49 Fun Facts About Yacht Rock

The term 'yacht rock' was coined in 2005 by the makers of what?

J. D. Ryznar's Channel 101 series never uses the phrase on screen; the characters call it 'smooth music'.

Roughly which years does the music retroactively labelled yacht rock come from?

At the time it was sold as 'adult-oriented rock' or the 'West Coast sound'.

Which 1979 Christopher Cross track is held up as the genre's anthem?

It hit number one on August 30, 1980, and Cross said in his Grammy speech it was never meant to be a single.

Christopher Cross was the first artist to do what at a single Grammy ceremony?

He took Record, Album and Song of the Year plus Best New Artist at the 23rd Grammys in 1981.

Kenny Loggins first released 'What a Fool Believes', co-written with Michael McDonald, on which 1978 album?

The Doobie Brothers' version then went to number one and won two Grammys.

Which two Grammy Awards did 'What a Fool Believes' win in 1980?

It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2024.

The Yacht Rock creators cite an upbeat rhythm as a genre hallmark. What did they call it?

Their other tells include electric piano, elite L.A. session players and lyrics about foolish, heartbroken men.

What term did the Yacht Rock creators invent in 2016 for songs wrongly labelled as part of the genre?

They rule songs in or out on their podcast, Yacht or Nyacht?

Which two famous 1970s-80s albums are cited as one accepted as yacht rock and one ruled out?

Journalist Jack Seale noted that micro-genres tend to rule albums in or out arbitrarily.

Steely Dan is named after an object in which William S. Burroughs novel?

Fagen and Becker, both Beat literature fans, met at Bard College and stopped touring by the end of 1974 to become a studio-only duo.

Steely Dan's 2000 comeback album won the Album of the Year Grammy. What was it called?

They had reunited in 1993 after nearly two decades without new material.

Which jazz saxophonist solos on the title track of Steely Dan's Aja?

Steve Gadd's drum solo on the same track is equally celebrated; the album won a Grammy for engineering.

Michael McDonald's multi-tracked backing vocals are heard on which Steely Dan single from Aja?

Keyboardist Paul Griffin can also be heard talking in the final chorus.

Which Toto song was the band's first and only Billboard Hot 100 number one?

'Rosanna' stalled at number two for five weeks but won Record of the Year.

How many Grammy Awards did Toto IV win in 1983?

They included Album of the Year and Record of the Year for 'Rosanna'.

Toto let people believe their 1982 hit was about which actress, then dating Steve Porcaro?

She was dating keyboardist Steve Porcaro at the time; the song is also famed for Jeff Porcaro's half-time shuffle.

Which Michael Jackson hit did Toto's Steve Porcaro co-write?

It ended up on Thriller, an album the yacht rock canon accepts.

Bassist David Hungate explained his band's name via which Latin phrase?

In the early 1980s the band told the press instead that it was named after the dog in The Wizard of Oz.

The Doobie Brothers' Minute by Minute spent five weeks at number one and won which Grammy?

It was the peak of the McDonald-era Doobies before he left in 1982.

Which of these Doobie Brothers number ones predates Michael McDonald and is NOT yacht rock?

It topped the chart in 1974; McDonald joined the band the following year.

Michael McDonald's 'Yah Mo B There' won a Grammy as a duet with which singer?

It took Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group at the 27th Grammys.

Which 1994 rap hit is built on a sample of Michael McDonald's 'I Keep Forgettin''?

Leiber and Stoller got a writing credit on McDonald's song because it resembled a 1962 Chuck Jackson record.

Before going solo, Kenny Loggins recorded seven albums as half of a duo with whom?

Loggins and Messina ran from 1972 to 1977; the web series paints Messina as a bitter wino.

What is Kenny Loggins's only solo number one on the Billboard Hot 100?

It held the top spot for three weeks in 1984 and earned him an Oscar nomination.

Kenny Loggins's run of soundtrack hits began with 'I'm Alright' from which film?

