I’m a fan of yacht rock, so I was keen to watch “Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary”. I’m happy to say it does a great job not only of reviewing the music being made at that time, but also in analyzing how a term (yacht rock) got applied to this music (since the term didn’t exist at that time).
that said, like some of the musicians involved, I have issues with the term. For one thing, I can also see why some of the musicians hate it, since it seems pejorative. For another, it’s also arbitrary and limited. For example, you can say Michael McDonald was Yacht Rock and Hall and Oates is not, but to me they’re all part of that soft rock era of the 70s. Likewise, Quincy Jones may have used Yacht Rock musicians on Thriller, but I just can’t think of it belonging to the same genre of music as Christopher Cross.
So enjoy the documentary…or Dockumentary. And if you find yourself liking what you hear, check out any of your favorite stream services: you’ll be bound to find a number of playlists serving up that easy listening sound.
P.S. How for to watch it online and stream from anywhere, see Tom’s Guide. Also my older post on Yacht Rock is here.
(Image from Tom’s Guide.)
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