Yacht Rock? Or NYACHT Rock?

I expected to see a flood of comments after we ran our Yacht Rock commentary the other day ... this seems to be a very sensitive subject between yacht rock aficionados ... but actually the response was pretty tame (save for a thought-provoking piece from Paul Haney of Record Research.)

Read on ...

Hi Kent,

The term "Yacht Rock" really seems to be misunderstood by a lot of music fans.  Too many songs and artists are mistakenly labeled Yacht Rock when they really aren't.

The term was created by four music fans: J.D. Ryznar, Hunter Stair, Dave Lyons and Hollywood Steve Huey.  They host a regular podcast where they rate each song on what they call the "Yachtski Scale."  Each of the four gives an individual score from 1-100 and the average of the four is the final score.  The only song to get a perfect 100 score is "What A Fool Believes" by The Doobie Brothers, so at least your #1 song is correct.  If a song scores 50 or higher it's "on the boat" but if it's below 50 it's not considered Yacht Rock.

Looking at your list, the following are NOT considered Yacht Rock (with the final Yachtski Scale score listed):

#8 - Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) - Looking Glass (36.825)

#11 - Rich Girl - Daryl Hall & John Oates (37)

#13 - Summer Breeze - Seals & Crofts (21.75)

#15 - Escape (The Pina Colada Song) - Rupert Holmes (35.25)

#17 - Lido Shuffle - Boz Scaggs (47.5)

#18 - Dreams - Fleetwood Mac (32)

#21 - I'd Really Love To See You Tonight - England Dan & John Ford Coley (44)

#22 - Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty (29.25)

#24 - Diamond Girl - Seals & Crofts (47.5)

#25 - Sara Smile - Daryl Hall & John Oates (32)

#28 - Right Down The Line - Gerry Rafferty (32.25)

#29 - We Just Disagree - Dave Mason (17.75)

#39 - Jackie Blue - Ozark Mountain Daredevils (18.75)

#44 - Lonely Boy - Andrew Gold (29.5)

#45 - Still The One - Orleans (31.25)

#46 - You Are The Woman - Firefall (28.5)

#47 - I Can't Tell You Why - Eagles (41.5)

#48 - Year Of The Cat - Al Stewart (29.25)

Since these are the guys that invented the term, I believe they should be the ones to decide what is "Yacht" and what is "Nyacht".

Here's a link to their "Yachtski Scale" master list:

https://www.yachtornyacht.com/

(As you can see, I'm very passionate about Yacht Rock!)

Paul Haney

Then maybe somebody really needs to tell all the Yacht Rock stations out there (Sirius XM, Amazon Music, Me-TV-FM, and numerous others) to stop playing them … because all of these songs are on the air CONSTANTLY on what passes for Yacht Rock Radio!!!

Checking out THEIR official list, there are dozens and dozens of songs on here that we NEVER hear on the Yacht Rock stations … in fact, there’s probably over a dozen that I’ve never heard before in my entire life!!!  That being said, maybe Yacht Rock Radio needs to expand their horizons a little bit to include more variety in their playlist!

(We now have Yacht Rock Deep Cuts and Yacht Rock Soul … so there’s no telling where all of this will end!)

And look how many of these tunes crossover to what is also branded as Essential Classic Rock … how something like Toto’s “Hold The Line” became a “soft rock” song is beyond me … at the time, it was one of the rockin’-est songs on the radio!

The lines are definitely blurred … and Robin Thicke doesn’t even make the list!  (kk)

Kent,

In your coming up with your favorite yacht songs if you were on a yacht cruise, reminded me of a survey I took years ago in which the question was simply, '"If you were on a deserted island and assuming you had electricity and a phonograph player, what three songs (records) would you want?" As Ace Cannon said in an instrumental from 1962, that was a TUFF question. 

The first record I thought of when CB (Cabin Boy) wrote in was this one ... from 1956 on Josie Records … CABIN HIDEAWAY by the Limeliters. 

Larry

Make no mistake about it … and to be perfectly clear … these are NOT my favorite Yacht Rock songs but rather my OBSERVATION as to which songs get played repeatedly over and over … truth is, most of them have become “button pushers” for me now, they’re just so overplayed.

Check out the list Paul Haney sent above … I’ve never even HEARD of many of these songs in my entire lifetime … so I’m not quite sure how they rate so highly on the scale presented by the “inventors” of Yacht Rock!  (kk)

The whole premise of their podcast is that listeners send in songs for them to judge, thus you'll get some oddball ones from time to time.  There are actually new bands out there nowadays trying to mimic the Yacht Rock sound!