The web series storyline has him abandoning smooth music for film soundtracks in the 1980s.

Hall & Oates are described as the most successful duo of all time, ahead of which pair?

They formed in Philadelphia in 1970 and had six Hot 100 number ones, from 'Rich Girl' to 'Out of Touch'.

Which of these was NOT one of Hall & Oates's six Billboard number ones?

The six were 'Rich Girl', 'Kiss on My List', 'Private Eyes', 'I Can't Go for That', 'Maneater' and 'Out of Touch'.

Rupert Holmes's 'Escape (The Piña Colada Song)' comes from which 1979 album?

Holmes later won two Tony Awards for the musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

In 'Escape (The Piña Colada Song)', where does the narrator find the woman's ad?

The twist is that the woman who answers is his own partner.

Who played the famous saxophone riff on Gerry Rafferty's 'Baker Street'?

Rafferty wrote the riff himself, based on a guitar part on his demo, and named the song after the London street where he crashed at a friend's flat.

Gerry Rafferty had earlier co-founded which band, of 'Stuck in the Middle with You' fame?

That song was a hit in 1973, five years before 'Baker Street'.

Boz Scaggs's 1976 breakthrough album Silk Degrees produced which two hit singles?

He had played in the Steve Miller Band in 1967-68 before going solo.

Bobby Caldwell's 1978 signature song, from a double-platinum debut, is called what?

He later turned to Great American Songbook standards.

Which L.A. band had top-five hits with 'How Much I Feel' and 'Biggest Part of Me'?

Formed in 1970, they scored five top-40 singles between 1975 and 1980.

'Baby Come Back' was a 1978 number one for which band?

Written by members Peter Beckett and J.C. Crowley, it came out just as the group was opening tours for Boz Scaggs.

Little River Band, whose 'Reminiscing' reached number three in the US, formed in which country?

They started in Melbourne in March 1975 and put ten singles into the Billboard top 20.

England Dan & John Ford Coley's biggest hit, a 1976 number two, was what?

Both were Texans; Dan Seals later had a country career.

George Benson's triple-platinum 1976 album, which topped the Billboard album chart, was called what?

He sang lead on 'This Masquerade', a Leon Russell song, on the same record.

Al Jarreau sang the theme song for which 1980s TV series?

He won ten Grammys in all and sang on 'We Are the World'.

Bill Champlin sang lead on which Chicago hit of the 1980s?

He joined the band in 1981 and also fronted 'Look Away' and 'I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love'.

In the Yacht Rock web series, who plays Christopher Cross as a naive, timid hayseed?

He went on to co-create Rick and Morty.

Which actor played Kevin Bacon in the eleventh episode of the Yacht Rock web series?

It premiered at the Knitting Factory in New York on December 27, 2007.

Which musician credited the Yacht Rock web series with rekindling interest in his duo among younger fans?

The series portrays him as the abusive, foul-mouthed leader of Hall & Oates.

Fred Armisen and Bill Hader spoofed the genre on Documentary Now! as which fictional band?

Armisen also wrote the foreword to Greg Prato's 2018 oral history, The Yacht Rock Book.

What is the title of the 2024 HBO documentary about the genre?

Directed by Garrett Price, it prominently features the web series; producer Rick Beato called the term 'completely offensive'.

Which satellite radio service launched a seasonal Yacht Rock channel in 2015?

The channel returned each summer and streamed year-round on the app.

Yacht Rock Revue, one of the best-known tribute bands, formed in 2007 in which city?

Young Gun Silver Fox come from London and Yachtley Crew from Los Angeles.

Captain & Tennille's 'Love Will Keep Us Together' partly borrowed a riff from which band?

Both were members of the Beach Boys' live band, and writer Dan O'Sullivan traces the genre's sailing aesthetic back to 'Sloop John B'.

Which instrumental by Canadian Frank Mills reached number three on the Hot 100 in 1979?

It had already been a Canadian adult-contemporary hit before its US release that January.