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The 20 greatest yacht rock songs ever, ranked
27 July 2022, 17:50
By Tom Eames
We can picture it now: lounging on a swish boat as it bobs along the water, sipping cocktails and improving our tan. Oh, and it's the 1980s.
There's only one style of music that goes with this image: Yacht rock.
What is Yacht Rock?
Also known as the West Coast Sound or adult-oriented rock, it's a style of soft rock from between the late 1970s and early 1980s that featured elements of smooth soul, smooth jazz, R&B, funk, rock and disco.
- The 40 greatest disco songs ever, ranked
- The 10 greatest and smoothest ever sax solos, ranked
Although its name has been used in a negative way, to us it's an amazing genre that makes us feel like we're in an episode of Miami Vice wearing shoulder pads and massive sunglasses.
Here are the very best songs that could be placed in this genre:
Player - 'Baby Come Back'
Player - Baby Come Back
Not the reggae classic of the same name, this 1977 track was Player's biggest hit.
After Player disbanded, singer Peter Beckett joined Australia's Little River Band, and he also wrote 'Twist of Fate' for Olivia Newton-John and 'After All This Time' for Kenny Rogers.
Steely Dan - 'FM'
It's tough just choosing one Steely Dan song for this list, but we've gone for this banger.
Used as the theme tune for the 1978 movie of the same name, the song is jazz-rock track, though its lyrics took a disapproving look at the genre as a whole, which was in total contrast to the film's celebration of it. Still, sounds great guys!
Bobby Goldsboro - 'Summer (The First Time)'
Bobby Goldsboro - Summer (The First Time)
A bit of a questionable subject matter, this ballad was about a 17-year-old boy’s first sexual experience with a 31-year-old woman at the beach.
But using a repeating piano riff, 12-string guitar, and an orchestral string arrangement, this song just screams yacht rock and all that is great about it.
Kenny Loggins - 'Heart to Heart'
Kenny Loggins - Heart To Heart (Official Music Video)
If Michael McDonald is the king of yacht rock, then Kenny Loggins is his trusted advisor and heir to the throne.
This track was co-written with Michael, and also features him on backing vocals. The song is about how most relationships do not stand the test of time, yet some are able to do so.
Airplay - 'Nothing You Can Do About It'
Nothin' You Can Do About It
You might not remember US band Airplay, but they did have their moment on the yacht.
Consisting of David Foster (who also co-wrote the Kenny Loggins song above), Jay Graydon and the brilliantly-named Tommy Funderburk, this tune was a cover of a Manhattan Transfer song, and was a minor hit in 1981.
Boz Scaggs - 'Lowdown'
Boz Scaggs - Lowdown (Official Audio)
We've moved slightly into smooth jazz territory with this track, which is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
The song was co-written by David Paich, who would go on to form Toto along with the song's keyboardist David Paich, session bassist David Hungate, and drummer Jeff Porcaro.
Steve Winwood - 'Valerie'
Steve Winwood - Valerie (Official Video)
This song is probably as far as you can get into pop rock without totally leaving the yacht rock dock.
Legendary singer-songwriter Winwood recorded this gong about a man reminiscing about a lost love he hopes to find again someday.
Eric Prydz later sampled it in 2004 for the house number one track ‘Call on Me’, and presented it to Winwood, who was so impressed he re-recorded the vocals to better fit the track.
Toto - 'Rosanna'
Toto - Rosanna (Official HD Video)
We almost picked 'Africa' , but we reckon this tune just about pips it in the yacht rock game.
Written by David Paich, he has said that the song is based on numerous girls he had known.
As a joke, the band members initially played along with the common assumption that the song was based on actress Rosanna Arquette, who was dating Toto keyboard player Steve Porcaro at the time and coincidentally had the same name.
Chicago - 'Hard to Say I'm Sorry'
Chicago - Hard To Say I'm Sorry (Official Music Video)
Chicago began moving away from their horn-driven soft rock sound with their early 1980s output, including this synthesizer-filled power ballad.
