No point in trying to foist yet another genre on an unsuspecting music-listening public; that ship has sailed.🚢We sally forth, and in so doing, we discover the not-Top-Ten melody makers few heard.
Really enjoyed this Brad, thanks! Having attended university in Halifax, I was well aware of April Wine (Just Between You and Me is an absolute classic). The other two artists I hadn’t heard of despite having heard Shannon somewhere before. Looking forward to this regular series!!
Thanks, Mark! Well, not having heard of two out of the three artists is why we're here! And, knowing "Shannon," but not knowing who sang it, just cements it that much more!
Hall & Oates, Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, and Michael McDonald don't need me for a thing (and, I love each and every one, for this song or that)! As far as the general Yacht Rock universe, places like satellite radio has them covered....each at least twice an hour...and, that's not even on heavy rotation!
But, similarly slotted artists, with songs celestial radio hasn't yet played to sick-making frequency (and they're bitchin', bangin', and happenin' songs), we lift them up, here!📣🎵👍
What can I say that hasn't already been said by your thousands of followers? To my ears, Yacht Rock is essentially the same thing as Yacht Pop. In fact, I think Yacht Pop might be a better nomer. Is nomer a word? Misnomer is, so it should be if it's not. Actually, I've changed my tune. As "Pop" is often used to mean "soda pop" or "soda," the best name might be Yacht Tab. Or Fresca of the Sea. Or Sprite of the Sea. I'm fishing here.
I agree with MK in that I feel that April Wine is the outlier band to your Yacht Pop subgenre. I think it's because Canadians are so damn nice and friendly that they come off as easy-going even when they are rockin' hard. In that sense, all Canadian music is Yacht Pop.
Oh - I always learn something in your pieces, but I was surprised to learn that Jay Ferguson wrote the theme to the American "Office." I feel like I should have known that. It's a classic.
Yacht Rock, I'm sure, would be called "Yacht Pop" if those who occupy the space (and promote it and push a satellite radio station) weren't so virtue-signaling their desire to sound big, bad, and tough with that "rock" word. But, if (and it is) "pop" is short for "popular," then that's exactly what YR is...popular.
April Wine may indeed be a YP outlier, but that's not why they're here. As is so often the case, it's the song. Just the song. I'm not even sure I've ever, consciously, heard another song by April Wine in my life. If I have, it was forgettable, or I dispatched them, forthwith, into the "loud and/or ponderous" file (oh, that's a full one!). My one criterion for the song's inclusion here? I like it. I even sang it often in karaoke! It matters not who recorded it or how loud they can shoot their canon.
Ex: The Bay City Rollers...I want to have absolutely nothing to do with them during the 3 minutes it takes to endure "Saturday Night." But, their "You Made Me Believe in Magic"? Sublime, and that recording (and a few others of theirs) keeps me a fan, willing to happily excuse their cheap and tawdry "SN" belch. 👉It's.......the song.👈
I can beat your "Office" story, although I, also, didn't know who wrote it: I've never seen an episode. When I played the theme, I go, "Well, isn't that cute?" Everyone else? "Oh, yeah, bring it, Carell! You da man!" or something similar!
Thanks for learnin' something here! We gwine-a call this place, "Schoolhouse Rock".....oops, I sense that's taken! "Schoolhouse Pop"?🏫🥤Yes, that has a certain ring to it!🔔
The point of the article is exactly that: "Sign of the Gypsy Queen" is anything BUT Yacht Rock.😁If it was, it wouldn't have found itself anywhere near my pen'n'paper! I used to enjoy singing "Gypsy Queen" at karaoke a decade ago!
Ah, I misunderstood! I happen to love the artists that are grouped under "yacht rock" (the term is hillarious because the most prominent of the artists lumped there all came from working class families) so I defend the music to the death. I was singing along to it while listening to it on this post. April Wine is such an underrated band.
I love Yacht Rock, too. That's how I was able to write this....one doesn't josh a bit with something they loathe. As always, my teeth-grinding comes from radio....decades ago, it was terrestrial radio (that once fed me!); now, it's celestial radio, and like it has for decades, it tends to play everything to the brink of listener intolerance.
This new Yacht Pop series will seek to shine a light on YR-"eligible" artists, but they just aren't given heavy rotation on, say, XM/Sirius satellite radio's YR station. Ferguson, Gross, and April Wine (to my knowledge) don't get any love from YR stations. I think they fit all their criteria.
My new little Yacht Pop invention was just a way for me to showcase these artists and songs that tend to get ignored by the Yacht Rock cognoscenti, but by all accounts COULD fit on the format. But, I'm picking songs and artists (these three are a perfect example) who exhibit quite a preponderance of power pop elements.....or simply, show off classic pop songwriting!!
Thanks for your input, MK! I always want to make sure I'm explaining myself clearly, especially when I'm carving out a new rock genre out of whole cloth!!😉
I've been listening to the "Yacht Rock Deep Cuts" channel on the Sirius XM app to escape the limited usual suspects they play on the regular Yacht Rock channel. FWIW, I've heard Thunder Island on both of them.
Nice to know my article has had such rapid and all-encompassing influence!🤣Great to hear, really! Unless and until an artist becomes as omnipresent on such stations as Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, et al, there's still room for trumpeting the ones that stand out! Lemme know when "YRDC" changes their name to "Yacht Pop Anchors"!😁
Thrilled this is going to be a series. And I forgot to mention in my April Wine excitement what a trip down memory lane it was to hear Thunder Island again. That's another album to add to my TBL (to be listened) list.
