304 | Garret Price (Music Box: Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary)

My Summer Lair Chapter #304: Yacht or Nyacht?

Culturally; we seem to be slowly coming around to acknowledging the enriching value of the ‘70s.

In the last 2 years we’ve had: The Holdovers: set in 1970, Saturday Night (The SNL movie set in 1975), Daisy Jones & The Six (1977) and Woman of the Hour (1978: it’s the Anna Kendrick movie about a serial killer on The Dating Game.).

And happily before all that we had enjoyed cinematic classics like Crowe’s Almost Famous, Ferrell’s Anchorman and Fincher’s Zodiac. (All 3 are remarkable films.)

Our response to the ‘70s is different from the odd nostalgia we seem to have for the ‘60s. However, like an archeological dig we’re slowly unearthing the value of this slightly overlooked decade. Which includes recognizing all the dope music such as Yacht Rock.

Yacht Rock is a pejorative term and a term of endearment: sarcasm is in the mouth of the beholder.

Does Steely Dan count as Yacht Rock? (Absolutely!)

What about Hall & Oates? (Nope, that’s a whole different Philadelphia sound.)

To quote the comedian creators of the Yacht Rock term: “All Yacht Rock is soft rock but not all soft rock is Yacht Rock.”

In the late ‘70s and early ’80s, Yacht Rock as a term was not yet a thing; however the genre was real. The music was and is spectacular: Toto, early Kenny Loggins, Steely Dan, Michael McDonald and Christopher Cross this is what the HBO Yacht Rock documentary is all about and who it focuses on.

Even if you don’t know the bands, trust me: you know the music. I like that Garrett’s Yacht Rock documentary acknowledges how often the music has been sampled for rap music. Remember Warren G’s monster hit Regulate? The West Coast hip hop track samples Michael McDonald’s song I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near).

Honestly, as you’re about to hear director Garret Price tell me: “I call Yacht Rock the soundtrack of our lives, whether you like it or not, because it’s been in your whole life.”

Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary is part of HBO’s Music Box series co-founded by Bill Simmons. What Bill did for 30 for 30s at ESPN—living at the intersection of culture and sports—he’s doing at HBO with the Music Box series. This time the intersection is culture and music.

In fact the Yacht Rock director Garret Price kicked off the Music Box series with Woodstock ’99 in 2021, as Season 1.

As Garret tells me in this My Summer Lair conversation Woodstock ’99 was a darker story; while Yacht Rock is fun and light. It’s reflective in the music for both docs.

Contemporary artists like Questlove and Thundercat describe how those jazzy pop tunes influenced their own sound. Thundercat even recruited Mike McDonald and Kenny Loggins to contribute to his 2017 song Show You the Way.

In this charming HBO documentary Questlove affirms: “It’s perfect sitting down dancing music.”

While Fred Armisen chips in: “Yacht Rock, to me, it’s a very relaxing feeling. It’s like the singers all seem to be saying: “Hey it’s gonna be okay.”

If you’re looking for good vibes, mellow music infused with a sunny LA mood Yacht Rock is your jam.

Garret Price @ W • T • F

Host Sammy Younan

Recorded: Thursday November 21, 2024 at 5:40 pm (EST)

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