Yacht rock gets celebrated — smoothly, of course — in new documentary
NEW YORK — The stress of Thanksgiving is over. Now it's time to heat up leftovers, relax on the couch and enjoy the smooth sounds of a wrongly mocked music genre: yacht rock.
The late- ’70s songs of Steely Dan, Michael McDonald and Christopher Cross take center stage Friday in the well-crafted Max documentary “Music Box: Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary.”
Director Garret Price marries interviews with yacht rock artists, current musicians who are fans and the creators of the parody web series who coined the genre's name in 2005.
“This music is the soundtrack to our lives, whether we want it or not. It’s playing in grocery stores, pharmacies, doctor’s offices, elevators, our parents' cars our whole life,” says Price. “I kind of took it for granted because it’s just there. I think a lot of people have abandoned this music and I’m hoping those people rediscover it.”
So who exactly made yacht rock? The experts in the film argue it is Toto, McDonald, Kenny Loggins, the Doobie Brothers, Cross and Steely Dan — described as “the primordial ooze from which yacht rock sprang.” Think songs like “Ride Like the Wind” by Cross, “Reelin’ In the Years” by Steely Dan and “Rosanna” by Toto.
What’s not yacht rock — at least according to the filmmakers — is the Eagles, Hall & Oates, Jimmy Buffett or Fleetwood Mac, who don’t perfectly fit the definition: elevated pop music infused with jazz and R&B.
Cross, McDonald, Loggins and Toto’s David Paich and Steve Porcaro discuss the music and how they handled the label. Donald Fagen of Steely Dan only had a short phone call with Price, but allowed the band's music to be used.
“I had this film basically done except for the Steely Dan music syncs and it was sitting idle for months and was like, ‘I don’t know how to tell this story unless I get this music.’ Lo and behold, we finally hear from Donald Fagen,” says Price. “We have this moment that I don’t even know if I could beat if I had a sit-down interview with him.”
Giving context are musician-comedian Fred Armisen, musician-author Questlove, musicians Thundercat, Brian Robert Jones and Brenda Russell, producer Prince Paul and rock critics and session players.
Questlove opens the door to a less restricted definition of yacht rock, adding artists like Al Jarreau, the Pointer Sisters and George Benson, arguing that the genre isn’t limited to white artists.
“When you’re dealing with a completely arbitrary genre like this that got made up completely, that’s kind of the beauty of it — the debates of what is or isn’t,” says Price.
Yacht rock enjoyed a brief window on the charts in the late 1970s and the documentary argues that MTV largely contributed to its demise. Yacht rockers weren't able or willing to transition into a visual space.
Once that window closed, yacht rock became derided — mocked in everything from “30 Rock” to “Family Guy.” In “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” a character tortures her electronics store co-workers by playing McDonald on a constant loop.
“I feel like these artists have always been kind of punchlines in pop culture,” says Price. “I went in saying, ‘I want to make a fun film but not make fun of anybody.’”
The label “yacht rock” came much later thanks to a comedy series of short films by J.D. Ryznar and Steve Huey, who currently lead The Yacht or Nyacht Podcast. They were hoping to win a contest with their short films and the name took off.
“This is kind of a private in-joke that sort of went global all of a sudden,” says Huey. “The underlying intent is we love this music. We poke some fun at it, but we also want people to hear it for what it is, which is really, really good, solid, well-crafted music.”
Ryznar says the label was inspired by the cover and name of “Full Sail” — an album from Loggins and Jim Messina — Cross' hit single “Sailing” and the captain-hat wearing half of Captain & Tennille.
“We just noticed this '70s motif and it seemed to describe the music that was so well-produced so perfectly,” Ryznar says. “It’s not called yacht rock because it sounds good on a boat, though it does. It’s called yacht rock because it’s well crafted, like the finest yacht.”
Price, an editor on “Daisey Jones & The Six” who also directed the dark “Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage,” says his latest work arrives at a great time in the year.
“It’s the perfect post-Thanksgiving film to watch with your family after what may be a more contentious Thanksgiving this year than others,” says Price. “We can all just chill out, vibe out, listen to this smooth, polished music and just smile.”