- The 10 greatest Chicago songs, ranked
The album version segued into a more traditional Chicago upbeat track titled ‘Get Away’, but most radio stations at the time opted to fade out the song before it kicked in. Three members of Toto played on the track. Those guys are yacht rock kings!
Michael Jackson - 'Human Nature'
Michael Jackson - Human Nature (Audio)
A few non-rock artists almost made this list ( George Michael 's 'Careless Whisper' and Spandau Ballet 's 'True' are almost examples, but not quite), yet a big chunk of Thriller heavily relied on the yacht rock sound.
Michael Jackson proved just how popular the genre could get with several songs on the album, but 'Human Nature' is the finest example.
The Doobie Brothers - 'What a Fool Believes'
The Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes (Official Music Video)
Possibly THE ultimate yacht rock song on the rock end of the spectrum, and it's that man Michael McDonald.
Written by McDonald and Kenny Loggins, this was one of the few non-disco hits in America in the first eight months of 1979.
The song tells the story of a man who is reunited with an old love interest and attempts to rekindle a romantic relationship with her before discovering that one never really existed.
Michael Jackson once claimed he contributed at least one backing track to the original recording, but was not credited for having done so. This was later denied by the band.
Christopher Cross - 'Sailing'
Christopher Cross - Sailing (Official Audio)
We're not putting this in here just because it's called 'Sailing', it's also one of the ultimate examples of the genre.
Christopher Cross reached number one in the US in 1980, and VH1 later named it the most "softsational soft rock" song of all time.
Don Henley - 'The Boys of Summer'
The Boys Of Summer DON HENLEY(1984) OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
Mike Campbell wrote the music to this track while working on Tom Petty’s Southern Accents album, but later gave it to Eagles singer Don Henley, who wrote the lyrics.
The song is about the passing of youth and entering middle age, and of a past relationship. It was covered twice in the early 2000s: as a trance track by DJ Sammy in 2002, and as a pop punk hit by The Ataris in 2003.
England Dan and John Cord Foley - 'I'd Really Love to See You Tonight'
England Dan & John Ford Coley - I'd Really Love To See You Tonight.avi
A big hit for this duo in 1976, it showcases the very best of the sock rock/AOR/yacht rock sound that the 1970s could offer.
Dan Seals is the younger brother of Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts fame. Which leads to...
Seals & Crofts - 'Summer Breeze'
Summer Breeze - Seals & Croft #1 Hit(1972)
Before The Isley Brothers recorded a slick cover, 'Summer Breeze' was an irresistible folk pop song by Seals & Crofts.
While mostly a folk song, its summer vibes and gorgeous melody make for a perfect yacht rock number.
Christopher Cross - 'Ride Like the Wind'
Ride Like The Wind Promo Video 1980 Christopher Cross
If Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins are in charge of the yacht rock ship, then Christopher Cross has to be captain, right? Cabin boy? Something anyway.
The singer was arguably the biggest success story of the relatively short-lived yacht rock era, and this one still sounds incredible.
Eagles - 'I Can't Tell You Why'
The eagles - I can't tell you why (AUDIO VINYL)
Many Eagles tunes could be classed as yacht rock, but we reckon their finest example comes from this track from their The Long Run album in 1979.
Don Henley described the song as "straight Al Green", and that Glenn Frey, an R&B fan, was responsible for the R&B feel of the song. Frey said to co-writer Timothy B Schmit: "You could sing like Smokey Robinson . Let’s not do a Richie Furay, Poco-sounding song. Let’s do an R&B song."
Gerry Rafferty - 'Baker Street'
Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street (Official Video)
Gerry Rafferty probably didn't realise he was creating one of the greatest yacht rock songs of all time when he wrote this, but boy did he.
- The Story of... 'Baker Street'
With the right blend of rock and pop and the use of the iconic saxophone solo, you can't not call this yacht rock at its finest.
Michael McDonald - 'Sweet Freedom'
Michael McDonald - Sweet Freedom (1986)
If you wanted to name the king of yacht rock, you'd have to pick Michael McDonald . He could sing the phone book and it would sound silky smooth.
Possibly his greatest solo tune, it was used in the movie Running Scared , and its music video featured actors Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines.
