Ladies and gentlemen, raise your Michelob Light and welcome…Mr. Michael McDonald!
Chastain Park Ampletheatre, Summer 1982, Atlanta, GA. Parking lot full of Mercedes and BMWs..all leased. Husbands and wives (and second wives) march out to the “table” seats up front. Candles are lit, white linen table cloths are laid out, catered food from a chic Buckhead restaurant. They don’t normally do take-away, but hell, you lent the owner your lake house and helped with his quickie divorce…you are a powerful guy!
“Is he gonna do any Doobies? Hell yes! Who’s opening? Hey, it’s Boz.. Boz Scaggs. Wow, he has great hair, love the blow-dried Look! We were almost late, couldn’t decide between the Lacoste or Ralph Loren shirt with my chino shorts and bass boat shoes…anyway, remember that time we were out on Lake Lanier listening to Christopher Cross? Ride Like the Wind, baby!..Man we were trashed..good times! I ruined my Rolex when I fell off the boat trying to rescue our bottle of Cuervo Gold… The Guys from the firm are never gonna let that one go…
“Hey, I went to Turtles Records & Tapes and bought this thing called a CD player..it plays like mini records..and it’s digital..first class all the way. CDs cost like $20 but they sound crystal clear on the Hi-Fi…got all the great discs
Pablo Cruise, Doobies, Christopher Cross, Billy Joel, Orleans, Steely Dan (not the early stuff, the good stuff “Peg” and “Hey 19”), Little River Band, and of course Jimmy (Buffett not Hendrix)
The kid at the store tried to get me to buy some of that Punk and New Wave crap. I’ve never heard of these bands…Elvis Costello? The Jam? Adam Ant? The Clash?.. you can’t party to this stuff!. I kinda like Genesis, but wish they weren’t so out there..like Pink Floyd, jeez, I’m not some long-haired druggie….
…I made a mix tape for my Beemer, the song list is great…all the songs we love: What a Fool Believes, The Biggest Part of Me, Lido Shuffle, Steal Away, Peg, Ride Like the Wind, This Is It, Baker Street, Escape (The Pina Colada Song), I Just Wanna Stop, Baby Come Back, Summer Breeze, Reminiscing, Still the One…
So the show’s ready to start, my wife is on here third glass of Chardonnay, so we’d better get to the men’s room for a quick toot before Boz starts….”
So there is my (imagined) Yacht Rock experience – thanks for the invite to The Main Stage…. Please share your own or nominate an artist I missed (or blast me for one I’ve included that does not deserve this fate).
What’s with all this funny smoke down front? I ordered a Zima, not emphysema!
Is my fourth-favorite post-Pet Sounds Beach Boys song, “Kokomo,” a last-ditch effort at boarding the Yacht Rock phenomenon before it left shore?
Nice work, jungleland2. Way to make The Main Stage yours!
June 23rd 2009, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Michael McDonald & Bozz Scaggs.
Ya Mo Be There!
northvancoveman, no stealing simpson’s material.
jungleland, correct me if i’m wrong, but isn’t one of the key moments in the ‘yacht rock’ saga the emergence of hall and oates on the scene?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B7bVD_DkM4
You see clips from this concert on VH1 Classic from time to time. I’m convinced it’s one of the whitest things ever.
My wife made me watch what I can only assume is Modern Yacht Rock the other night. She likes that Andrea Bocelli guy and he was on some show where they were honoring some guy named David Foster. Apparently he’s light rock’s answer to Phil Spector times two. It was big, I’ll say that. But a big turd just smells more.
Can we blame the Beach Boys’ Sloop John B for this?
I think “What a Fool Believes” should be disqualified. It has at least a modicum of soul to it, after all.
blue eyed soul maybe!
that Skaggs/McDonald concert is the 26th NOT the 23rd. Lawn seats are $40 NOT $98!
Per the origin of the phrase itself, anything done by Michael McDonald is Yacht Rock and the defining factor of the concept is smooooothness.
Phish grabbed the jam band mantle from the Dead, but I actually think they come off like more of a modern-day variant of Yacht Rock. They’re a jam band fit for a cruise line.
We have yacht’s in Canada too, eh:
“Let Go the Line”, prime slice of YachtRock by Max Webster. Featuring, of course, Kim Mitchell who later went on to “rock” my junior high days with “Patio Lanterns”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyz2hPe7zUo
Second wave Poco is a must on this list. Can’t believe they haven’t been mentioned so far. “I need another sweet taste of rum” indeed.
Has anyone around here been through the desert on a horse with no name?
I’m gonna have to think through the Yacht Rock/Psychic Oblivion connection. Lots of crossover but key differences too.
By the way, I knew that Rock Town Hall’s official curmudgeon-in-residence, saturnismine, would be the one to get the Simpson’s reference. Back in your can, Oscar…
Poco has been added by popular demand…
Hall & Oates had a brief stint among the Yacht Rock faithfull…but then they started to record music that was current (80’s R&B, synths, urban).
There was the “Rich Girl” through “Wait For Me” era that they fit into for sure.
Eagles are another one that flirted with this genre. Especially the Timothy B Schmitt songs (I Can’t Tell You Why)…Glen Fry ran with this a solo artist with “You Belong To The City” ( I can taste it too, Glen)
America might fit here but they are earlier (help me with this, I was just a tike)
Who did Happy Aniversary Baby? That song should be added to the “great list” … also “How Long” by Ace
But we are getting close to “Light Rock” and though many songs cross platform, we need to keep this pure (Ok, we don’t NEED to, but you get where I’m going)
Air Supply I would not call Yacht Rock..just light-rock.
What A Fool Believes makes it if just for the squealy solo thingy ” wha-wha-wha-whuh-wha-whuh”
“I’m Winning” by Santanta is one that has the Yacht Rock formula. Was this typical of Santana post 1974? I have the first two records and never bought another CD from them
Fun to read what was in my head in 2009 (before I had kids and had time for things like this)