You should do a voters’ poll of your listeners and compile The top 100 Yacht Rock songs of all time!
That would be fun.
Eddie C. Spencer
I have never been a fan of the term “Yacht Rock” … and Sirius/XM’s over the top exploitation of it has only served to worsen my feelings. (Plus I’m not even sure they have a playlist of 200 songs!!! Which means you just keep hearing the same batch of songs again and again and again. And we pay money to listen to this station!!!)
And it seems to have gotten worse …
I can’t tell you how many times in the past month that the last song I hear when I pull into the driveway at night is then also the FIRST song I hear when I go out to start my car for work the following morning! Are the playlists really THAT tight that you have to repeat every 12 hours??? And we PAY for this!!! (Clearly, one of the things we’re NOT paying for is variety. With an available song list of probably 3000 songs that fit the Yacht Rock format perfectly, we are instead constantly fed the same 200. THIS kind of programming is EXACTLY what prompted me to start Forgotten Hits 24 years ago!!!)
Sure things: You’re going to hear something by Ambrosia any time you turn it on for more than 20 minutes … and I used to LOVE Ambrosia’s music … now I find myself turning it off due to pure saturation … once again, radio’s narrow-minded play lists is ruining the music I love for me.
You’re going to hear Michael McDonald somehow, someway, at least 12-20 times a day!!! Whether it be the repeated airings of his solo hits “I Keep Forgettin’” and “I Gotta Try” (and, to a lesser extent, “Yah Mo Be There” and “Sweet Freedom” (which I actually still like) … his hits with The Doobie Brothers (“What A Fool Believes” seems to be their go-to tune two or three times a day) … or any one of the 850 other tunes he sang background on the the late ‘70’s and ‘80’s. (Key preference given to songs by Christopher Cross and Kenny Loggins.)
You’re going to hear Rupert Homes’ #1 Hit “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” a few times a day … as well as regular airings of his less-deserving hits “Him” and “Answering Machine.”
It just goes on and on (although hearing “On And On” by Stephen Bishop right now would be a pleasant surprise!)
Did you happen to see that Paramount+ documentary that’s running right now?
It’s a 3-Part profile of Soft Rock … how it grew to infinite proportions in the ‘70’s, continued on during most of the ‘80’s and then (according to them) just COMPLETELY blew off the map by the end of the decade … as in “We now pronounce you DEAD!!!”
My experience with this music is that this simply isn’t true … and wasn’t the case at all.
They then go on to give undue credit to the Hip Hop Industry for resurrecting the soft rock songs of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s by putting a new backbeat behind them and introducing a whole new generation to this music … music that THEY grew up with listening to their parents’ records. (There’s a similar segment in the recent Dionne Warwick profile where she takes credit for turning Snoop Dogg’s career around and setting him a better path with his music.) I just don’t think the media is portraying an accurate version of “reality” when it comes to the legacy of soft rock music.
Then, just last week, the Ross On Radio column (one of the most respected radio profile sheets out there) did an entire segment on Soft Rock Hits (while also plugging the Paramount + special for at least the third time), working in their “Lost Factor” for great soft rock songs that you just don’t hear anymore. They even polled their readers as to which soft rock songs they’d like to hear more of because radio just doesn’t play them anymore.
Seriously?!?!
I had to take Sean Ross to task on this one … because man, if you think these songs are missing from the airwaves … and you really want to hear them … you’re just listening to the wrong stations!!!
Some of these songs play SO often that they have become immediate button-pushers for me.
Here are just some of the songs on Sean’s list:
This Is It by Kenny Loggins (I’ll bet you I hear this at least six times a week – maybe even more - and I rarely listen to the station!)
Steal Away by Robbie Dupree (at least 3 or 4 times a week)
Ventura Highway by America (2-3 times a week)
Cool Change by The Little River Band (5 or 6 times a week)
I’d Really Love To See You Tonight – England Dan and John Ford Coley (literally a dozen times a week or more … this one seems to play on EVERY station these days!)
Just The Two Of Us – Grove Washington, Jr. with Bill Withers (3 or 4 times a week)
Sara Smile by Daryl Hall and John Oates (a good eight times a week)
I Keep Forgettin’ by Michael McDonald (six times a week)
True – Spandau Ballet (3 or 4 times a week)
Smoke From A Distant Fire – The Sanford-Townsend Band (another one that seems to play on every station these days … a good ten times a week … another song that I’ve always loved that saturation has now ruined for me)
Hard To Say I’m Sorry by Chicago (3 or 4 times a week)
Lonesome Loser – The Little River Band (5 or 6 times a week)
Lowdown by Boz Scaggs (a good six times a week)
You’re The Only Woman by Ambrosia (12-15 times a week … WHY?!?!?!)
Something by The Beatles (5 or 6 times a week – and that’s not counting The Beatles Channel!)
Well, you get the idea!
And
songs that were considered flat out rock and roll when they were released …
things like “Hurt So Good” and “Jack And Diane” by John Mellencamp or
“Maneater” by Hall and Oates … some of the Starship stuff … Survivor now all of
a sudden qualify as soft rock / lite rock / yacht rock / or whatever you want
to call it. Even back in the day, during its peak, they called it "Mellow Rock" ... Yacht Rock just sounds so pretentious and insulting.
(Actually, I have always loved the marketing concept of “The Lite” … they were playing nothing but soft rock hits 25-30 years ago! “Turn On The Lite” … and once you did, you knew EXACTLY what you were going to be listening to … a great campaign that still works today.)
But
Yacht Rock? Why can’t they just call it Soft Rock … because that’s what it is!!! (It’s kinda like radio not
wanting to use the word “Oldies” anymore.) Those of us who grew up during “The Soft Rock
‘70’s” knows the shift and impact this music had on the charts ... and I'm not ashamed to admit I have always liked it ... and continue to enjoy it to this day. It's just the "branding" that I object to.
