Yacht or Nyacht

When I was a kid growing up in the 1970s-80s at an apartment complex outside Philly, the pool was the setting of many pleasant childhood memories: strappy aluminum webbed woven lawn chairs, days my grandmother would treat us to a cheeseburger, ice cream or Pop Rocks at the snack stand, lifeguard crushes, minutes of Adult Swim that passed like hours. The soundtrack to these years was a Philadelphia radio station that played soft rock and pop: from Stevie Wonder and Fleetwood Mac to Air Supply, England Dan and John Ford Coley, the Eagles, Steve Miller Band… this was the playlist of my youth.

I couldn’t wait to see the recently released Yacht Rock: A Documentary to learn more about my favorite genre of music. I learned a lot in two viewings so far; and will definitely see it again. First up, etymology. The term “Yacht Rock” was born from a 2005 web series that’s a mockumentary with early SCTV-like satire; it’ll probably enjoy a resurgence of viewership on YouTube. The series, spawned from a bunch of West Woast guys buying $1 vinyl records and noticing the similarities of musicians across them, pokes fun at Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Steely Dan and others in the genre.

What’s Yacht Rock? In the beginning of the dockumentary (they couldn’t help but use that spelling), journalist Molly Lambert says, “It’s like pornography” in that it isn’t often easy to define but you “know it when you see it.” Viewers learn that “it’s not that it doesn’t rock, but it doesn’t rock too hard,” and that it’s the “perfect sitting down dance music.” For music played everywhere from doctor’s offices to grocery stores that’s supposed to be chill, the filmmakers spend a large portion of the film in attempting to define it—in fact, more or less gatekeeping it.

There’s rise of Yacht Rock king Michael McDonald and his forays with Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, and the pinnacle of Yacht Rock Mountain: his allegiance with Kenny Loggins. They co-wrote the song “What a Fool Believes,” which won Song of the Year and Record of the Year in 1980 and followed it with “This is It” (won Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1981) and “Heart to Heart.” In 1981, Christopher Cross (who wrote “Ride Like the Wind” while driving and high on LSD) won a Grammy “Big Four” clean sweep of the Grammys for “Sailing,” a feat not replicated until 2020 when Billie Eilish won them at 18.

Interviews with McDonald, Loggins, Cross and others are jewels in the film as the evolution of the genre’s described, and DJ Questlove details the crossover between Yacht Rock and R&B and black musical artists like Earth Wind & Fire and Stevie Wonder. He notes many in the black community embraced McDonald, whose music is described as a gospel-like “ability to testify,” from the time the Doobie Brothers appeared on What’s Happening!!, stating he earned “lifetime invite to the cookout” status.

There’s a “Yacht or Nyacht” chart in the film so you can see what the filmmakers have determined should and shouldn’t be considered Yacht Rock. McDonald’s at the top, so his family tree including Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, Loggins and Cross are all the kingpins of Yacht Rock. Steely Dan doesn’t consider themselves Yacht Rock and the film’s worth watching just for the phone interaction with Donald Fagen.

There are some surprises on the “Nyacht”-y list. Fleetwood Mac (rock and jazz), the Eagles (too country), Hall and Oates (too Philadelphia, whatever that means), Jimmy Buffett (too parrothead) and other bands are dismissed or not mentioned, to a fault I think. Lot of gatekeeping for an unserious musical genre created for poking fun at sipping champagne on yachts by people who weren’t. Luckily Ambrosia is mentioned, since I adore them, but Air Supply getting nixed is crazy, England Dan and John Ford Coley are brushed over, The Steve Miller Band and James Taylor are never mentioned, and women (Brenda Russell’s the only one in the doc) are left just about completely out of the film. Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, Juice Newton anyone? A part two could be made to cover the work of so many other bands like 10cc, Firefall, Player, Little River Band, Atlanta Rhythm Section and others.

The most egregious neglect of the film is the lack of mention of Bobby Caldwell’s 1978 “What You Won’t Do For Love” which I consider the absolute pinnacle of Yacht Rock; it’s controversial in that its release hid the racial identity of Caldwell, who’s white; the song remains top of list of songs the black community thought were sung by black artists.