I don't know if you've ever seen the Yacht Rock Dockumentary, but here's the trailer:

Paul 

Oh yeah, we promoted this series when it first came out … and watched every bit of it.  (In fact now, after all this Yacht Rock discussion, we just watched it again the other night ... and I will say that it is VERY well done.)

I wonder what these guys will think of Keith Urban’s new album, an homage to Yacht Rock, where he covers some of HIS favorites … plus one new track, written and recorded by Urban and Michael McDonald, the KING of Yacht Rock.  (HE’s your captain, yeah yeah yeah yeah!)  kk

Here’s what we said on this topic three years ago …

https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2023/01/were-going-little-soft-on-you-today.html

A FEW RANDOM COMMENTS:

Rupert Holmes does not belong on the Yacht Rock Artists List

Then how come I hear “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” forty times a week on there??? (kk)

While I think “Lowdown” by Boz Scaggs qualifies for Yacht Rock because of the jazz undertones, “Lido Shuffle” does NOT – that’s a flat out rock beat.

You’re missing “Heart To Heart” by Kenny Loggins … definitely one they play all the time (and a good one, too!)

Much respect is shown for Kenny in the Yacht Rock "Dockumentary."  Incredible for me to think that this whole genre of music was something that was originally dreamed up as a comedy sketch!!!  Look where it’s gone from there!  (kk)

BTW, the Yacht Rock Dock is available On Demand thru HBO Max ... if you haven't seen it, you owe it to yourself to check it out.  And even if you HAVE seen it, it's well worth watching again. 

By the way, BBC Music Magazine recently released its ranking of the “21 Greatest Yacht Rock Albums Of All-Time” ... and the #1 spot goes to Michael McDonald’s legendary "If That’s What It Takes" (1982)

(I will admit to owning TWELVE of these Top 21 Albums ... but I will ALSO tell you that there are FOUR artists on this list that I have never even HEARD of before ... much less heard their music on the radio ... so I don't understand how they rank in The Top 21! -- kk)  

 

60 YEARS AGO TODAY: 

5/20/66 – The Who were scheduled to perform a gig at The Ricky Tick Club in Windsor, England, but John Entwistle and Keith Moon were very late showing up.  Aggravated, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey took the stage with the bass player and drummer of the local band that opened the show. When Moon and Entwistle finally arrived in the middle of the set, a fight broke out, with Townshend hitting Moon on the head with his guitar. Moon and Entwistle quit the band … but rejoined a week later.  (Hooligans, each and every one!)

Tuesday This And That

Check out this new Eagles video, released to coincide with the celebration of the new 50^th Anniversary edition of their “One Of These Nights” album.

Titled “One Of These Nights: Through The Years,” it shows the band performing the title track in seamless fashion in the ‘70’s, ‘80’s and today.  VERY well done!

The new CD release also features a never-before-released live concert of The Eagles, recorded of their performance at The Sunshine Festival in Anaheim, California, on September 28, 1975.   (kk)

From Tom Cuddy …

A recap of the top-grossing music biopics …

But this one's already out of date ... 

The new film "Michael" is shattering ALL previous box office records and is expected to overtake even "Bohemian Rhapsody" before it's done playing in theaters.  (It passed 704M worldwide last weekend.)  kk

And Michael Jackson continues to set new Billboard chart records as well, thanks to the resurgence of his catalog since the release of the biopic “Michael.”

For the Week of May 1 thru May 7, Michael Jackson’s solo catalog generated 181.6 million streams!  A good portion of this tally is brand NEW listeners who can't get enough of Michael's music.

In the process, “Thriller” returns to the #1 spot on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums Chart, followed by “Number Ones” at #2.  This is “Thriller”’s first time topping the R&B Album Chart since its initial release in 1984 … a 42 year lapse of time.

Meanwhile, he also has 13 of The Top 25 R&B Singles this week!

Jackson sits at #3 with “Billie Jean,” followed by “Human Nature” (#6), “Beat It” (#7), “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough” (#9), “Rock With You” (#12), “Dirty Diana” (#13), “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” (#15), “Smooth Criminal” (#16), “The Way You Make Me Feel” (#17), “Bad” (#19), “Remember the Time” (#21), “You Rock My World” (#22) and “Chicago” (#23).  Never in the history of the charts has an artist had this kind of impact on the music scene posthumously.  And I'm not talking about the usual post-death flurry that seems to follow every major artist's death ... Michael died 17 YEARS AGO!  (kk)

Did you catch Paul McCartney on the season finale of SNL?  He ended up doing THREE songs, kicking things off with a letter-perfect live performance of “Days We Left Behind” from his forthcoming album “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane,” out May 29^th.  I still maintain that this is his finest work in over twenty years.

