Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Yacht Rock: Smooth Sailing on Rocky Waters

10/12/2024

Yacht Rock: Smooth Sailing on Rocky Waters Read about how the soft-rock genre has weathered the test of time, and listen to a playlist of some of the best yacht rock songs, from Christopher Cross and Toto to Steely Dan and Thundercat.

By

Bryan Parys

December 9, 2024

Michael McDonald, one of yacht rocks icons.

Image by Soul Train/Getty/Courtesy HBO

If you remove the bits about sailing in the chorus to Christopher Cross's 1979 hit single . . . um, Sailing . . . this otherwise anthem of smooth becomes somewhat more desperate:

Takes me away to where Ive always heard it could be

Just a dream and the wind to carry me

Soon I will be free

Considered a platonic ideal of the genre now known as yacht rock, Sailing seems to embody the kind of calm escapism that critics of the style have focused on. The perfectionist production quality, lush harmonies, and reliance on lyrical sentimentality have made the song-and many of the entries in the subgenre in general-appear unserious and ripe for parody. In fact, the term is itself a joke, coined in 2005 by an LA-based comedy group led by J. D. Ryznar. The group created a web series called Yacht Rock featuring fictionalized accounts of many of the genres key players.

Yacht Rocks Epic VoyageBut it's far from this simple. Yacht rock has weathered shifts in critical and public opinions in the roughly 45 years since it first emerged, and has been cited as hugely influential to contemporary musicians such as Questlove (of the Roots) and bass wunderkind Thundercat. Touring acts paying homage to the genre have become wildly successful, from the soft-metal group Y chtley Cr w to Yacht Rock Revue, which features Berklee alum Mark Dannells 89 on guitar and vocals.

This history is explored at length in the new HBO documentary Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary, directed by Garret Price (Woodstock '99: Peace, Love, and Rage). On the genre's origins, Price explains in Variety, It's rooted in R&B and soul and funk and jazz and Black music, basically, which calls out the paradox of how appropriation and true appreciation combined to create a new expression. Regionality also played an important role in creating the scene, as it all took place in Southern California, within this ecosystem of studios with the session guys, Price says.

Watch the trailer for HBOs Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary:

Smooth, but Make It ComplexThe style in its heyday was often referred to simply as the West Coast sound, which is how it was introduced to Maureen McMullan PD 09, senior concert producer at Berklee and yacht rock aficionado. McMullan was drawn to the music's keen sense of musical and harmonic complexity while still sounding like effortless pop. That complexity is due in large part to the significant influence of R&B and jazz. As McMullan explains, Broadly speaking, while we are more accustomed to hearing triadic chords and the occasional dominant 7th in standard pop tunes, yacht rock introduces jazz-inspired harmonies, including extended tensions (7th, 9ths, #11s, etc.), non-diatonic slash chords, and advanced writing devices such as modal interchange (where chords are borrowed from parallel scales or modes).

A notable example, she says, is the song Peg by Steely Dan, which appears on their masterpiece album Aja. The song places a strong emphasis on technique, precision, and nuance in both the musical performances and production, all while maintaining an unwavering sense of groove, feel, and pocket, McMullan says. For me, this perfect balance between artistry and accessibility is what makes songs in this genre so magnetic and satisfying.

Its worth noting that Steely Dan has always had a somewhat complicated relationship with being pinned down to any one genre, especially after the term yacht rock brought a level of kitsch and parody into the discussion. And yet, the band is spoken about in nearly religious terms for yacht rock fans. When Berklee alum and cofounding band member Donald Fagen 66 01H was asked by Garrett Price to be in the HBO documentary, he had some . . . choice words for the director before promptly hanging up. At the same time, the band licensed a number of Steely Dan songs for inclusion in the film, so perhaps there is at least a quiet, winking acceptance of their place in the nautico-musical canon.

The New Wrecking CrewSteely Dan is just one of the top-tier artists that are considered torch-bearers of yacht rock. Kenny Loggins, the Doobie Brothers, Toto, and the aforementioned Christopher Cross have all cemented their place on Yacht Rushmore. If you look at the personnel involved in making the music for these various artists, you start to notice a lot of the same names-chief among them Michael McDonald, Steve Lukather, David Paich, and the Porcaro brothers, Jeff, Steve, and Mike. And lest there's a temptation to pigeonhole these musicians as rank-and-file yacht-rockers, you need only look at the credits on Michael Jackson's Thriller-the best-selling album of all-time-to see the unimpeachable impact these players have had on music history. In many ways, they were the next generation of the Wrecking Crew-the famous group of studio musician titans who appeared on countless seminal albums in the 60s and early 70s.

