Anyone else enjoy playing Yacht rock??

[Cadillac_Mike]

**Banned immediately lol

Even though it's mostly slower tempo I actually find playing a lot of that stuff as a great way to hone your timing, volume, tone, practice fills in-between the changes, etc. Also a lot of it isn't as fall off the log easy as it sounds as far as the changes... I was just playing along to this one from '82 or so (last year of the 70's smoothness lol)

 

[buldog5151bass]

Some amazing songwriting and musicianship in those tunes.

 

[richntiff]

You’ll get a lot of people here who like it and like playing it. I have not played any of it, but I’m fairly certain I’d rather have bamboo slivers inserted under my fingernails while being waterboarded. I will say though, that I’d play it before I’d play modern country (again)

 

[WI Short Scaler]

I've never played that "style" of music before. But that doesn't mean I'd discount it if we came across a song we liked and wanted to play.

As long as I'm not in an all-country, jazz, or big-band group I'll be happy. Just styles that have no appeal to me. We play stuff all over the map from Climax Blues to John Prine so what do I know?

 

[portpc]

My trio does a lot of Yacht Rock. As we have no keyboard player we do our own arrangements. The biggest part is getting the harmonies down cold. Songs you don't think are winners actually are as women seem to be huge fans of the genre.
"I Really want to see you tonight" by England Dan & JFC is a home run whenever we perform it.... I had it pegged initially to be a dud.

 

[Gluvhand]

The term doesn't mean anything to me anymore, kind of like "Classic rock". They're broad generalizations with a lot of overlap with other genres. Having said that, I purposely avoid bands looking for bass payers that advertise themselves as either.

 

[tim gueguen]

Don't use that stupid term. That music was called soft rock from its early days. There's no need for a cheesy replacement term.

 

[portpc]

Don't use that stupid term. That music was called soft rock from its early days. There's no need for a cheesy replacement term.

"Cheesy" is at the core of the genre - Replacing soft with yacht simply expanded the escapist element of it. Pretty much every tune is a self absorbed moan-fest about lust gone wrong or chasing the unobtainable.

 

[tim gueguen]

To me it's the equivalent of someone deciding to start calling heavy metal "leather rock."

 

[richntiff]

To me it's the equivalent of someone deciding to start calling heavy metal "leather rock."

well ok, but then since it was metal, with all it's subgenres, you'll need to break it out:

leather rock
NWOBLR (New Wave of British Leather Rock)
Pointy Bits Leather Rock
Doom Leather Rock,
Nu Leather Rock
and so on and so forth......

 

[Joebone]

Not sure what to make of this entire phenomenon, and these folks scare me more than death metal!

https://www.yachtleycrew.com/?fbclid=IwAR0EPXMI-pfK09ree02vOOsX4oRTNLNSRbUQcCSMPdww8OdtvjrD4-vkUw0

 

[Maxi Funkl]

Yacht rock?

 

[LBS-bass]

"Yacht Rock" as a concept looks like people who weren't there hammering on about a big misconception that soft / studio rock of the 70's somehow had something to do with being on boats.

This may or may not have grown out of the following phenomena:
1) Jimmy Buffett
2) "Sailing" by Christopher Cross
3) Songs like "Southern Cross" by CSNY

Jimmy Buffett certainly played up the laid-back, Caribbean life style but I'm not sure that his music is exactly what most people today would call Yacht Rock. It's more like singer-songwriter acoustic stuff embellished in a studio.

On the second two points, I'd say that the metaphor of sailing as a means of escape was a popular theme back then, in general. But a sailboat is decidedly not a yacht, so we are still not there. It just seems like a tenuously loose way to try to lump together all the soft and/or more acoustic music from the 70's into one pile.

