Through Monday, Sirius sat. radio is featuring "yacht rock" on channel 31.
"Yacht rock" (aka - smooth music) is generally considered light pop music released by artists / groups such as Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, Toto, Ambrosia, Seals & Croft, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Steve Perry, Christopher Cross, Hall & Oates, Orleans, Player, and Chicago, among others.
"Yacht rock" was (originally) an affectionate term coined by JD Reznar and a group of friends to label this type of music (that these folks were fans of), noting how so many of these artists used nautical terminology and references in their songs (e.g., "Sailing" by Christopher Cross), as well as a fictional image of yuppie yacht owners drinking wine, snorting coke, and sailing while listening to this music. A competing name that was also used was "Marina Rock".
In 2005, Reznar et al. created a short 5-min. episode about this yacht/marina rock stuff, which led to another 11 episodes. It had a cult following on the small cable network "Channel 101" before being released to the Internet (via YouTube in its early days of 2007). I discovered in mid-2007 and have periodically watched and laughed at these goofy shows. Here is the original (LINK); here is one of the most talked about (the back-alley song writing contest of 1978), and my favorite (Footloose - featuring Jason Lee playing Kevin Bacon). You can watch all 12 from the associated videos recommended in the side-bar.
Interestingly, many of these artists co-wrote songs with one another, performed duets and provided guest vocals, and often performed credited/uncredited back-up vocals (e.g., Michael McDonald was a back-up singer for Steely Dan before being tabbed to join the Doobies; McDonald would co-write with Kenny Loggins, and duet with Loggins on several songs; McDonald would lend his back-up vocals to artists like Boz Scaggs, Christopher Cross, and Toto, among others; through producer Ted Templeman [most famous for being assoc. with Warner Brothers artists the Doobie Brothers and "classic" Van Halen (with David Lee Roth)], McDonald even shares a co-writing credit on Van Halen's Top 15 hit "I'll Wait" from 1984's "MCMLXXXIV".).
What is a tad-bit funny is that several of the artists that were subjects of several episodes have been asked about the Yacht Rock series, and most are aware and are fans, and several (Michael McDonald, John Oates, and one of the Pocaro brothers from Toto) have said as silly and fun as they are, there are threads of truth unwittingly revealed in this episodes, which is pretty remarkable.
Enjoy.
"Yacht rock" (aka - smooth music) is generally considered light pop music released by artists / groups such as Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, Toto, Ambrosia, Seals & Croft, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Steve Perry, Christopher Cross, Hall & Oates, Orleans, Player, and Chicago, among others.
"Yacht rock" was (originally) an affectionate term coined by JD Reznar and a group of friends to label this type of music (that these folks were fans of), noting how so many of these artists used nautical terminology and references in their songs (e.g., "Sailing" by Christopher Cross), as well as a fictional image of yuppie yacht owners drinking wine, snorting coke, and sailing while listening to this music. A competing name that was also used was "Marina Rock".
In 2005, Reznar et al. created a short 5-min. episode about this yacht/marina rock stuff, which led to another 11 episodes. It had a cult following on the small cable network "Channel 101" before being released to the Internet (via YouTube in its early days of 2007). I discovered in mid-2007 and have periodically watched and laughed at these goofy shows. Here is the original (LINK); here is one of the most talked about (the back-alley song writing contest of 1978), and my favorite (Footloose - featuring Jason Lee playing Kevin Bacon). You can watch all 12 from the associated videos recommended in the side-bar.
Interestingly, many of these artists co-wrote songs with one another, performed duets and provided guest vocals, and often performed credited/uncredited back-up vocals (e.g., Michael McDonald was a back-up singer for Steely Dan before being tabbed to join the Doobies; McDonald would co-write with Kenny Loggins, and duet with Loggins on several songs; McDonald would lend his back-up vocals to artists like Boz Scaggs, Christopher Cross, and Toto, among others; through producer Ted Templeman [most famous for being assoc. with Warner Brothers artists the Doobie Brothers and "classic" Van Halen (with David Lee Roth)], McDonald even shares a co-writing credit on Van Halen's Top 15 hit "I'll Wait" from 1984's "MCMLXXXIV".).
What is a tad-bit funny is that several of the artists that were subjects of several episodes have been asked about the Yacht Rock series, and most are aware and are fans, and several (Michael McDonald, John Oates, and one of the Pocaro brothers from Toto) have said as silly and fun as they are, there are threads of truth unwittingly revealed in this episodes, which is pretty remarkable.
Enjoy.
