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If You Love Yacht Rock
- Thread starter TheBigA
- Start date
Doesn't Music Choice have the same channels everywhere?
Yup, happened to stumble across it on the night it premiered. My wife and I were in a hotel room, so not many options and we stuck with it. It was actually quite good and I learned a few things.
As I recall, Music Choice is a package of multiple music streams. A cable system pulls in the whole package off a satellite, digitally unpacks it, and can plug any or all of the streams onto however many channels they want to allocate. So it's possible the Yacht Rock stream might be on a channel coming out of the headend in city/town/county A but not on the system in city/town/county B. Same for Opera, old-style Western Swing, 1940's-era Big Band or any other non-mainstream music style.
All the major audio streaming services have dedicated Yacht Rock channels. IHeart, Pandora, Audacy, AccuRadio, TuneIn, etc. Spotify has a bunch of YR mixes (including mine).
For an over the air signal, there's Key 93.7 in Key West, FL. 24/7 Yacht.
For an over the air signal, there's Key 93.7 in Key West, FL. 24/7 Yacht.
Many of my favorite songs on the newer side of my "range" (early 70s through at least mid 80s) happen to be mostly Yacht Rock (known as "Soft Rock" back in the 70s), so I guess that means I like it a lot!
I have Mediacon here at my new place and xFinity (aka Concast) at my old place and both of them carry the YR Music Choice channel. Not 100% relevant here, but they also have a very good Easy Listening channel.
I guess I got lucky!
c
I have Mediacon here at my new place and xFinity (aka Concast) at my old place and both of them carry the YR Music Choice channel. Not 100% relevant here, but they also have a very good Easy Listening channel.
I guess I got lucky!
c
KISQ 98.1 in San Francisco is known as "The Breeze" That's an I-Heart station.. They play this kind of sleepy rock music. Things from the 70's, like "House at Pooh Corner", etc. Music Choice calls this genre "Soft Rock".
"Easy Listening" on Music Choice is mostly instrumentals, with predominant strings and what is known as "lush orchestral bed" backing. KJOI in L.A. used to play this format.
When radio stations started to refer to themselves with just nicknames and frequencies, rather than call letters, dozens of them used "the breeze" as their moniker.
This is appropo of nothing, but I'm wondering how many stations that started out as Yacht Rock in the seventies, then went on to transition to Disco format in the late 70's, early 80's. - D.
"Easy Listening" on Music Choice is mostly instrumentals, with predominant strings and what is known as "lush orchestral bed" backing. KJOI in L.A. used to play this format.
When radio stations started to refer to themselves with just nicknames and frequencies, rather than call letters, dozens of them used "the breeze" as their moniker.
This is appropo of nothing, but I'm wondering how many stations that started out as Yacht Rock in the seventies, then went on to transition to Disco format in the late 70's, early 80's. - D.
There was never a format known as "yacht rock" in the 70s. That label is a more recent thing. In the 70s, these songs were mixed in with other currents.
This Is the Definitive Definition of Yacht Rock
Michael McDonald is playing The Woodlands on Friday. Let's just set the record smooth.
That's a really good article ! I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for posting it. -- DarylThere was never a format known as "yacht rock" in the 70s. That label is a more recent thing. In the 70s, these songs were mixed in with other currents.
This Is the Definitive Definition of Yacht Rock
Michael McDonald is playing The Woodlands on Friday. Let's just set the record smooth.www.houstoniamag.com
The article itself is very much opinionated as to what Yacht Rock is. I contend it is just what he described and many of the bands he says are not. I contend you can't have yacht without Jimmy Buffett, Bertie Higgins and a few others and I might even add a reggae tune that crossed over. There's no reason a song prior to 1986 or that something like Don't Know Why by Norah Jones cannot be included.
Yeah, the writer's definition is a bit strict, but I can see their point to an extent.
By the way, I just remembered this tidbit that you all might find interesting:
When I was attending music classes at the local CC (community college), I got involved with a per-semester series of "Artist in Residence" events. The first one was some classical quartet from San Francisco, then there was another one or two that I don't recall.
But there was one that was absolutely unforgettable: Michael McDonald. Yes, The Michael McDonald. The very same one whose music was discussed in the article. He performed at a show at my college! It may have been a benefit for the wildfire victims in 2015's Valley Fire. That part I don't recall.
There were also a number of opening acts, including a few that are relatively well known regionally (in particular, David Hayes and Gene Parsons (fun fact: Mr. Parsons let me hold his banjo! That thing was heavy!), and are perhaps more widely known as members of Van Morrison's Caledonia Soul Orchestra and The Byrds, respectively).
So, although I didn't actually meet him, I got to see him closer up than most average people might (I think I was within 10 or so feet of him at one point backstage as he was prepping to begin his performance). I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that, at the time, I had almost no clue who he was or why he was so popular (I had known that he was a member of the Doobie Brothers band, but not much else). I'd never attended any of his concerts before or since, either (technically I didn't attend that performance either, as I was part of the volunteer sound crew). Of course, I now know what the fuss was about
Has anyone around here had the pleasure of seeing him that close? Some of you may actually know him, maybe?