Macca came back in the second half of the show and whispered out a version of “Band On The Run.”  Fortunately, the band members and the girl singer in particular covered all the notes that Paul can no longer reach … and the band itself sounded fantastic on ALL the numbers performed that night … but it almost looked painful for McCartney to try and belt this one out … there’s just no power left in his voice and it came across as barely a whispered vocal.

Then, the band came back out and played out over the show’s end credits, performing “Coming Up,” which actually sounded pretty good … more in keeping with Paul’s current vocal range capabilities.  Thanks to the band again providing a good solid backing to this track, this was a pretty presentable representation of McCartney’s former #1 Hit.  (McCartney first premiered the video for this song on SNL back in 1980.)

All in all, the show comedically was a lame as ever … I have just NEVER been able to get in sync with the majority of what they consider “humor,” despite now 53 seasons of trying … but Paul proved to be a pretty solid musical guest for the finale.  (Keep in mind that he'll be turning 84 next month!!!)  kk

Speaking of music on tv (music television??? what a great idea!) ... CBS has a two hour Grammy salute to Rod Stewart on this evening at 8 pm Eastern / 7 pm Central.  It is described as a "two-hour special that captures Stewart still at full throttle as he and his band launch the extended U.S. leg of his "One Last Time" tour, which launched in 2024 and has evolved into a multi-year global event."  (kk)

 

daughter Paige with Rod Stewart a few years ago

kk …

Did You Ever Hear Of "THE NEW MAMAS & PAPAS?"

Denny Doherty + Scott McKenzie + Spanky McFarlane + Laurie Beebe.

You Can Find Them On You Tube.

It's Much Easier To Find The July, 1973, Bobby Darin Concert On "BOBBY DARIN FAN CLUB" Than To Use The Link You Posted.

This Was His Next To Last Concert. He Was Sick At The Time & Still Doing Two Shows A Night.

FB

I actually SAW The “New” Mamas and Papas a couple times …

The first time was at an outdoor summerfest type thing held behind my old high school in Berwyn, IL … only at the time it was Denny, Scott, Spanky and John Phillips’ daughter MacKenzie Phillips (who also starred on the hit television series “One Day At A Time” prior to that) on vocals.

The second time I saw them was at The Drury Lane Theater in Oak Brook, IL … and this was a VERY special reunion because John Phillips actually performed with them on stage.  It was an AMAZING show in that he seemed totally sober and coherent at the time and was very funny and entertaining.  He even performed a couple of new songs that he had written which were also very good but, to the best of my knowledge, never actually came out.

John was on a new high, having recently cowritten The Beach Boys’ #1 Hit “Kokomo” … and iwas n fine voice.  MacKenzie was not at that show so the girl singer could have been Laurie Beebe but I cannot say that for certain.  (The fact that Scott McKenzie was missing was bittersweet as I really enjoyed him at the previous show … plus he got to sing HIS big hit “San Francisco,” which John had written especially for him.)  Sadly, John Phillips died shortly after this performance.

I have always been a HUGE Mamas and Papas fan.  They won me over for life the very first time I heard “California Dreamin’” back in 1966.  (I’ve written about this before … it was one of those “goosebump moments” where the VERY first time you heard it, it send chills up your spine.  Even sixty years later, I still feel the same way about that one … a PERFECT piece of music in every way.)

As for the Bobby Darin concert, no, I have listened to it yet … and I know Sammy Tallerico has a new Darin radio special out there as well … I just need to devote one of my afternoons to Bobby and catch up on all this great stuff.  (kk)

Monkees Historian Andrew Sandoval has a NEW Monkees book coming out later this year …

This one is dedicated to their television show … in fact, it’s called “The Monkees On TV, Season One” (which means we can also look forward to a Season Two edition in the future.)

From the official release:

Andrew Sandoval surveys the season’s 32 episodes with individual chapters on each show. The book focuses on how the episodes evolved from the screenwriters’ original scripts to The Monkees’ on-screen delivery. In many cases, multiple drafts of the show scripts are compared with the final program to reveal details of lost scenes and unpublished dialogue. Analysis of each episode’s music and production will also be included.

The Monkees On TV – Season One will be heavily illustrated with images from every episode, original cue sheets for each program and a plethora of newly uncovered vintage documents revealing heretofore unpublished production details. The Monkees On TV – Season One also draws on Sandoval’s decades of interviews with Michael Nesmith, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, Bob Rafelson and James Frawley.