Hall & Oates - 'I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)'
Daryl Hall & John Oates - I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) (Official Video)
This duo knew how to make catchy hit after catchy hit. This R&B-tinged pop tune was co-written with Sara Allen (also the influence for their song 'Sara Smile').
- Hall and Oates' 10 best songs, ranked
John Oates has said that the song is actually about the music business. "That song is really about not being pushed around by big labels, managers, and agents and being told what to do, and being true to yourself creatively."
Not only was the song sampled in De La Soul's 'Say No Go' and Simply Red 's 'Home', but Michael Jackson also admitted that he lifted the bass line for 'Billie Jean'!
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If the Yacht Is a Rockin': Riding the Yacht Rock Nostalgia Wave
It’s not often that an entire genre of music gets retconned into existence after being parodied by a web series, but that’s exactly what happened after writer, director, and producer J.D. Ryznar and producers David B. Lyons and Hunter D. Stair launched the Channel 101 web series Yacht Rock in 2005. Hosted by former AllMusic editor “Hollywood” Steve Huey, the series was a loving sendup of the late '70s/early '80s smooth jams to which many Millennials and late period Gen-Xers were likely conceived.
The yacht rock aesthetic was innovated by a core group of musicians and producers including, but not limited to, Christopher Cross, Steely Dan, Robbie Dupree, Kenny Loggins, Toto, David Foster, and hirsute soft rock titan Michael McDonald, along with scores of veteran session musicians from the Southern California studio scene.
The Yacht Rock web series was perfectly timed to coincide with a contemporary renaissance of smooth music from the late '70s, the kind that was previously considered a guilty pleasure because it fell out of fashion in the mid-'80s and was soon thereafter regarded as dated and square compared to other burgeoning genres, like punk rock and hip-hop.
Yacht Rock's Early Years
The yacht rock era began roughly around 1976, when yacht rock pillar Kenny Loggins split up with songwriting partner Jim Messina to strike out on his own. That same year, fellow yacht rock mainstay Michael McDonald joined The Doobie Brothers. The two titans of the genre joined forces when Loggins co-wrote the definitive yacht rock hit “What a Fool Believes” with McDonald for the Doobies. They collaborated several times during this era, which was par for the course with such an incestuous music scene that was largely comprised of buddies playing on each other’s albums.
"Look at who performed on the album and if they didn’t perform with any other yacht rock hit guys then chances are [it's] ‘nyacht’ rock,” Ryznar said on the Beyond Yacht Rock podcast, referencing the pejorative term frequently used to describe soft rock songs that just miss the boat.
"Look at who performed on the album and if they didn’t perform with any other yacht rock hit guys then chances are ‘nyacht’ rock,” Ryznar said on the Beyond Yacht Rock podcast, referencing the pejorative term frequently used to describe soft rock songs that just miss the boat.
"The basic things to ask yourself if you want to know if a track is yacht rock are: Was it released from approximately 1976 to 1984? Did musicians on the track play with Steely Dan? Or Toto?," Ryznar said. "Is it a top 40 radio hit or is it on an album meant to feature hits?" And, of course, does the song celebrate a certain breezy, SoCal aesthetic?
Building the Boat
There are certain key ingredients necessary for a track to be considered yacht rock. For starters, it helps (though is not necessary) to have album art or lyrics that specifically reference boating, as with Christopher Cross's landmark 1980 hit “Sailing.” The music itself is usually slickly produced with clean vocals and a focus on melody over beat. But above all else, the sound has to be smooth . That’s what sets yacht rock apart from "nyacht" rock.
"Its base is R&B, yet it’s totally whitewashed," Ryznar explained on Beyond Yacht Rock . "There [are] jazz elements. There can be complex, challenging melodies; the solos are all cutting-edge and really interesting. There’s always something interesting about a true yacht rock song. It goes left when you expect it to go right."
"Its base is R&B, yet it’s totally whitewashed," Ryznar explained on Beyond Yacht Rock . "There jazz elements. There can be complex, challenging melodies; the solos are all cutting-edge and really interesting. There’s always something interesting about a true yacht rock song. It goes left when you expect it to go right."
