| Genre: | Mockumentary |
| Creator: | J. D. Ryznar, Hunter D. Stair, Lane Farnham |
| Presenter: | Steve Huey |
| Starring: | J. D. Ryznar, Hunter Stair, David B. Lyons |
| Opentheme: | "Sweet Freedom" by Michael McDonald |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 12 |
| Producer: | JD Ryznar, Hunter D. Stair, David B. Lyons |
| Location: | Los Angeles, California |
| Runtime: | 5–9 minutes |
| Network: | Channel 101 |
Yacht Rock is an online video series following the fictionalized lives and careers of American soft rock stars of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The series debuted at a Channel 101 screening on June 26, 2005. It placed in the top five at subsequent screenings until June 25, 2006, when the tenth episode placed seventh at the screening, and the series was canceled. The show remained a popular download on the Channel 101 website, convincing the creators to make two additional episodes independently. The eleventh episode, featuring Jason Lee as Kevin Bacon, debuted in a screening at the Knitting Factory in New York City on December 27, 2007, and was later included with the other episodes on Channel 101.[1] On May 5, 2010, the twelfth and final episode of Yacht Rock was released on YouTube and Channel 101. The series inspired the term yacht rock as a musical descriptor for the songs and artists it features.
The series was written, directed, and produced by J. D. Ryznar, co-produced by David Lyons and Hunter D. Stair, and edited by Lane Farnham. The production has a "bad-on-purpose aesthetic" devised by Farnham.[2]
Ryznar and Stair devised the series after noticing the converging recording careers of such bands as Steely Dan, Toto, and The Doobie Brothers, and the singer-songwriters Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald. For example, McDonald co-wrote and sang on Loggins' "This Is It" and Loggins co-wrote the Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes" with McDonald. McDonald also performed backing vocals for several other "yacht rock" artists, including Steely Dan and Christopher Cross.
Ryznar admits to having a fascination with the music of the period. As he explained, "Getting into Steely Dan really started this for me, as did the ability to buy dollar records at Amoeba and put them on tapes for my car. Kenny Loggins has made his way into all the pilots I've been involved with except [one]."[3] As he told Reuters contributor Andy Sullivan, "I'm making fun of the songwriting process, but the music is generally treated pretty lovingly."[4]
Yacht Rocks episodes are "hosted" by "Hollywood" Steve Huey, a former AllMusic critic. The term "yacht rock" is never used throughout the series by any characters, except for Huey during his introductions; instead, it is always referred to as "smooth music".
The series depicts some realistic aspects of the music, but builds exaggerated storylines around them. For example, main protagonists Loggins and McDonald, played by Stair and Ryznar, receive inspiration from a fictional impresario named Koko Goldstein, played by Lyons, whose death in the second episode ultimately leads them to go their separate ways. McDonald is an idealistic and earnest singer/songwriter who takes both smooth music and himself far too seriously, while Loggins is his easygoing friend and collaborator who eventually abandons smooth music in favor of commercial rock and film soundtracks in the 1980s, straining their friendship.
The portrayal of John Oates as the abusive, foulmouthed leader of Hall and Oates and enemy of "smooth music", exerting sometimes violent control over the milquetoast Daryl Hall, is exaggerated.[5] Christopher Cross, played by future Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, is depicted as a naive, timid hayseed whose song "Sailing" accidentally becomes a "smooth music" standard-bearer. Loggins' former partner Jim Messina (Farnham) is a bitter wino who resents Loggins for finding success without him. Michael Jackson is depicted as a newly-minted rocker who believes his partnership with Eddie Van Halen will lead to an endless parade of sexual conquests. The Eagles, portrayed as jock-like meatheads, and Steely Dan (portrayed as snarky nerds, with Donald Fagen speaking in an incoherent babble of scat that only McDonald and caustic bandmate Walter Becker can understand) really did insert lyrical references to each other in their music as depicted in the show, but these were friendly nods rather than part of a violent rivalry.
John Oates credited Yacht Rock with rekindling interest in Hall & Oates and introducing them to a younger audience. In 2007, Pages said:
Michael McDonald praised the series in a 2008 interview:
In 2015, SiriusXM broadcast a limited-time "Yacht Rock Radio" channel on satellite from August 21 – September 22. This SXM satellite channel has "popped up" every summer since, most recently from late May to early October 2021, while also maintaining a year-round dedicated Yacht Rock online streaming channel.[6]
In 2016, Ryznar, Huey, Stair, and Lyons began a podcast called Beyond Yacht Rock. This series revolves around top-ten countdowns of genres they have newly invented, as well as episodes built around analyses of the work of musicians such as Steve Perry and Van Halen.[7] The series also includes more commentary on the yacht rock style, such as evaluating songs according to whether or not they fit the creators' description of the style (which they call "Yacht or Nyacht").[8] The podcast concluded in 2021 after 100 episodes.[9]