Oh man, thanks for this! Just listened to the whole album. I love this 'genre'.
I accidentally found YouTube Music yatch rock playlists and have discovered so many artists, new and old. Like Abandoned Luncheonette by Hall & Oates and anything by Poolside. And so many more...
They're all pretty loosely connected in this genre, it's all easy listening I guess.
Hate that term, but enjoyed the article quite a bit. Reminded me my youth in LA, told to stay inside on smoggy summer days, lots of swimming, and my grandma letting me play her records in one of those big wooden consoles that opened from the top. :-D
Elvis, Mr. Magic, Chuck Mangione, and of course AM/FM radio in the car.
Am listening to several of the cuts on youtube now, good stuff.
Was describing the era it reminded me of and what I was doing in 1978. Not exactly examples of soft rock, though those artists were making timely albums. Moody Blue was the new album and not far from M. McDonald other than the categories of our minds.
I did get into Steely Dan for example, but not until the 80s.
Was just thinking how the original Yacht Rock episodes are an example of early 2000s web ethos, which turns out to be pretty much the opposite of Qanon:
Yacht Rock: poked fun at a subject the author obviously admired-- 70s smooth rock
Qanon: takes itself extremely seriously and generates hatred for most of its subjects
Yacht Rock: took great care in mixing fantasy with reality. In episode five Steve Porcaro of Toto is portrayed scheming to write a song for his real-life girlfriend at the time, Rosanna Arquette, partly by tempting-- and eventually failing to convince-- Michael MacDonald to perform on the song. (I just love that the entire plot is fan fiction about Toto's interaction with a performer who in reality had absolutely nothing to do with the track!) An early fan commented that in their zeal the authors got a basic premise wrong: it was David Paich, not Steve Porcaro, who wrote the song "Rosanna." The authors then pointed out that even in the ridiculous fantasy plot, Steve Porcaro ends up calling on "his brothers in Toto" to help him write the song for his girlfriend.
Qanon: Sloppy blending of fantasy with reality, so careless that I've never seen a successful parody of it. I'd bet even today if you pointed out an error in the fantasy logic of Yacht Rock, the author would kick himself. But in Qanon, contradictions in the canon are implicitly accepted as they make the tent bigger.
Yacht Rock: the bright side of DIY ethos. Didn't ask nicely for song rights. Just took music they liked, wove a fantasy plot through it to make a room full of friends laugh, then posted the result on the internet for others to download.
Qanon: the dark side of DIY ethos. Took the crowd-sourced "meme economy" and used it to create what looks to me like a cult mentality-- everything from the seemingly reasonable facade of "save the children" to separating adherents from outsiders and loved ones.
Yacht Rock: ended up positively influencing the careers of their subjects for their tours
Qanon: literally rioted at the Capitol Building
Yacht Rock: even articles like this one carry on its ethos of detailed investigation of a beloved, if flawed, genre.
Qanon: look up what the two Qanon dipshits in Congress are up to today, I guarantee it will fit this comment.
PHP on a website: delivered Yacht Rock videos to site visitors
If you're a fan too, I highly recommend this loving parody series:
http://www.yachtrock.com/yacht-rock-episodes
If you've previously seen the old lo-fi transfers, the link above has new HD transfers. Enjoy!