Billboard Magazine published an Adult Contemporary Chart for decades. I checked Joel Whitburn’s book on this (which recaps the hits thru the year 2000) to see what it determined to be the biggest and most popular Soft Rock Hits of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s (because this seems to be the key era that Yacht Rock concentrates on today.)
These rankings are based solely on the record’s performance on Billboard’s Chart … Peak Position and Number of Weeks at its Peak Position being the determining factor. (While not, perhaps, the most accurate method, it is at least a method that offers consistency without prejudice to the ranking.) Ties are broken by weeks in The Top Ten … and then in The Top 40 … and then, if necessary, in The Top 100.
Looking over this list today, all I can say is …
Be prepared to be surprised!
MOST of the songs on the list don’t receive anywhere NEAR the airplay that the “heavy repeats” get on a daily basis!
According to Billboard’s actual chart stats, here are Joel’s Top 50 Adult Contemporary (Soft Rock) Hits for the period of 1970 – 1989:
# 1 – Time Passages – Al Stewart (1978) #1 for 10 weeks!
# 2 – Lead Me On – Maxine Nightingale (1979) #1 for 7 weeks
# 3 – Nobody Does It Better – Carly Simon (1977) #1 for 7 weeks
# 4 – Crazy Love – Poco (1979) #1 for 7 weeks
# 5 – We’ve Only Just Begun – The Carpenters (1970) #1 for 7 weeks
# 6 – Song Sung Blue – Neil Diamond (1972) #1 for 7 weeks
# 7 – Love Theme from “A Star Is Born” (Evergreen) 1977 - #1 for 6 weeks
# 8 – How Deep Is Your Love – The Bee Gees (1977) #1 for 6 weeks
# 9 – Cherish – Kool and the Gang (1985) #1 for 6 weeks
#10 – Right Here Waiting – Richard Marx (1989) #1 for 6 weeks
#11 – If You Don’t Know Me By Now – Simply Red (1989) #1 for 6 weeks
#12 – You Are – Lionel Richie (1983) - #1 for 6 weeks
#13 – Hello – Lionel Richie (1984) #1 for 6 weeks
#14 – Lost In Love – Air Supply (1980) #1 for 6 weeks
#15 – Snowbird – Anne Murray (1970) #1 for 6 weeks
#16 – (They Long To Be) Close To You – The Carpenters (1970) #1 for 6 weeks
#17 – Yesterday’s Songs – Neil Diamond (1981) #1 for 6 weeks
#18 – I Don’t Need You – Kenny Rogers (1981) #1 for 6 weeks
#19 – Read ‘em And Weep – Barry Manilow (1983) #1 for 6 weeks
#20 – Alone Again (Naturally) – Gilbert O’Sullivan (1972) #1 for 6 weeks
#21 – We’ll Never Have To Say Goodbye Again – England Dan and John Ford Coley (1978) - #1 for 6 weeks
#22 – Watching Scotty Grow – Bobby Goldsboro (1971) #1 for 6 weeks (when’s the last time you heard this one?!?!)
#23 – The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – Robert Flack (1972) #1 for 6 weeks
#24 – Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel (1970) #1 for 6 weeks
#25 – Don’t Know Much – Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville (1989) #1 for 5 weeks
#26 – The Rose – Bette Midler (1980) #1 for 5 weeks
#27 – Stuck On You – Lionel Richie (1984) #1 for 5 weeks
#28 – Another Day In Paradise – Phil Collins (1989) #1 for 5 weeks
#29 – You’re Only Lonely – J.D. Southern (1979) #1 for 5 weeks
#30 – It’s Sad To Belong – England Dan and John Ford Coley (1977) #1 for 5 weeks
#31 – Two Hearts – Phil Collins (1988) #1 for 5 weeks
#32 – Say You, Say Me – Lionel Richie (1985) #1 for 5 weeks
#33 – Magic – Olivia Newton-John (1980) #1 for 5 weeks
#34 – Woman In Love – Barbra Streisand (1980) #1 for 5 weeks
#35 – Any Day Now – Ronnie Milsap (1982) #1 for 5 weeks
#36 – Greatest Love Of All – Whitney Houston (1986) #1 for 5 weeks
#37 – Glory Of Love – Peter Cetera (1986) #1 for 5 weeks
#38 – Without You – Nilsson (1972) #1 for 5 weeks
#39 – Chariots Of Fire – Vangelis (1986) #1 for 5 weeks
#40 – Careless Whisper – George Michael (1985) #1 for 5 weeks
#41 – Ebony And Ivory – Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder (1982) #1 for 5 weeks
#42 – Broken Hearted Me – Anne Murray (1979) #1 for 5 weeks
#43 – (What A) Wonderful World – Art Garfunkel with James Taylor and Paul Simon (1978) #1 for 5 weeks
#44 – It’s Too Late – Carole King (1971) #1 for 5 weeks
#45 – All I Ever Need Is You – Sonny and Cher (1971) #1 for 5 weeks
#46 – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down – Joan Baez (1971) #1 for 5 weeks
#47 – My Heart Belongs To Me – Barbra Streisand (1977) #1 for 4 weeks
#48 – Just The Way You Are – Billy Joel (1978) #1 for 4 weeks
#49 – Never Gonna Let You Go – Sergio Mendes (1983) #1 for 4 weeks
#50 – Islands In The Stream – Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (1983) #1 for 4 weeks
Hardly representative of what we’re actually hearing …
Truth be told, I’d put nearly every single one of these songs on Ross’ Lost Factor List! (kk)
