuine artist like Boz Scaggs being lumped in with drivel like Air Supply. " Yacht Rock" clearly suffers from the same affliction visited upon other genres like “Classic Rock”: Everything, good or bad, talented or hack, gets thrown together. Probably by programming execs in suits who have no taste. That’s who I blamed when radio stations started programming like “Hey, it’s _Saturdays at the '70s,_ kids!” And those stations would play some great stuff… followed by some atrocious crap. If it charted between 1970 and 1979, they’d play it! And I realized these jerks had no concept of “good” or “bad” music. Same as whoever subjected you to that “Yacht Rock Weekend”. ---
**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 26, 2026, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/220 "2026-05-26T15:07:21Z")
During the time this thread has been inactive I’ve still been listening to the “Yacht Rock” channel on Music Choice. My first comment is, it’s basically “Easy Listening Classic Rock”. All these bands got air play (yes even Air Supply and Chiliwack\*) on “regular” rock stations in the 70s and 80s. You could hear the best AOR stations play Steely Dan, Led Zeppelin, Toto, Rolling Stones, Doobie Bros, Beatles, BOC, AC/DC, Hall and Oates and Boz Scaggs back to back. It was just the way it was. In college, (1981-82 era) a local station ran what must have been the ur-YR programming, where on Sunday nights they played exclusively the “soft side”, which included a lot of what later became known as YR. But none of us had yachts, or even a lake and a half-decent rowboat. The second thing, is, if they are going to make 24 hour YR programming, they should find some more songs! Any limited playlist gets boring and repetitive fast. Or please got in himmel lose The Pina Colada song! \*or as we called them, Chili mac, but they were NOT a “comfort band”. I hate Chiliwack. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120.md?page=12)