I love Jacobin mag

The best part about suffering through the "smooth rock" era was stumbling on this most excellent series on youtube a number of years ago. It's like a DIY version of Spinal Tap for Yacht Rock.

Fast Forward a few more years and my car came with a 6-month subscription to SiriusXM. I literally laughed when I saw there was a Yacht Rock channel. My wife and I listened and we were amazed at the number of songs whose lyrics we were able to recall, obviously from some very smooth and soulful place from deep within us.

It reminded her of her days as a lifeguard when those songs dominated the airwaves. It reminded me of the hilarious Yacht Rock episodes on youtube. So, now it's a preset station sandwiched between The Underground Garage and (George) Carlin's Corner.

-murph

http://www.reverbnation.com/elmiragesurf
http://www.reverbnation.com/aminorconspiracy

"I knew I was in trouble when the Coco-Loco tasted like water!" -- morphball

Last edited: Dec 20, 2016 07:34:48

Fady wrote:

Aside from a Jim Messina reference, granted the wrong era Messina for this forums cares, this smells of 41 day old political click bait.

...well, and if I can get my brain around all the esoteric meandering, a prediction that American music in 2017 is gonna suck. Unless you love Captain & Tennille. Is that your point, Kahuna? You're making a New Years musical prediction?

My point, if you insist on one, is that Yacht Rock can be viewed as one 70s extension of the Beach Boys heritage and that I like to view cultural artefacts in the context of the society around it. Has nothing to do with that Yacht Rock guy who married my high school crush.

The Exotic Guitar of Kahuna Kawentzmann

You can get the boy out of the Keynes era, but you can’t get the Keynes era out of the boy.

Kawentzmann wrote:

My point, if you insist on one, is that Yacht Rock can be viewed as one 70s extension of the Beach Boys heritage and that I like to view cultural artefacts in the context of the society around it. Has nothing to do with that Yacht Rock guy who married my high school crush.

Right on - dudes with pretty great voices, with or without the multi-part harmonies. I can get with that.

I'm not sure I buy the premise of the author of that article that Yacht Rock was motivated by the socio-political climate of 1980 though. Is he suggesting Yacht Rock is the ostrich's song to the worlds trouble?

I do know that video series (linked HD playlist for all 12 episodes) is absofigginloutly hilarious though! (missed that one first time around / in that other thread).

Fady

El Mirage @ ReverbNation

websurfer wrote:
it seems like the phenomenon--invented after the fact--grows wider and wider as more songs are being included that don't fit the image (other than the fact that they are from a certain era).

I have been surprised to hear songs by Joe Jackson, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, and others on the Yacht Rock SiriusXM station. Not that their playlist defines the "genre", but it is interesting how certain songs/artists can get (re)branded to fit some marketing scheme.

-murph

http://www.reverbnation.com/elmiragesurf
http://www.reverbnation.com/aminorconspiracy

"I knew I was in trouble when the Coco-Loco tasted like water!" -- morphball

Kawentzmann wrote:

... Dennis Wilson living on a yacht in the marina,

I used to live on a yacht, that is if you consider,rooming in a boarded up 28" ChrisCraft moored at Pier 39 in SF living on a yacht. Hell it was cheap. And the pier bathroom was amazing.
Good times! Good times.

Squink Out!

Last edited: Dec 20, 2016 22:51:39

murph wrote:

websurfer wrote:
it seems like the phenomenon--invented after the fact--grows wider and wider as more songs are being included that don't fit the image (other than the fact that they are from a certain era).

I have been surprised to hear songs by Joe Jackson, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, and others on the Yacht Rock SiriusXM station. Not that their playlist defines the "genre", but it is interesting how certain songs/artists can get (re)branded to fit some marketing scheme.

-murph

I like the music some call Yacht Rock, but I agree, it’s a bit revisionist. Sailboats on album covers were all the rage for a while and apparently that explains the name, but there was a lot of mellow, but not necessarily spineless music in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Pablo Cruise (with some very unique guitar solos by David Jenkins) and even some material by Crosby, Stills and Nash fit the model, not to mention Christopher Cross (whose music I am ambivalent about).

I see it as an outgrowth of Country Rock. Some bands went on to emphasize the Rock side of it, while others sort of mellowed into Soft Rock. The Yacht Rock station on Sirius XM is enjoyable, to say the least, at least for the months it’s broadcast, but I think that they have to widen the scope a bit from the original concept.

As for the Yacht Rock TV shows, I could only stand to watch them once. That dude from All Music looked like Weird Al’s evil younger brother. The skits were mildly amusing, but that Weird Al clone ruined or for me.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.