The book will be available for preorder in July 2026 with publication to follow immediately (and expected delivery in October 2026). The book will be printed in high-quality limited quantities in both hardcover and flexibound editions. There will be no digital version, and it will not be available in stores.

Andrew tells you more here …

kk …

June 28, 1998 = Wild Wayne's 50th Anniversary Flashback Interview With Chris Montez.

Chris Tells The Story About How He Met His Musical Idol.

Chris Went To A Show In Hawthorne, California, To Hear Ritchie Valens Sing His Current Hits "DONNA" & "LA BAMBA."

He Was All The Way In The Back Of The Auditorium.

He Figured If He Wouldn't Get The Chance To Meet Him, At Least He Could Hear Him.

Chris Turned Around & Ritchie Was Standing Next To Him.

He Said “You're Ritchie Valens!” & Shook His Hand.

Chris Thought To Himself, “If I Ever Become A Singer, I'm Going To Be Nice To The Fans --- The Way Ritchie Was To Me.

Wild Wayne Said We Should Check Out The Chris Montez Documentary On You Tube.

FB

I’ve been telling you that for WEEKS now!!!  It’s a good one … lots of great stories about going to school with Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys and touring with The Beatles … being taken under the wing of Herb Alpert and literally reinventing his career at A&M Records … DEFINITELY worth watching.  (kk) 

More on Clarence Carter:

https://news.pollstar.com/2026/05/15/clarence-carter-soul-singer-known-for-patches-and-strokin-dies-at-90/

And …

Dennis Locorriere, Co-Lead Vocalist and Guitarist of the band Dr. Hook has died at 76.  His management confirmed that he died peacefully surrounded by his family following a long battle with kidney disease.

As a founding member of Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (later shortened to Dr. Hook), Locorriere’s distinct, soulful voice propelled the band to international superstardom. He sang lead vocals on many of their most iconic and enduring hits.

Locorriere shared his band-fronting duties for years with the band’s other highly recognizable face, Ray Sawyer (famous for his cowboy hat and eyepatch, and thus interpreted as "Dr. Hook" by most fans), who previously passed away in December of 2018. Beyond his work performing with Dr. Hook, Locorriere was a highly regarded songwriter whose tracks were recorded by major music icons, including Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.

He spent his final years living in the United Kingdom, where he had resided for 24 years.  (kk)

Don McLean says that his album “American Boys,” released in 2024, will be the final studio album of his career.

Speaking to Paul Cashmere of Noise 11, McLean said that he has no plans to record another album, thus closing the chapter on a recording career that has spanned more than six decades … and produced one of the most revered songs in pop music history, “American Pie.”

McLean told Noise 11, “I don’t want to make albums anymore and I don’t really want to write songs anymore.  I’m done with that now. I want to spend the future doing other things and performing less than I used to, but as continuous as I am able.”

The interview took place in advance of McLean’s scheduled tour of Australia, beginning in October.  (kk)

kk …

THIS WEEK COUSIN BRUCIE TALKS TO JOHN SALVATO (OF THE DUPREES)

The Group Was Founded In The Early 1960's In Jersey City, New Jersey By William Dickinson High School Students Mike Arnone + Joe Santollo + John Salvato + Tom Bialoglow + Joey Canzano (Later known As Joey Vann.)

Bialoglow & Canzano Were Singing With The Utopians -- Santollo & Salvato Were Members Of The Elgins.

They All Got Together To Form The Parisians, Who Later Became The Duprees. The Name Came From An Artist Friend Of The Group.

John Salvato Also Played The Trumpet. He Was A Big Band Music Fan.  They Decided To Bring Back 1940's Hits.

"YOU BELONG TO ME" Is Their Biggest Hit, Peaking At #7 On The Charts.  This Song Was A #1 Hit For Jo Stafford in 1952.

The Duprees Have Had Many Different Group Members Over The Years ... Too Numerous To Mention.

Today's Duprees Is A Three Man Group:  Tommy Petillo + Jimmy Spinelli + Shawn Stevens.

Today John Salvato Represents Tony Danza & Priscilla Presley For Personal Appearances.

FB

Looks like we missed another anniversary …

Timmy just sent us in this poster from a California concert held May 18^th, 1968.  Man, what a “heady” line-up this is!!!  (kk)

He also sent us this great Travel Kit idea …

Don’t leave home without ‘em …

8-Tracks to go!  (kk)