Anyway, I play and have played lots of this music. Audiences love it.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

**Banned immediately lol

Even though it's mostly slower tempo I actually find playing a lot of that stuff as a great way to hone your timing, volume, tone, practice fills in-between the changes, etc. Also a lot of it isn't as fall off the log easy as it sounds as far as the changes... I was just playing along to this one from '82 or so (last year of the 70's smoothness lol)

I enjoy playing most types of music, mainly because of the challenge of finding my art in them and applying it in a fresh creative way.

 

[tothemax]

We play in a beach / bay area, so we've always had some Buffett, and a number of "Yacht Rock" tunes in our set. If we ever have the chops and vocals, I'd love to do "Waiting for a girl like you" - one of the greatest Foreigner songs ever. Still not sure how it got on the Yacht Rock channel... I just think that good music will stand on it's own and pass the test of time. I read the Doobies book, and while I kind of diss'ed the "What a fool believes era", Michael McDonald basically saved the band. Shame on me, as I can really appreciate now what he brought and loved seeing them last year.

With the mention of Christopher Cross, this is a great YouTube on his musicianship... enjoy!

​

 

[Brother Goose]

Yes

 

[mrcbass]

To just play it would be tough, but it's fun to sing and yes, audiences love it. It lends itself well to duos/trio type venues - great for winery and brewery type places that don't need or even want a full band experience.

 

[dalkowski]

Yacht rock?

Think "the Doobie Bounce" on "What a Fool Believes."

Chris Molanphy's "Hit Parade" podcast explains it all:

Why Michael McDonald, Steely Dan, and Toto Are Yacht Rock—and Jimmy Buffett Isn’t

 

[DirtDog]

"Yacht Rock" as a concept looks like people who weren't there hammering on about a big misconception that soft / studio rock of the 70's somehow had something to do with being on boats.

This may or may not have grown out of the following phenomena:
1) Jimmy Buffett
2) "Sailing" by Christopher Cross
3) Songs like "Southern Cross" by CSNY

Jimmy Buffett certainly played up the laid-back, Caribbean life style but I'm not sure that his music is exactly what most people today would call Yacht Rock. It's more like singer-songwriter acoustic stuff embellished in a studio.

On the second two points, I'd say that the metaphor of sailing as a means of escape was a popular theme back then, in general. But a sailboat is decidedly not a yacht, so we are still not there. It just seems like a tenuously loose way to try to lump together all the soft and/or more acoustic music from the 70's into one pile.

Anyway, I play and have played lots of this music. Audiences love it.

plus, the whole yacht rock thing is intended to be dripping in irony. Both for the band and the audiences.

 

[richntiff]

"Yacht Rock" as a concept looks like people who weren't there hammering on about a big misconception that soft / studio rock of the 70's somehow had something to do with being on boats.

This may or may not have grown out of the following phenomena:
1) Jimmy Buffett
2) "Sailing" by Christopher Cross
3) Songs like "Southern Cross" by CSNY

Jimmy Buffett certainly played up the laid-back, Caribbean life style but I'm not sure that his music is exactly what most people today would call Yacht Rock. It's more like singer-songwriter acoustic stuff embellished in a studio.

On the second two points, I'd say that the metaphor of sailing as a means of escape was a popular theme back then, in general. But a sailboat is decidedly not a yacht, so we are still not there. It just seems like a tenuously loose way to try to lump together all the soft and/or more acoustic music from the 70's into one pile.

Anyway, I play and have played lots of this music. Audiences love it.

I've always thought that the term 'yacht rock' comes from the stereotype of the current listener - the aging baby boomer who fancies themselves as an upscale person, keen on taking part in the finer privileges of life - sipping expensive wine, dining on finger foods and having fluffy, inconsequential discussions about others whilst they traverse the harbor aboard their yacht. Or pontoon boat, or wakeboard boat, or whatever. The stereotype of the genre speaks more to the attitude of that generation and how they view themselves currently. I'm not bandwagoning or making fun here - just saying that's how I've always interpreted the term is applied to the genre. It's really, of course, the 'soft rock' of the 70's, generally speaking. I'll bet audiences eat it up.