Watching the new HBO Max documentary Music Box: Yacht Rock: a DOCKumentary, one person sprung to mind. Listening to the tender, vulnerable, romantic vibes of 1970s and ‘80s acts like Christopher Cross and Toto had me in the mood to reach out to one specific person. No, the songs didn’t send me to an old high school girlfriend I might have sung these tunes to back then or even asking my wife’s notions on the subject matter. She’s not nostalgic in the least and actually prefers The Blood Brothers to the Doobie Brothers. She’s hardcore!
I was less interested in the emotions the film stirred than its musical and historical accuracy. So, the one person I wanted to ask about the documentary (which I highly recommend) was Bob Ruggiero. Also known as “Classic Rock Bob,” Ruggiero is someone in my own circle I knew could confirm or dispel some of the claims made in the film.
Classic Rock Bob loves yacht rock. I’ve been around him at some shows but have maybe never seen him more alive than singing at the top of his lungs and dancing like a wild man to “Thunder Island” during a Light Rock Express show at Continental Club. Besides that, he’s a longtime music journalist and author who has interviewed some of yacht rock’s major players, people like Kenny Loggins, Steve Lukather and Boz Scaggs, who are all featured in the film. You can read those interviews in Ruggiero’s recent book, The Classic Rock Bob Reader, which is available for the low, low price of $19.95 on Amazon for your last-minute Christmas shopping needs!
Ruggiero graciously agreed to field some of my questions, covering everything from whether yacht rock is only for saps and simps (It’s not! Thank goodness) and if there are any new yacht rock acts (There are! Sort of. Read on for his explanation).
For the uninitiated, yacht rock, as Wikipedia describes it, was “originally known as the West Coast sound or adult-oriented rock,” before an early 2000s web series coined the term to categorize the music, long after that music was first made, heard and loved. Wiki says yacht rock is “commonly associated with soft rock,” but draws “on sources such as smooth soul, smooth jazz, R&B and disco.” Its “common stylistic traits include high-quality production, clean vocals and a focus on light, catchy melodies.”
Classic Rock Bob said the documentarians did a good job of identifying the key elements of the genre.
“I’m glad they established up front that, while all yacht rock is soft rock, not all soft rock is yacht rock. Nor are the Eagles or Fleetwood Mac, who would seem to fit in perfectly,” he said, and added that the Yacht Rock web series has a website – yachtornyacht.com – to help discern which acts are truly of the genre.
“I’m glad that most of the talking head time went to the actual musicians involved in the sound, and especially session players and producers only known to liner note readers, like Gary Katz, Tom Scott and Jay Graydon,” Ruggiero said. “Also enjoyed hearing from younger artists who either loved or are influenced by yacht rock like Thundercat, Bethany Cosentino and Questlove.”
The film suggests yacht rock originated from Steely Dan, calling the band “the primordial ooze from whence yacht rock sprang.”
“The doc makes a good case for the Dan being sort of ground zero for yacht rock,” Ruggiero said. “Even though Donald Fagen hates the term and, as you see at the end, tells the director to go fuck himself over the phone, he still licensed six Steely songs for use. If three of the faces on Yacht Rock Mount Rushmore belong to Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins and Christopher Cross, Fagen’s scowling, big-beaked visage is absolutely the fourth.”
The film also touts Steely Dan’s Aja as the single perfect representation of the music in full album form. I asked Classic Rock Bob if it ranks atop his all-time yacht rock albums list.
“Definitely top five, but don’t know that it’s the ‘perfect’ representation of yacht rock,” he said. “There’s a lot more complicated jazz stuff and time signatures on it, not to mention un-yacht rock subject matter. Though ‘Home at Last,’ the record’s least-known track, is at least nautical-related in its retelling of Homer’s epic poem ‘The Odyssey.’”
This is the kind of keen insight I knew someone of CRB’s stature could afford. I asked about the Porcaros – brothers Jeff, Mike and Steve – who were key to the sound as incredible and prolific session players and members of yacht rock royalty in the band Toto. If they aren’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I asked, are they rock music’s least appreciated musicians?
“Toto is not in, and the Porcaros aren’t in as sidemen. And only two of The Wrecking Crew and none of The Section – both storied groups of session musicians – are. But then again, Jesse, don’t get me started on who belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that isn’t, who’s in that shouldn’t be and which acts I would personally kick out. Agh! Where’s my blood pressure medicine?”
The idea that yacht rock isn’t very manly is explored in the film. I asked Ruggiero if it’s so wimpy why do so many real men (like us!) love it?
“No, it’s not a typically ‘manly’ rock sound at all,” he agreed “but, it certainly speaks to ‘Manly Life Goals.’ Which one of us XY chromosome bearers would not want to be on yacht, sipping pina coladas on the beautiful sea with a willing bikini-clad babe next to us? Or crawling like a viper through suburban streets looking for the next afternoon delight or potential heartbreak that would nevertheless make great song material?
“Interesting that (writer) Alex Pappademas pegged a segment of the yacht rock first-person male singer as one to express emotions, talk about their mistakes with women and still seem like a sad sack loser, which goes against the male fantasy part of the genre,” Ruggiero added.
The film does indeed delve into the way yacht rock embraces male vulnerability, making it the 1970s/‘80s version of emo music. Feelings expressed on songs like Loggins’ “Heart to Heart,” (number two on Yacht or Nyacht’s all-time list, right behind the Doobie Brothers “What a Fool Believes”) and assorted songs by Christopher Cross (who shares Houston’s ties to his classic “Ride Like the Wind” in the movie) and Michael McDonald (dubbed a “soul Pavarotti on steroids” in the doc) have helped the music remain popular all these decades later.
As journalist Molly Lambert says in the film, with England Dan & John Ford Coley’s “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight” softly in the background, “That’s part of what gives its longevity, is it’s like these songs are about timeless issues of wanting to love and be loved and that never goes out of style, ‘cause that’s the human experience.”
Ruggiero said “though ‘original’ yacht rock music is a dead-end adventure because a giant part of yacht rock’s appeal is inevitably tied to memories, ‘soundtrack of your life’ stuff associated with the songs and their constant playing and exposure,” there are new bands carrying the torch, like the nation’s premier yacht rock cover band, the Yacht Rock Revue, and acts like Young Gun Silver Fox. But, he said, yacht rock doesn’t really need new blood to carry on its musical legacy.
“As the doc explores, outside of the kitsch and captain’s hat factors, everyone knows these songs as the background music of their lives or, increasingly, parents’ lives,” said Ruggiero on the music’s enduring appeal. “And they’re pure ear candy. I didn’t steer my son Vincent to yacht rock, but he found it on his own. And now knows Doobie deep cuts!”
Music Box: Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary is now streaming on Max.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
