The trailer for Music Box: Yacht Rock, A Dockumentary (above) explains what “Yacht Rock” is. You’ll be familiar with most of the songs featured in this one hour and 35 minute tribute to the mellow music of the 1970s and 1980s.
“Yacht rock is a subgenre of soft rock that emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, characterized by its smooth, sophisticated sound, polished production, and influences from jazz, R&B, and funk. It’s often associated with a laid-back, breezy vibe, evoking images of relaxing on yachts or enjoying sunny California coastlines. While it’s sometimes considered a subset of soft rock, yacht rock is distinguished by its higher production quality, sophisticated arrangements, and focus on melody and musicianship. “
Music Box: Yacht Rock, A Dockumentary includes snippets of interviews and performances of Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross, Steely Dan, Steve Lukather, Toto, David Paich, Steve Porcaro, Brenda Russell, Jay Graydon, David Pack, Tom Scott, Gary Katz, JD Ryznar, Steve “Hollywood” Huey, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Thundercat, Mac DeMarco, Prince Paul, Brian Robert Jones, Bethany Cosentino, Fred Armisen, Steven Hyden, Amanda Petrusich, Alex Pappademas, Jason King, Molly Lambert, Rob Tannenbaum
Check out the compilation Yacht Rock CDs on Thursday, August 7, 2025. GRADE: A
About all I can afford is Rowboat Rock!
Bob, by the time Trump is done with the Economy, you’ll only afford a Life Jacket!
Sez you! I’ll be rolling in clover and your huge stock portfolio will land you on Cloud Nine!
Bob, my huge stock portfolio declined $3,873 today due to Trump’s tariffs. Ouch!
Indeed, Drumpf’s stupidity and encroaching senility will probably kill his support from the profoundly rich PDQ…now if only the profoundly resentful will give up on him.
Todd, Trump has imposed 50% Tariffs on Brazil…where 80% of our coffee comes from. Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Dunkin’ Donuts, and the rest of the coffee shops have to be freaking out!
The problem with Yacht Rock as a genre of sorts is that the distance between the best and worst is an unusually large gap…you can reasonably include Steely Dan and Christopher Cross next to each other on the list, but SD is an at times brilliant band and rarely less than interesting enough, if leaning toward the chilly at their most alienated, while Cross is an inane blowhard, fits all too well between Toto and Journey, on an increasing scale of unlistenable for me.
Todd, Christopher Cross is still touring. So is Steely Dan…but lacking Walter Becker.
What Todd said.
And if it seems a bit odd that my blog might be titled SWEET FREEDOM, given my ambivalence, I first used that title on a radio show a year or three before Michael MacDonald’s song was released…in my case, in tribute to Max Roach & Co.’s FREEDOM NOW SUITE and the Sonny Rollins Band’s FREEDOM SUITE albums. MMc has recorded much better songs than his SF, alas (or, thank goodness!), both with the Doobies and as a solo performer.
Todd, with Trump causing havoc, we’ll all experiencing BITTER-SWEET FREEDOM.
Drumpf has no truck with anyone’s freedom but his own…which is definitely more like license.
Todd, Trump’s new legal moves against the Clintons, Barr, Jack Smith, and all his enemies shows how desperate he is for distractions from Jeffrey Epstein.
I like some of this music—but I’m baffled by Steely Dan being included. I guess for their production values and ultra-smooth sound. But their lyrics are far more complex than “sailing…takes me away to where I’ve always heard it could be,” etc.
Well, it’s not what you’d call an “organic” genre…so much as a clumping together of highly professional, “easy listening” rock bands. Some easier to listen to than others, depending on what you’re hoping for…
Todd, back in the 1970s and 1980s, we had a number of Easy Listening radio stations in Western NY. Today, we’re down to one.
Deb, you’re right! Steely Dan’s lyrics can be cryptic.
This was pretty much how I remember car radio sounding during my senior year of high school. Ultra-produced and ultra-processed. I have the faintest, faintest bit of guilty pleasure nostalgia for it. Enough that I might smile and shake my head hearing it over the loud speakers in a store. What I remember most about it is that this is specifically what all of my roomates and friends rejected for new wave during my freshman year of college.
There is NO SUCH THING as yacht rock!
It is simply a modern invention trying to pull together music under a catchy (to some) name to get listeners.
Bah!
And keep off my lawn.
Jeff, I agree with you: Yacht Rock is a marketing device.
I remember jzst two of rhe pweformers. Even when travelling in my car I would switch channels or put on a cassette in the7ßs after I started working in 1969.
Blues Rock was for me!
Wolf, I was a Heavy Metal fan for years!
I have never heard the term yacht rock before. Of course, I have never heard a lot of this before although most of the musicians and songs are somewhat familiar to me. I would have just called them easy listening. Did I spend my twenties and thirties under a rock-a real one not related to music
Patti, Yacht Rock is a new term for Easy Listening.