Yacht rock (originally known as the West Coast Sound or adult-oriented rock) is a broad music style and aesthetic identified with soft rock. Its name, coined in the 2000s by the makers of the online video series Yacht Rock, was derived from its association with the popular Southern Californian leisure activity of sailing. The term describes one of the commercially successful genres of its era, existing between the late 1970s and early 1980s. Drawing on sources such as smooth soul, smooth jazz, R&B, funk, and disco, common stylistic traits include high-quality production, clean vocals, and a focus on light, catchy melodies.
Video Yacht rock
History and definition
AllMusic's Matt Colier identifies the "key defining rules of the genre" as follows:
- "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."
The term "yacht rock" did not exist while the genre was active. Initially described as "adult-oriented rock" or the "West Coast Sound", yacht rock music existed roughly between the years 1975-82 or 1976-84. "Yacht rock" was coined in 2005 with the online video series of the same name created by J.D. Ryznar. It was originally termed as a pejorative, although its stigma has lessened in later years. Some of the most popular acts included Hall & Oates, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Steely Dan and Toto. In part, "yacht rock" refers to the stereotype of the yuppie yacht owner, enjoying smooth music while out for a sail. Additionally, since sailing was a popular leisure activity in Southern California, many "yacht rockers" made nautical references in their lyrics, videos, and album artwork, particularly the anthemic track "Sailing" by Christopher Cross.
Jacobin's Dan O'Sullivan traces the roots of yacht rock to the music of the Beach Boys, whose aesthetic was the first to be "scavenged" by acts like Rupert Holmes. Captain & Tennille, who were members of the Beach Boys' live band, won "yacht rock's first Best Record Grammy" in 1975, for "Love Will Keep Us Together". O'Sullivan also cites the Beach Boys' recording of "Sloop John B" as the origin point of yacht rock's predilection for the "sailors and beachgoers" aesthetic that was "lifted by everyone, from Christopher Cross to Eric Carmen, from 'Buffalo Springfield' folksters like Jim Messina to 'Philly Sound' rockers like Hall & Oates." According to Mara Schwartz Kuge, who worked in the LA music industry for two decades: "Soft rock was a genre of very popular pop music from the '70s and early '80s, characterized by soft, mostly acoustic guitars and slow-to-mid tempos ... most people have generalized the term to mean anything kind of soft-and-'70s-ish, including artists like Rupert Holmes. Not all yacht rock is soft, either: Toto's 'Hold the Line' and Kenny Loggins' 'Footloose' are both very yacht rock but not soft rock."
Maps Yacht rock
Scope
In the 2010s, the cofounders of the Yacht Rock web series argued that many of the artists sometimes associated with yacht rock, particularly the folk-driven soft rock of musicians such as Gordon Lightfoot and the Eagles, were outside the ambitus of the term as they had originally conceived it. Ryznar stated that he intended it to refer to the "more elite studio artists" of the period. They also disputed the use of the term as an umbrella for any musician who made nautical references in song lyrics. Yacht Rock co-creators JD Ryznar, Steve Huey, Hunter Stair, and David Lyons identified a number of stylistic indicators of yacht rock, including affiliation with the most prominent southern California studio musicians and producers of the era (such as Michael McDonald, Toto, and Kenny Loggins), jazz and R&B influences, use of electric piano, complex and wry lyrics (particularly about fools), and an upbeat rhythm called the "Doobie Bounce". They invented the term "nyacht rock" to refer to artists who did not fit these parameters.
List of artists
References
External links
- Yacht or Nyacht - list of bonafide yacht rock songs as evaluated by the creators of Yacht Rock. Songs rated 50 and above are Yacht Rock, songs rated 49.99 and below are nyacht.
Source of article : Wikipedia
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