49 free Yacht Rock trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free Yacht rock trivia questions with answers. Yacht rock did not exist as a name until 2005, but the music has been on the water since 1975, and this quiz covers the whole marina: Michael McDonald and the Doobies, Steely Dan, Toto, Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, Hall & Oates, Boz Scaggs, Rupert Holmes and the session players who linked them all. There are questions on the songs, the Grammys, the sampling, the tribute bands, the HBO documentary and the Channel 101 web series that gave the genre its name. It starts easy (which Toto song went to number one?) and drifts out to open water (who explained the band's name with a Latin phrase?), so it works for a party round, a themed cruise, or settling a 'yacht or nyacht' argument between friends. Every answer has been checked against a reference encyclopaedia entry on the artist, song or album, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The term 'yacht rock' was coined in 2005 by the makers of what?
An online comedy video series
J. D. Ryznar's Channel 101 series never uses the phrase on screen; the characters call it 'smooth music'.
Q 02Roughly which years does the music retroactively labelled yacht rock come from?
1975 to 1984
At the time it was sold as 'adult-oriented rock' or the 'West Coast sound'.
Q 03Which 1979 Christopher Cross track is held up as the genre's anthem?
Sailing
It hit number one on August 30, 1980, and Cross said in his Grammy speech it was never meant to be a single.
Q 04Christopher Cross was the first artist to do what at a single Grammy ceremony?
Win all four general-field awards
He took Record, Album and Song of the Year plus Best New Artist at the 23rd Grammys in 1981.
Q 05Kenny Loggins first released 'What a Fool Believes', co-written with Michael McDonald, on which 1978 album?
Nightwatch
The Doobie Brothers' version then went to number one and won two Grammys.
Q 06Which two Grammy Awards did 'What a Fool Believes' win in 1980?
Song of the Year and Record of the Year
It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2024.
Q 07The Yacht Rock creators cite an upbeat rhythm as a genre hallmark. What did they call it?
The Doobie Bounce
Their other tells include electric piano, elite L.A. session players and lyrics about foolish, heartbroken men.
Q 08What term did the Yacht Rock creators invent in 2016 for songs wrongly labelled as part of the genre?
Nyacht
They rule songs in or out on their podcast, Yacht or Nyacht?
Q 09Which two famous 1970s-80s albums are cited as one accepted as yacht rock and one ruled out?
Thriller is in, Rumours is out
Journalist Jack Seale noted that micro-genres tend to rule albums in or out arbitrarily.
Q 10Steely Dan is named after an object in which William S. Burroughs novel?
Naked Lunch
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.
Q 11Steely Dan's 2000 comeback album won the Album of the Year Grammy. What was it called?
Two Against Nature
They had reunited in 1993 after nearly two decades without new material.
Q 12Which jazz saxophonist solos on the title track of Steely Dan's Aja?
Wayne Shorter
Steve Gadd's drum solo on the same track is equally celebrated; the album won a Grammy for engineering.
Q 13Michael McDonald's multi-tracked backing vocals are heard on which Steely Dan single from Aja?
Peg
Keyboardist Paul Griffin can also be heard talking in the final chorus.
Q 21Michael McDonald's 'Yah Mo B There' won a Grammy as a duet with which singer?
James Ingram
It took Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group at the 27th Grammys.
Q 22Which 1994 rap hit is built on a sample of Michael McDonald's 'I Keep Forgettin''?
Regulate
Leiber and Stoller got a writing credit on McDonald's song because it resembled a 1962 Chuck Jackson record.
Q 23Before going solo, Kenny Loggins recorded seven albums as half of a duo with whom?
Jim Messina
Loggins and Messina ran from 1972 to 1977; the web series paints Messina as a bitter wino.
Q 14Which Toto song was the band's first and only Billboard Hot 100 number one?
Africa
'Rosanna' stalled at number two for five weeks but won Record of the Year.
Q 15How many Grammy Awards did Toto IV win in 1983?
Six
They included Album of the Year and Record of the Year for 'Rosanna'.
Q 16Toto let people believe their 1982 hit was about which actress, then dating Steve Porcaro?
Rosanna Arquette
She was dating keyboardist Steve Porcaro at the time; the song is also famed for Jeff Porcaro's half-time shuffle.
Q 17Which Michael Jackson hit did Toto's Steve Porcaro co-write?
Human Nature
It ended up on Thriller, an album the yacht rock canon accepts.
Q 18Bassist David Hungate explained his band's name via which Latin phrase?
In toto
In the early 1980s the band told the press instead that it was named after the dog in The Wizard of Oz.
Q 19The Doobie Brothers' Minute by Minute spent five weeks at number one and won which Grammy?
Best Pop Vocal by a Duo or Group
It was the peak of the McDonald-era Doobies before he left in 1982.
Q 20Which of these Doobie Brothers number ones predates Michael McDonald and is NOT yacht rock?
Black Water
It topped the chart in 1974; McDonald joined the band the following year.
Q 24What is Kenny Loggins's only solo number one on the Billboard Hot 100?
Footloose
It held the top spot for three weeks in 1984 and earned him an Oscar nomination.
Q 25Kenny Loggins's run of soundtrack hits began with 'I'm Alright' from which film?
Caddyshack
The web series storyline has him abandoning smooth music for film soundtracks in the 1980s.
Q 26Hall & Oates are described as the most successful duo of all time, ahead of which pair?
Sonny & Cher
They formed in Philadelphia in 1970 and had six Hot 100 number ones, from 'Rich Girl' to 'Out of Touch'.
Q 27Which of these was NOT one of Hall & Oates's six Billboard number ones?
She's Gone
The six were 'Rich Girl', 'Kiss on My List', 'Private Eyes', 'I Can't Go for That', 'Maneater' and 'Out of Touch'.
Q 28Rupert Holmes's 'Escape (The Piña Colada Song)' comes from which 1979 album?
Partners in Crime
Holmes later won two Tony Awards for the musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Q 29In 'Escape (The Piña Colada Song)', where does the narrator find the woman's ad?
In the newspaper personals
The twist is that the woman who answers is his own partner.
Q 30Who played the famous saxophone riff on Gerry Rafferty's 'Baker Street'?
Raphael Ravenscroft
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.