Yacht rock’s complex musicianship can be attributed, in part, to the session players on each track. Musicians like percussionist Steve Gadd, guitarist and Toto founding member Steve Lukather, and Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro don’t have much in the way of name recognition among casual soft rock listeners, but they’re the nails that hold the boat together. Steely Dan, “the primordial ooze from which yacht rock emerged,” according to Ryznar, famously cycled through dozens of session musicians while recording their 1980 seminal yacht rock album Gaucho .
"These musicians were not only these slick, polished professionals, but they were highly trained and able to hop from style to style with ease,” Huey explained on Beyond Yacht Rock . “Very versatile.”
In Greg Prato’s 2018 tome, The Yacht Rock Book : An Oral History of the Soft, Smooth Sounds of the 70s and 80s , Huey broke down “the three main defining elements of yacht rock,” explaining that it requires “Fusing softer rock with jazz and R&B, very polished production, and kind of being centered around the studio musician culture in southern California … It’s not just soft rock, it’s a specific subset of soft rock that ideally has those elements."
Soft rock untethered
Whereas the music of the late 1970s and early ‘80s is often associated with the anti-establishment music of punk pioneers like the Dead Kennedys and the socially conscious songs being written by early hip-hop innovators like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, yacht rock is the antithesis of the counterculture.
Yacht rock occupies a world that is completely apolitical and untethered to current events. Between the oil crisis, a global recession, and inflation—not to mention the fact that the U.S. was still licking its wounds from the loss of the Vietnam War and the disgrace of Watergate—the late '70s were a dark time for Americans. Yet yacht rock, at its heart, is a tequila sunrise for the soul, whisking the listener away to a world where they have the time, and the means, to idle away the hours sipping piña coladas at sea while decked out in flowy Hawaiian shirts and boat shoes.
Yacht rock was never edgy, nor did it ever feel dangerous. Yacht rock didn’t piss off anyone’s parents and no one ever threatened to send their kid to boot camp for getting caught listening to Kenny Loggins's “This Is It.” Yacht rock tracks are more of a siren song that invite your parents to join in on the chorus anytime they hear Toto’s "Rosanna."
Yacht rock songs are meant to set the soundtrack to a life where the days are always sunny, but as Ryznar pointed out on Beyond Yacht Rock , there’s “an underlying darkness”—just not the kind that’s going to derail a day of sailing to Catalina Island. No, yacht rock has elements of low-stakes heartbreak with sensitive male protagonists lamenting their own foolishness in trying to get back together with exes or hitting on women half their age.
The aspirational aspect of the genre dovetailed nicely with the overarching materialism defining the Reagan era. “Yacht rock was an escape from blunt truths, into the melodic, no-calorie lies of ‘buy now, pay never,’ in which any discord could be neutralized with a Moog beat,” Dan O’Sullivan wrote in Jacobin .
Some Like it Yacht
Although the cult comedy series Yacht Rock ceased production in 2010, the soft rock music revival it launched into the zeitgeist is still going strong. For the past few years, SiriusXM has been running a yacht rock station during prime boating season, or what those of us without bottomless checking accounts refer to as the spring and summer months. Yacht rock tribute acts like Yacht Rock Revue are profitable business endeavors as much as they are fun party bands. There’s also a glut of yacht rock-themed song compilations for sale and a proliferation of questionably curated genre playlists on Spotify.
Whether you believe yacht rock is an exalted art form or the insidious soundtrack to complacency, any music lover would probably agree that even a momentary escape from the blunt truths of life is something we could all use every now and then.
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That '70s Week: Yacht Rock
Talia Schlanger
Donald Fagen (left) and Walter Becker of Steely Dan. Danny Clinch/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Donald Fagen (left) and Walter Becker of Steely Dan.
