I think you're leaning more R&B/pop with most of these. 'Brandy' is straight AM gold and predates YR. 'Oh What a Night' is pop. 'Baby Hold On' is too rough around the edges, YR is defined by 'smooth'.

See what you think of this.

If "Ride Captain Ride" isn't yacht rock, then I don't know what yacht rock is.

I really doubt that the genre "yacht rock" even exists. This is chasing shadows.

I think RCR is yacht rock fwiw (though none of the others you posted). But my opinion aint worth much because I don't really know what yacht rock is. My idea of it is based entirely on this thread.

I also think I might have been swayed by the nautical theme (and your list is pretty darn nautical - why Lady instead of Come Sail Away?), but that might have nothing to do with this made-up genre.

Downeaster Alexa though, that sure as hell aint yacht rock. Billy Joel was doing some working class rock right there.

So from what I gather about Yacht Rock (never heard the term before), musicians who sing about boats and such are more likely to be considered YR? Would David Gray be in this group?

Good point. Is Crosby, Stills and Nash yacht rock? I would hope not, they do sing a lot about sailing but I'd hate to see them lumped in with Loggins and Messina and ****ing Hall and Oates.

It seems to me 'yacht rock' is what you listen to while on your yacht, it doesn't have to be about yachts.

More yacht rock:

WTF is wrong with hall and Oates?? They are modern day troubadour

Yes, when it comes to Hall and Oates criticism, I can't go for that. No can do.

They had the catchy songs, and I don't even think they were gay.

The only thing H&O ever did wrong was to let Oates shave his pornstache.

"Puttin' it up your butt, that's what's on my list."

Yacht Rock Revue could possibly be viewed as an authority on the subject; if they cover it, it's yacht rock.




EDIT: SUMMER BREEZE!

The sailors say, "Brandy, you're a fine girl. What a good wife you would be (such a fine girl)!"

Guys,

I think you would enjoy: http://mustacheharbor.com/

"Our mission, our destiny, is simple, to build a mustache army capable of creating a Soft Rock Explosion the likes of which has not been seen since the days when Christopher Cross, Steely Dan, Ace, Kenny Loggins and The Little River Band, to name but a few, created A.M. Gold.

Also, a bit of a tangent, but super awesome: http://www.amazon.com/Interpreting-M.../dp/B0036U0BUK

Might have been me . I was definitely yelling at people itt that Rush is awesome.

I'd say technically they are not but they are close and definitely have some overlap. Also, they have an album cover that looks like this:

D - that birds and the bees cover album is great.

Also, if you are into yacht rock, you have to check out Heidecker and Wood. It's Tim Heidecker (of Tim and Eric's Awesome Show) band that he formed with the Eric Wood, the composer from the show. It's basically a yacht rock parody band, but they are really funny and really good at the same time. It's the kind of parody that's done with so much love and respect for the thing it's parodying, that's it's also a great example of that thing.



Also, here's a list of Heidecker's ten favorite yacht rock songs. Some of these are more just soft rock than specifically yacht rock, but all are very good nonetheless.

http://stereogum.com/656332/heidecke...es/listomania/

The prog/yacht rock distinction is there, but it's sometimes hard to discern. The Alan Parsons Project is prog, I think, but I wish they were more yacht.

The existence of a boat or nautical theme does not a yacht rock song make. "Brandy" is classic/folk rock. Period. More evidence that the existence of a boat doesn't earn the yacht rock label:



I don't think they've been mentioned, but the Little River Band has some pretty solid contributions to the genre:

Holy **** this is hot fire. Thx Diablo.

David B. Lyons, who co-produced the show and played Koko Goldstein, noted that a friend of his devised the term "marina rock" in college to describe a more "working-class" group of artists that didn't achieve the same high profile, such as Seals and Crofts, Rupert Holmes, and Looking Glass.[9]

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacht_Rock

When I think of Yacht Rock, I think of it as more than just soft rock. In my mind, it's influenced strongly by Soul and R&B music. Like Motown, but brought to you by a bunch of white guys with beards.

Also, lol @ me for posting 3x in a row =/

This one is a tour-de-force, complete with oversinging and questionable lyrics about underage girls. The song opens with the classy line, "She's just 16 years old, leave her alone they said". The end of that line, "they said", is important because it implies that Benny Mardones himself doesn't necessarily have a problem with having relations with said 16 year old.




Also, check out this video of Benny Mardones performing "Into the Night" a few years ago in Syracuse, NY.



Some key moments:

0:54 - Benny points to what I assume is a teenager in the audience after singing the "16 year old" line.

1:25 - Benny stops singing so he can tell a fan in the front to get down from someone's shoulders. After talking him down, Benny, satisfied, walks back to center stage.

1:48 - Benny goes back to the fan who has ignored his warnings and is once again inexplicably enjoying this song enough to be waving his hands in the air as if he doesn't care.

Also if anyone questions whether this is yacht rock, here's a description of the original video (which I can't find): "the original video had Benny answering a phone while riding on a ship with a woman."

Yacht rock refers to extremely smooth late 70s/early to mid 80s rock. It has nothing to do with sailing themes, although sailing themes certainly don't hurt. "Sailing" by Christopher Cross, yes. "Sail Away," no. A lot of the songs Neuroman posted are close, but fall more in the category of r and b or beach music afaic. "Baby Hold On" would be the closest, but I think Eddie Money is a bit deshabille for the YR aesthetic.

Spaceman--holy **** yes. Also, if anyone wants to do a thread within a thread for creepiest rock songs, this one would have my vote.

Bonus videos: