# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/81 "2024-12-24T07:01:18Z")
Here are some of the best yacht rock songs- per Google AI anyway- _“Rich Girl” by Hall & Oates, “Hey Nineteen” by Steely Dan, “Horse With No Name” by America, “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac, “Thunder Island” by Jay Ferguson, “You Are the Woman” by Firefall, “Right Down the Line” by Gerry Rafferty, “Sundown” by Gordon Lightfoot, “Baby Come Back” by Player, and “Cool Change” by Little River Band._ And at least two of them- “Horse With No Name” by America, & “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac, are pretty solid rock classics. But there is no official definition anyway. If you say "I hate all yacht rock, you hate a lot of solid rock & roll. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/82 "2024-12-24T07:33:16Z")
> [@On another topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1012115/30): > > Oddly enough, The Beach Boys aren’t really played on the Yacht Rock channels I listen to. They do seem like prime candidates The Beach Boys’ prime was during the early and mid '60s which is about ten years removed from the “Yacht Rock” era. That said, some of their lesser-known songs from the early '70s might qualify. “Sail On, Sailor,” in particular, sounds closer to Steely Dan than the music that’s normally associated with the group. > **[Sail On, Sailor (Remastered)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx6dgEgbMNU%2F)** > > Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupSail On, Sailor (Remastered) · The Beach BoysThe Warmth Of The Sun℗ 2007 Brother Records IncReleased on: 2007-01-... ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/83 "2024-12-24T09:14:48Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Just like “wuss rock”, a genre that has one band in it: Journey. And I like Journey, too. No, no, no. Wuss rock is Air Supply, A Flock of Seagulls, and Bruce Hornsby. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2024, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/84 "2024-12-24T13:15:49Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > And what about “Kokomo”? “Teacher says, every time someone plays Kokomo, and angel loses their wings.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/85 "2024-12-24T14:06:44Z")
> [@On another topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1011994/92): > > > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > > > Just like “wuss rock”, a genre that has one band in it: Journey. And I like Journey, too. > > No, no, no. Wuss rock is Air Supply, A Flock of Seagulls, and Bruce Hornsby. Don’t forget REO Speedwagon. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/86 "2024-12-24T16:50:02Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’ve recently heard songs on that station such as Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty,” Nicollete Larson’s “Lotta Love,” and Dan Hill’s “Sometimes When We Touch” – certainly soft rock from that era, but not what I picture as yacht rock. But, consider this. Running on Empty relates to your yacht running out of fuel while you brave it back to port. Lotta Love is whats it going to take to get that yacht moving again, and Sometimes When We Touch is what happens before the yacht magically starts back up. Its basically about alpha male fantasy music. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/87 "2024-12-24T17:10:00Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > I’d classify Jackson Browne as “heartland rock”, along with Springsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp, and to a certain extent Bon Jovi. > > throw in Bob Seger and Bryan Adams, and you have the nucleo of **Americana** / Canadiana True for Seger, Adams, Springsteen and Johnny Hoosier (what my band called Mellencamp) but I really don’t see Jackson Browne as being much like those other guys at all. Dude’s from L.A., not Iowa. He’s closer (though not that close) to Eagles than he is to those Heartland cats. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/88 "2024-12-24T17:12:30Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > They want unchallenging pop lite from their youth. And almost by definition the yacht set is at least age 40, and now mostly 50-70 seems to be a compatible age cohort with sportscar operators … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/89 "2024-12-24T17:21:51Z")
> [@On another topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1011994/92): > > > [@On another topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1011994/92): > > > > > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > > > > > Just like “wuss rock”, a genre that has one band in it: Journey. And I like Journey, too. > > > > No, no, no. Wuss rock is Air Supply, A Flock of Seagulls, and Bruce Hornsby. > > Don’t forget REO Speedwagon. Recalling the traditional high school class divisions of Jocks/Freaks/Grinds, the Grinds (AV and glee-clubbers) went in for Prog-pop like Styx. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2024, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/90 "2024-12-25T01:40:05Z")
Heheh, I can imagine Fagen doesn’t relish this term either, but they basically made (really, pretty great) first-run muzak. It was mostly music without hard auditory elements. Other than the lyrical content of some songs, Steely Dan was smooth through and through, and they never stopped doing it. I say this as someone who likes and sometimes completely loves Steely Dan: they are the epitome of smooth rock, so they fit right in to the Yacht Rock ghetto. If they weren’t, this wouldn’t have happened with “Deacon Blues”: > [@Pete Christlieb](#): > > They told me to play what I felt. Hey, I’m a jazz musician, that’s what I do … so I recorded my first solo … we listened back and they said it was great. I recorded a second take and that’s the one they used. I was gone in a half hour. The next thing I know I’m hearing myself in every airport bathroom in the world. And hey, Fagen probably shouldn’t take it so hard. Lots of people would deride a good deal of my record collection and some of the music I make myself as not even being _music_. I manage to go on living anyway. ---
