Dammit, I Think I Like Yacht Rock

Liking yacht rock is kind of like starting smoking. You have a cigarette on the weekends while drinking, then you have one at the end of a weekday, then you bum one during your lunch break, then you buy a pack, and all of a sudden, you’re a damn smoker.

Similarly, you make a playlist and for kicks you put some Hall and Oates in there, like “You Make My Dreams Come True”, you know, from the 500 Days of Summer Soundtrack. And then you check out some Michael McDonald because he’s got a pretty cool voice and, you know what? The Doobie Brothers were actually a decent band. And Christopher Cross sang the them to Arthur, right? That wasn’t such a bad… Christ, I like yacht rock.

I’m a late adopter in general but I resisted Spotify for a long time. My musical go to was – and frankly, still is – youtube. You can find most old videos, most current songs, and, in a lot of cases, entire albums. So, I would listen some Hall and Oates and then the algorithm for youtube songs would pick out more Hall and Oates and other eighties soft rock for me and they added a feature where the next video automatically plays.

So now, I often go from song to song and I don’t even notice anymore that I’m perfectly happy with the sounds of AM radio. Do you know what the other name is for this music? Adult contemporary. And it fits. I’m forty-one years old. This music was made for me and I enjoy it.

Good Lord.

So here are my main yacht rock faves.

Michael McDonald

“If I hear ‘Ya Mo B There’ one more time I’m going to Ya Mo Burn this place to the ground,” is one of my favorite lines from The 40 Year Old Virgin (when I saw it in theaters, 40 seemed old). But Michael McDonald has some pretty smooth tunes both solo and with the Doobies (fans of The Doobie Brothers call them The Doobies which is a fact I just made up). “I Keep Forgettin” kept getting played because it’s the sample for Warren G and Nate Dogg’s “Regulators.” And I just like “Sweet Freedom” and “What a Fool Believes.”

Christopher Cross

I believe Cross put the yacht in yacht rock with “Sailing.” It’s funny why I looked up “Ride Like The Wind,” it’s because the snail sang it in the trailer for the movie Sing and I wanted to know what it was. It’s this song. The lyrics are ludicrous and guess who sings back up in the chorus. Yeah, Michael McDonald.

Fleetwood Mac

You can’t get more adult contemporary than providing Bill Clinton’s campaign song. Apparently Fleetwood Mac had a past in which they were a traditional blues band much in the vein of Cream or Led Zeppelin but the only remaining member from those days, Mick Fleetwood, took the band in a different direction which led to the Fleetwood Mac we all think of. Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Rumors Fleetwood Mac. I’ve always legitimately loved Gypsy, though.

Hall and Oates

I actually said, in conversation once, “I’ll say this about Hall and Oates, you can’t have that many hits without some talent.” I stand by that too. (Who have I become?) Darryl Hall said Michael Jackson – Michael Jackson! – took a beat from them. But listen to the beginning of “I Can’t Go For That” and then listen to the beginning of “Billie Jean.” Michael ripped off Hall and Oates. I like way too many of their songs. “Out of Touch” is in hevy rotation, though and I always remembered “Method of Modern Love” because of the cheesy video that G.E. Smith from the SNL band was in.