Yacht Rock Sails Again!

Is relaxed jazzy pop music coming back?

Today we put on our sailor suits and captain hats. That’s because we’re listening to new yacht rock.

Yes, yacht rock is coming back.

---

Please support my work by taking out a premium subscription (just $6 per month—or less).

---

Despite what you’ve been told, it’s not just a nostalgia act, or a pretense for goofy cover bands (such as Yächtley Crëw). Yacht rock is actually sailing again!

So come aboard with me….

We don’t cover the cover bands here—we want the real thing out on the open seas (Source).

In case you aren’t familiar with the name yacht rock, let me fill you in.

The term started out as an insult. Fans of harder strains of rock disdained its jazzy, pop-oriented grooves. They only approve of bands with tats, piercings, and a few mug shots.

Even I once succumbed to the snobbery, as described in my essay “How I Stopped Hating Steely Dan.”

“Yacht rock is coming back, like some Titanic raised from the ocean floor.”

But fans of this music have now embraced the insulting name in defiance to all naysayers. If you ask them why, they will say (with a cynical grin) that they’ve got names for the winners in the world, and we get this name when we lose….

(That often happens with genre names—ragtime originated as a derogatory reference to rags, but we now wear those rags with pride. Similar stories might be told about punk, shoegaze, emo, bubblegum, and other idioms.)

In any event, yacht rock is now a bucket filled with artists such as Steely Dan, Toto, Michael McDonald, Fleetwood Mac, Christopher Cross, Hall & Oates, Loggins & Messina, Sade, Michael Franks, George Benson, and maybe even the Eagles on a slow day with a peaceful, easy feeling.

I’m still uneasy about the label. Why don’t we just call it well-crafted pop?

But the recent yacht rock documentary sealed the deal. It’s now the official genre title as determined by all gatekeepers. As further confirmation, I’ve noticed that my Sirius satellite radio recently added a 24/7 yacht rock channel.

Today I’m letting you in on a secret. Yacht rock never died—it just went into hiding.

And now it’s finally coming back, resurrected like some Titanic raised from the ocean floor.

Lately I’ve been hearing new tracks from new artists with this time-honored yacht rock vibe. And I think this is just the start.

After all, if this style is so popular, why should it only exist as a music history lesson from the last century?

In that spirit, let me introduce you to seven artists with new recordings that will let you ride like wind again.

Yes, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see….

---

My first recommended track comes from John Splithoff—whose new album Far From Here was released on March 21. You can definitely hoist your sail to this.

---

My next band not only captures a Steely Dan ethos in their arrangements—they also borrow Steely Dan’s font for their new video. I hope their lawyers cleared this.