"Yacht Rock" is not a genre of music. It is a hallucination of the people who put together the "documentary" currently playing on HBO, and nothing more.
This is the Rick Beato video "Yacht Rock" Is Bullsh*t
Now, why didn't they ask Chuck Rainey and Bernard Purdie to be in the documentary? Well, because they didn't fit the narrative. I've had them both on my channel in addition to Larry Carlton, who wasn't in there, that played the amazing solo on this song ["Kid Charlemagne"]. This guitar solo was incredibly influential to the people of my era, growing up. This was a a solo that was the standard of guitar solo. Nobody thought of this as being soft rock or anything; this was serious Fusion of jazz and rock music.
There is more. Toto's second-most streamed song on Spotify, "Hold the Line," which is clearly rock.
The video is 10 and a half minutes, so plan accordingly.
I had never even heard the term "Yacht Rock," but if Rick Beato says it's bull, then I believe him. And I loved Donald Fagen's response to the call from so-called documentarian (or was it "dockumentarian"?) 🤭(I've been a Steely Dan fan since the early 70s).
ReplyDeleteI started hearing about Yacht Rock a few years ago, and I thought it was a new alternative to the trash that is current popular music.
DeleteAs for Steely Dan, it is some of the best music produced in my lifetime.
I cannot disagree on either point. I don't bother keeping up with modern music, but I love to watch channels like Beato and Professor of Rock on YouTube to learn about he music I love. (Which ranges from Steely Dan to the Who to Wagner 😎).
ReplyDeleteHell, I hardly even watch TV any more, just YouTube, which has everything I'm interested in - music, guns, motorcycles and history. It was on YouTube that I discovered Dr. Yamane, which led me to your blog. And then there is Twitter (or X), which is too damned addictive. 🫤
I also watch more YouTube than I do television. My wife has the tv on almost all day, but often no one is watching, it is just background. Too bad that we have devolved to that, but it is what it is. And I found Rick and the Professor of Rock awhile ago.
DeleteI play most instruments, and guitar is one of them, but I never put the time into guitar that I did saxophone, my first love.