- The Doobie Brothers, "What A Fool Believes"
- Christopher Cross, "Sailing"
- Sade, "Smooth Operator"
- Nielsen/Pearson, "If You Should Sail"
- Ned Doheny, "Get It Up For Love"
- Iron & Wine, "Desert Babbler"
- Young Gun Silver Fox, "You Can Feel It"
What's the best way to become the unchallenged expert on a particular genre of music? Invent it. Enter JD Ryznar, Hunter Stair, David B. Lyons and Steve Huey: coiners of the description "yacht rock," creators of a hilarious web series of the same name and now de facto captains of the genre. Broadly speaking, yacht rock is an ocean of smooth, soft-listening music made in the late '70s and early '80s by artists like Toto, Hall & Oates and Kenny Loggins — music you can sail to. But as David and Talia learn in this conversation with the arbiters of Yacht Rock , the waters are much murkier than that.
For example, according to Ryznar, "There's also a common misconception that just because it's about a boat, or the ocean, or sailing, that it's yacht rock. That is most definitely nyacht true." Thankfully, on their Beyond Yacht Rock podcast, our guests have developed a sound system of logical criteria to define what is "Yacht" and what is "Nyacht." They employ their patented "Yachtzee scale" to examine a song's "Yachtness" based on a number of factors, including its personnel (is there a Doobie Brother in there?), amount of jazz and R&B influence, geographic origin (Southern California is a plus) and lyrical obtuseness.
Listen as Ryznar and Lyons steer us towards the musical marina with a buoyant "Yacht or Nyacht" debate that includes Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross, Sade and the most serious discussion you can have about the proper soundtrack for standing shirtless on a deck wearing boat shoes and a sailor cap. Dive on in --the water's great.
Listen: JD Ryznar's Yacht Rock Primer
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The Bridge: Yacht Or Nyacht?
Chris Molanphy talks to the coiners of Yacht Rock about how they define the genre they invented.
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Episode Notes
First, we have a few announcements about the future of Hit Parade —and it’s good news for both Slate Plus members and non-Plus listeners. While the economic challenges of COVID-19 certainly haven’t abated, Hit Parade has attracted enough new Plus members to allow us to take some episodes out from behind Slate’s paywall starting in September.
Starting next month, full-length Hit Parade episodes will debut in the middle of the month, not the end (our next full-length episode drops on Friday, September 18). If you are a Plus member, you’ll hear the whole show all at once, the day it drops. If you are not a Plus member, you will receive the first half of the episode mid-month, with ads, and you’ll have to wait a couple of weeks to hear the second half of the show, at month’s end. Finally, Hit Parade—“The Bridge” episodes will remain Plus-only.
Again, thanks to many of you who signed up for Slate Plus just to hear Hit Parade, and of course the thousands of longtime Plus members. We plan to keep giving you the bonus content you expect. And a hearty welcome back to non-Plus listeners—we hope you’ll consider joining Slate Plus in the future, but you can also support Hit Parade by spreading the word about our episodes.
In this mini-episode of Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy is joined by J.D. Ryznar, “Hollywood” Steve Huey, and Dave Lyons, creators of the web series Yacht Rock and follow-up podcast Beyond Yacht Rock. Not only did they invent the very term that inspired the latest episode of Hit Parade , they have kept the fire alive by refining what the genre means.
The Yacht Rockers and Chris discuss the enduring legacy of the term they created—from why the name stuck, to how it was perceived by the various artists whose music it defined. (Boz Scaggs is reportedly not happy.) They also reveal songs they’d re-rate against their signature Yachtski scale , songs commonly tagged Yacht that are actually “ Nyacht ,” and how they curate the boundaries of the genre . They even offer a Hit Parade–exclusive announcement about what’s next for their smooth creation.
Finally, Chris quizzes a Slate Plus listener with some music trivia, gives her a chance to turn the tables on him, and previews next month’s full-length episode.
Podcast production by Asha Saluja.
About the Show
Chris Molanphy, a pop-chart analyst and author of Slate’s “Why Is This Song No. 1?” series, tells tales from a half-century of chart history. Through storytelling, trivia, and song snippets, Chris dissects how that song you love—or hate—dominated the airwaves, made its way to the top of the charts, and shaped your memories forever.
Chris Molanphy is a feature writer and critic who writes widely about music and the pop charts.
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