Anyway, sorry for the derailment. At least it's relevant, though, seeing as I'm referring to one of the best known personifications of Yacht Rock's essence!
c
By the way, I just remembered this tidbit that you all might find interesting:
When I was attending music classes at the local CC (community college), I got involved with a per-semester series of "Artist in Residence" events. The first one was some classical quartet from San Francisco, then there was another one or two that I don't recall.
But there was one that was absolutely unforgettable: Michael McDonald. Yes, The Michael McDonald. The very same one whose music was discussed in the article. He performed at a show at my college! It may have been a benefit for the wildfire victims in 2015's Valley Fire. That part I don't recall.
There were also a number of opening acts, including a few that are relatively well known regionally (in particular, David Hayes and Gene Parsons (fun fact: Mr. Parsons let me hold his banjo! That thing was heavy!), and are perhaps more widely known as members of Van Morrison's Caledonia Soul Orchestra and The Byrds, respectively).
So, although I didn't actually meet him, I got to see him closer up than most average people might (I think I was within 10 or so feet of him at one point backstage as he was prepping to begin his performance). I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that, at the time, I had almost no clue who he was or why he was so popular (I had known that he was a member of the Doobie Brothers band, but not much else). I'd never attended any of his concerts before or since, either (technically I didn't attend that performance either, as I was part of the volunteer sound crew). Of course, I now know what the fuss was about
Has anyone around here had the pleasure of seeing him that close? Some of you may actually know him, maybe?
Anyway, sorry for the derailment. At least it's relevant, though, seeing as I'm referring to one of the best known personifications of Yacht Rock's essence!
c
The Yacht Rock definition has been debated and studied by several music services. I've seen the Yacht Rock program director from Sirius XM as saying the genre's fans have definite ideas about what qualifies and what doesn't. When he tried to expand the playlist, he got negative feedback. So the playlist stays the same.
This is despite the Yacht Rock channel on Sirius running 24/7/365 with no commercials, just songs and occasional liners read by someone who sounds like Thurston Howell III. It just keeps playing the same several hundred titles and everyone is happy with hearing "I Keep Forgettin'" and "Turn Your Love Around" over and over. (That includes me.)
At first, Yacht Rock was only a summer offering by Sirius XM. It had a channel somewhere around 17 but only from May to early September. After Labor Day, the channel reverted to a more standard Soft Rock sound. But people liked it so much, Sirius now offers it all year on Channel 311. Some radios don't go that high, so every summer, it also goes on 17 or some low channel as well as 311.
The producer of the HBO special on Yacht Rock, Bill Simmons, was interviewed by Rob Lowe for his podcast "Literally." It's available on iHeartRadio and other platforms, dated Jan. 8th. It's an interesting listen!
This is despite the Yacht Rock channel on Sirius running 24/7/365 with no commercials, just songs and occasional liners read by someone who sounds like Thurston Howell III. It just keeps playing the same several hundred titles and everyone is happy with hearing "I Keep Forgettin'" and "Turn Your Love Around" over and over. (That includes me.)
At first, Yacht Rock was only a summer offering by Sirius XM. It had a channel somewhere around 17 but only from May to early September. After Labor Day, the channel reverted to a more standard Soft Rock sound. But people liked it so much, Sirius now offers it all year on Channel 311. Some radios don't go that high, so every summer, it also goes on 17 or some low channel as well as 311.
The producer of the HBO special on Yacht Rock, Bill Simmons, was interviewed by Rob Lowe for his podcast "Literally." It's available on iHeartRadio and other platforms, dated Jan. 8th. It's an interesting listen!
I always thought of Turn Your Love Around as having more of a disco sound
It's 1981, so it's considered post-disco. Written in part by Steve Lukather of Toto, who was featured in the yacht rock documentary demanding "where's my yacht." Disco was a bit more aggressive.
BTW That song won Steve a Grammy for Best R&B Song, his only Grammy in that category. He had 5 Grammy awards.
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Back in 2004 I called the cable company to find out what great music I was hearing on the channel at the beach with real estate ads and wanted criminals. I know it was 2004 because I was at a pay phone in the mall so I wouldn't spend money making the call from my motel room. The mall had only a few stores left, after a new mall opened, when I returned to the beach the next time.
It was very traditional easy instrumentals at that time but I am in what was the Yahoo group and became a Facebook group and someone in that group took it over and made it sound more contemporary.
I like Yacht Rock artists in general but I've never liked Toto.
Prior to 1986? Aren't pretty much all Yacht Tock songs from prior to 1986?
Apparently I don't like Yacht Rock as much as I thought.There was never a format known as "yacht rock" in the 70s. That label is a more recent thing. In the 70s, these songs were mixed in with other currents.
This Is the Definitive Definition of Yacht Rock
Michael McDonald is playing The Woodlands on Friday. Let's just set the record smooth.
I particularly dislike "Human Nature" because of the synthesizer.
My high school cafeteria had a jukebox and "What A Fool Believes" was played a lot. Ironically, I didn't like it then. I like it a lot now, and pretty much everything the Doobies did.
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