Taken by the FantasyThe line that follows the chorus in Cross's Sailing, Fantasy / It gets the best of me, may be the style's perfect slogan for a number of reasons. It plays, of course, on the simple cultural understanding of a fantasy-a happy place that exists only in our imagination, and yet something many people try to get lost in. Take the following YouTube comment on the song: For 4 minutes you could be somewhere else . . . If reality were everything we wanted it to be, we wouldn't be looking to be anywhere else, even if just for a few minutes.

So to push on that idea of
LINK: https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/what-is-yacht-rock...
See more stories from berklee

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

07/07/2026

New appointments to Screen Australia board

New appointments to Screen Australia board 7 July 2026 The Albanese Labor Government has made new appointments to the Screen Australia board. Dr Tania Chamber...

07/07/2026

The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck to their creative guns.

The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck t...

06/07/2026

Inside OneSoccer's FIFA World Cup Ops: Canada's Soccer Network Goes Behind the Scenes for CanMNT's Historic Moment

Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...

06/07/2026

Lumine Group Acquires Imagine Communications, Continues To Build Portfolio of Media Businesses

The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...

06/07/2026

SVG All-Stars: Stuart Mitchell, Senior Coordinating Producer, Spectrum SportsNet LA

This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...

06/07/2026

Case Study: How IMS Productions and FOX Sports Scaled Coverage of the 109th Indianapolis 500

IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...

06/07/2026

Lumine Group Completes Acquisition of Synamedias Video Network Business

Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...

06/07/2026

NASCAR and Motorsport Network Announce Content and Commercial Partnership

NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...

06/07/2026

Versant To Acquire Full Swing for Approximately $530 Million

Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...

06/07/2026

DAZN Secures Global Rights to 3ICE Hockey

DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...

06/07/2026

Synth Anthology 5 From UVI

Bundle gains 100 new synths & more Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...

06/07/2026

MOTU 16A, 848 & 10pre gain Milan certification

Available now via free firmware update MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...

06/07/2026

Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Communications System

Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...

06/07/2026

The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the quality of packaged goods in real time

The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...

06/07/2026

INVITATION FOR SOUTH AFRICAN FILMMAKERS TO SUBMIT FILMS FOR THE 99TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS (OSCARS) INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM CATEGORY

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...

06/07/2026

Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice President, Operations

Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...

06/07/2026

Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development

Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development Brie Clayton July 6, 2026 0 Comments The strategic new appointment supports...

06/07/2026

Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve

Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve Michael Cioni July 6, 2026 0 Comments This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...

06/07/2026

Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro

Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro Colin Smith July 6, 2026 0 Comments Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...

06/07/2026

Flavor's FirstEver Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Executive Producer Kate Smith Rises to Lead the Studio

Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...

06/07/2026

How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat

How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...

06/07/2026

Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with the first drop

Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...

06/07/2026

NVIDIA and Hugging Face Bring New Models and Frameworks to LeRobot for the Open Robotics Community

Open source AI has shown how quickly developers can innovate when models, data a...

06/07/2026

Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy

Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy intellisphereinsyght2026 6 July Written By Suzanne Costello Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...

06/07/2026

Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a commercial streaming champion for the UK

Monday 6 July 2026 Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...

06/07/2026

Pico Lopes joins RT's FIFA World Cup 2026 Live panel

Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...

06/07/2026

How Nations Are Deploying AI for Strategic Priorities

Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...

06/07/2026

How Open Models Are Driving AI Research

Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work. This year's ...

06/07/2026

New RT documentary The Girl in the Water follows one family's search for answers following the death of their 23-year-old daughter

A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained What happened to Ke...

05/07/2026

Fox Sports AR/XR Studio Graphics Team Shows Power of Next-Generation Operations

We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...

05/07/2026

Free Behringer Synth Editor

Browser-based and desktop apps available Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...

04/07/2026

Inside OneSoccers FIFA World Cup Ops: Canadas Soccer Network Goes Behind the Scenes for CanMNTs Historic Moment

When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...

04/07/2026

Rhodes to launch the MK8/80AE

Celebrates company's 80th anniversary Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...

04/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program

Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program Brie Clayton July 3, 2026 0 Comments Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...

04/07/2026

iZotope Joins Boris FX

iZotope Joins Boris FX Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026 0 Comments iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

03/07/2026

VSL reveal Synchron Brass (muted)

New bundle & three Single Packs Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...

03/07/2026

London Symphony Orchestra upgrade LSO St Luke's

Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...

03/07/2026

Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV

Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV 3 July, 2026 Media releases National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...

03/07/2026

2023

1 February 2023 SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...

03/07/2026

Broadcast Solutions Acquires BFE

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/07/2026

AdClarity Expands CTV Offering to 20 Countries

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/07/2026

Mountain West Conference Launches SVOD Service With New Revenue Model

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/07/2026

Death Star

Death Star Andy Marken July 2, 2026 0 Comments Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...

03/07/2026

Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's Next

Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...