**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:** [December 25, 2024, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/91 "2024-12-25T05:50:24Z")
A 2020 thread that may be of interest: [Who listens to yacht rock anyway?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-listens-to-yacht-rock-anyway/918414) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2024, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/92 "2024-12-25T06:59:48Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > > [@Al128](#): > > > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > > > I’d classify Jackson Browne as “heartland rock”, along with Springsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp, and to a certain extent Bon Jovi. > > > > throw in Bob Seger and Bryan Adams, and you have the nucleo of **Americana** / Canadiana > > True for Seger, Adams, Springsteen and Johnny Hoosier (what my band called Mellencamp) but I really don’t see Jackson Browne as being much like those other guys at all. > > Dude’s from L.A., not Iowa. He’s closer (though not that close) to Eagles than he is to those Heartland cats. Springsteen’s from Jersey, not the American Heartland but his music still has that sort of working class Americana sound. I think that fit’s for Browne’s “Running on Empty”, but a lot of his other stuff I’m not really sure how to classify. “Yacht Rock” I think of white dudes trying to be cool and soulful but coming off (at least to modern sensibilities) sort of cringey. Escape (The Piña Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes is probably the quintessential yacht rock song. Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty is another good example (saxophone tends to give it away). Anything by Michael McDonald. Captain & Tennille (he’s a fucking captain for Christ’s sake). I’ll throw Jimmy Buffet in there as well. Hall & Oates, Doobie Brothers, so on and so forth. Basically songs by, for, and/or about middle age men in the 70s taking their sailboat down to Key Largo to drink fruity umbrella drinks and have relationships with much younger women. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2024, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/93 "2024-12-25T17:28:00Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > "Yeah, we’re named after a fictional steam-powered dildo! We’re _artistes_, man!| Still a defintion with more, um, gravitas? than the one for 10CC. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/94 "2024-12-25T17:39:02Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Basically songs by, for, and/or about middle age men in the 70s taking their sailboat down to Key Largo to drink fruity umbrella drinks and have relationships with much younger women. You say this like it’s a bad thing. 🥸 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2024, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/95 "2024-12-25T17:47:27Z")
I _almost_ posted the same thing verbatim. ---
**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:** [December 25, 2024, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/96 "2024-12-25T17:47:55Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Doobie Brothers, > [@msmith537](#): > > Basically songs by, for, and/or about middle age men in the 70s taking their sailboat down to Key Largo to drink fruity umbrella drinks and have relationships with much younger women. I can’t think of a single Doobie Bros song that fits that definition. I maintain DBs are not YR. Gerry Rafferty…ok. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2024, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/97 "2024-12-25T17:49:45Z")
The fact the Sirius XM channel has their tag-phrase delivered by a very bad Thurston Howell III impersonator says all we need to know about how seriously to take this genre of music. Or at least this categorization / explanation of this genre of music. ---
**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:** [December 25, 2024, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/98 "2024-12-25T19:24:44Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Basically songs by, for, and/or about middle age men in the 70s taking their sailboat down to Key Largo to drink fruity umbrella drinks and have relationships with much younger women. Yeah, no. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I can’t think of a single Doobie Bros song that fits that definition. Nevertheless, the songs McDonald wrote for them are quintessential YR. The documentary found that many of the core songs were men singing about their _lost_ loves and regretting what a fool they’ve been. Huge difference, though, between the Doobie’s “What a Fool Believes” and the Dan’s “Only a Fool Will Tell You.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2024, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/99 "2024-12-25T19:51:54Z")
I wonder how much the definition of YR is more about the sound than the lyrics? Even amongst today’s pop there are plenty of songs that have a very romantic lovey sort of sound, but the actual lyrics amount to “Screw you and the horse you rode in on” or “Fat chance with me, you loser.” I’m often kinda disappointed when I hunt up a variant with the lyrics displayed and find out what sounded so good reads so bad. Some of the most romantic are of the “Sorry Honey, but we gotta break up” message. Don’t send that one to your SO unless you’re sure they know what you really mean. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120/100 "2024-12-25T21:02:50Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > Doobie Brothers, > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > Basically songs by, for, and/or about middle age men in the 70s taking their sailboat down to Key Largo to drink fruity umbrella drinks and have relationships with much younger women. > > I can’t think of a single Doobie Bros song that fits that definition. > > I maintain DBs are not YR. Gerry Rafferty…ok. [This (IMHO reasonably accurate) list](https://www.melophobemusic.com/post/top-100-greatest-yacht-rock-songs-of-all-time#:~:text=Deemed%20almost%20unanimously%20as%20the,to%20ever%20achieve%20mainstream%20success) has at least 2 DB songs, including what some consider the yachtiest yacht rock song of all time: [What A Fool Believes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKYQNtF11eg) (in all fairness, written by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins so…) Some Steely Dan on that list as well. A few others I’m shocked haven’t been mentioned yet ( ‘Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)’, for example) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yacht-rock-what-is-it-and-whats-its-origin/1012120.md?page=6)