We need a comprehensive Yacht Rock movie from the likes of Ken Burns
Yacht rock is having a long day in the sun, but it’s still somehow a niche musical genre. The new Music Box: Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary, on Max, has some great footage and good interviews, but it is just a glimpse and far from something Ken Burns-like definitive.
Now, I write that with some tongue in cheek. Burns might not quite be the right producer to pick. His style would probably be a bit dry for a topic that thrives in bright colors and splashy production values. However, there is still a ton of context to be explored on the topic of yacht rock.
As of now, the best information you’re going to get about this wide-ranging but still illusive era of rock music remains The Yacht Rock Book: The Oral History of the Soft, Smooth Sounds of the 70s and 80s. As I wrote in my review of that oral history, Rupert Holmes’ “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” is arguably the theme song of the smoothly produced and hook-filled group of songs that make up yacht rock. I don’t even think it’s mentioned in the movie, and many important artists like Hall and Oates are glossed over.
Mainly featured in the new movie, and for good reason, are Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, Kenny Loggins, Toto, Michael Jackson, Christopher Cross, and even De La Soul. The running theme of Toto makes sense, since those studio musicians played on a mind-boggling array of yacht-rock hits, including the entirety of the Thriller album, which one might not even associate with yacht rock until pausing to stop and think about it.
But, at the same time, perhaps one of the defining (and I would add most endearing) features of the genre is how nobody can seem to agree exactly which artists and songs belong within it.
I have to admit, Cross’s songs, in particular, which immediately catapulted him to massive fame upon the release of his debut album, really strike a chord with me to this day. “Sailing” may be where the term yacht rock originated because nobody in the genre had ever written about actual boats until that point. He has a lot of other great songs and they, for some reason, sound really extra special when I listen to them on the turntable. That’s actually the case with a lot of these artists. I’m not quite sure if it’s the crisp analog production or if it’s the memories evoked from having once long ago listened to them on vinyl records. Perhaps it’s both, but there is plenty of high-production music that doesn’t transition very well to vinyl. This is never the case with yacht rock.
Some of my favorite moments from the new movie include:
The mild-mannered Cross’s reflections on launching his music career by selling a lot of weed and writing “Ride Like the Wind” while tripping on acid.
When the producers call Donald Fagen of Steely Dan to see if he’ll agree to being interviewed for a movie about yacht rock, one of the two most notorious haters of the term (the other being John Oates) tells the producer to go f*ck himself and hangs up.
There is a nice, if too brief, dissection of how yacht rock became a time in history when men could finally transition from having macho images to vulnerable ones, with many of the songs diving into the psychology of heartbreak and being played a fool by their exes.
Music Box: Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary is a good entry point for newbies, but it leaves diehards wanting much more. 4 out of 5 stars