![SiriusXM Sets Sail With Yacht Rock Performances From Kenny Loggins And Christopher Cross](https://wmtram.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2024/07/GettyImages-1402888348_1720638084_.jpg?w=300)
July is here and it’s prime season for Yacht Rock Songs. Time to sit back on your yacht, or ummm dingy, and listen to the smooth sounds from the mid-70s to the mid-80s, with temp hopefully right there as well. The seagulls cry the white caps slap against the fiberglass hull, and you hold your glass of buttery chard oh so gently while inspecting those bikinis. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s yachtta do it!
Yeah, But What The Hell Is Yacht Rock?
According to AllMusic, Yacht Rock is a broad music style and aesthetic commonly associated with Soft Rock, one of the most commercially successful genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. Drawing on sources such as Smooth Soul, Smooth Jazz, R&B, and Disco. Meanwhile, common stylistic traits include high-quality production, clean vocals, and a focus on light, catchy melodies.[6] The term yacht rock was coined in 2005 by the makers of the online video series Yacht Rock, who connected the music with the popular SoCal leisure activity of boating. It was considered a pejorative term by some music critics.
Furthermore, In 2014, AllMusic‘s Matt Colier identified the “key defining rules of the genre:”
- Keep it smooth, even when it grooves, with more emphasis on the melody than on the beat
- Keep the emotions light, even when the sentiment turns sad (as is so often the case in the world of the sensitive yacht rocksman)
- “Always keep it catchy, no matter how modest or deeply buried in the tracklist the tune happens to be“
So Who Is The Yachtiest Of The Yacht Rockers?
This is 100 percent my own opinion. Top Ten does not leave a lot of room for error. I consider myself a pretty solid Yacht Rocker, and quite the musicologist. However, in the rare case you feel I make a mistake and leave off one of your Yacht Rock favs, have my people call your people and we’ll get together off the coast of Island Beach State Park for some Sangria and Cheese, and a little Yacht Rock, of course!
By The By, Lovey, if you’re looking for the perfect Yacht Rock swag to rock this summer, check this article out!
Plus if you need a place to dry dock and yacht rock, here’s a spot that Yachts every Sunday all summer long!