Yay! I just heard a recent song, MK, that has no biz being in any "Yacht"-y genre, but when one creates a genre, one can make the rules!!! Here it is....it'll be on a future "Yacht Pop" piece....I'll share it with you if you promise to keep it under your hat. If you didn't know when it was recorded, you might think it was smack in the middle of the late-'70s Yacht Rock lane! So, it'll be an honorary Yacht Pop entry, at some point!👇
As for Ferguson...what an artist! Lengthy early rock history that would've been impressive if it stopped there! So, plenty of pop-filled rock, and TV and film scores, to boot! He'll, sadly, never make the Rock Hall, but let's build a Rock'n'Roll Fairly Modest Corridor of Fame for the Jay Fergusons of the pop world who, otherwise, would never enter the Rock Hall sans ticket!
Now, as for you, young lady......the fans at the gate have been clamoring for you to sign up for a Tune Tag round! If you're game, just e-mail me any song/any artist/any genre/any era, and I'll reply with my Song #1, with brief info! bradc318@gmail.com
Wow, I would never have guess that the song was from last year. It has such an authentic 70s sound! Thanks for sharing. I'm going to do more of a deep dive.
As for the Tune Tag, as I mentioned to Steve I've been feeling a little intimidated. I'll screw my courage to the sticking place and send you something.
Brad - I like how you take any opportunity to share the wonders of Drugdealer. I know we've talked about them a couple times before, but I will remind you, and, as MK is unaware, I had Drugdealer's 2022 album Hiding in Plain Sight in my best albums of last year.
And I second the Tune Tag suggestion, MK. Mr. Kyle has been known to bring a boatload of new readers to a newsletter, so it's the best promotion of SOTD as you will get this side of the Mississippi!:)
You mean there AREN'T already locations there? I'm gonna guess there's a Yacht Rock Bar and Pool Room at the estate of one Michael McDonald....who, by the way, guested on so many of-the-era artists' recordings, he was once actually booked for a background-singing session for one of his own albums!🤷♂️
Please know I'm teasing about that McDonald bit....a formula gag I stole from "The Rutles," where they portrayed the late '60s Beatles parody band as suing each other so much that, at one point, the George character sued himself!
Hahaha honestly though I would believe it if it actually happened. I’ve got a great story of McDonald recognizing the moment his music was yacht rock too
Feel free to write it up and e-mail it to me, especially if you have no plans (or a place to have it "fit" on your site) to publish it on your "FP". I'd be happy to add stuff around it (pix, song links, etc) to make it a collab that could get you some wider coverage for you! I'd love to feature McDonald, but have really nothing otherwise organic to springboard a piece about him. LMK!
A career that spans the decades! He's one that, if not deserving of the Rock Hall (and, I'm not even intimating he shouldn't belong....I'm just going by the stupidity that usually follows usual Hall selections...and, non-selections), there should be a little nook or alcove in the Cleveland edifice, marked "The Rock'n'Roll Corridor of Generally Incredible And/Or Lengthy and Interestingly Creative Careers," or, if that would require too long a plaque, words to that effect!
Ah ha. Ok well that could maybe explain something, anybody else following this please do correct me if I’m wrong, but whenever I have attempted to see what Sirius FM is all about I get a message saying something like ‘unfortunately currently unavailable in you geographic location.” My attention span for this kinda stuff diminishes to zero immediately.... so, game over. What other genres have I missed due to this?
At one time, XM was its own satellite radio company, and Sirius was another. About a decade ago, they merged to create https://www.siriusxm.com/ I checked, but couldn't find an immediate pronouncement of international availability, although they had a separate "Canada" link.
If you're interested, they've got a real time chat function where, if you were curious, you could ask them about their western Europe availability.
In the '50s, there was an American TV show, where, at the end, the host would say...."Thanks for watching, and it's all because 'You Asked For It'!" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Asked_for_It😁👍
Sometimes, Brad, you make me feel like I’ve been living under a rock 🪨 I don’t know any of these bands (apart from you mention The Beatles in passing, I know them), names or even genres - I never heard of Yacht Rock!
Well, another sad commentary on American "culture," Yacht Rock is, and has been, a thing here for about a decade. Yacht Pop, whelped solely in my restless noggin about 48 hours ago, is an outcropping of the limitations predictably and incessantly revealed by radio (this time, the celestial variety....satellite radio): Missing completely the many artists who deserve more exposure (that's where I come in), and waaaaay over-playing artists to the point of exhaustion (you know, like terrestrial radio did back in the day)!
So, if you listened to a Yacht Rock station (like on XM/Sirius satellite radio) for a day, you'd be driven to violent illness the next time you heard Michael McDonald. None of us wants to get sick of hearing McDonald's endlessly interesting and wonderful voice, but such is the effect of yet another example of radio overkill!
I'm not even gonna look, but I'm willing to bet a quid'n'a sheckel that Jay Ferguson, Henry Gross, and/or April Wine is nowhere to be found....and, by all acounts, all three fit solidly into the established and "authentic" YR def!
Maybe one day there'll be a "Yacht Pop" Wiki page, with links to all my YP articles! Stay tuned! Meanwhile, Jay Ferguson? Call me!☎
Oh, I know.........Lists, right? So, they'll (whomever "they" are!) put the Pointers on a list like that, and ignore both of our solo artists here...Ferguson and Gross, either or both would be a fitting addition to a Yacht Rock list. Nothing against the Pointers, but.....c'mon!🤣
Thanks, Brad, for another great piece! Colour me ignorant, but I didn't even know there was such thing as "yacht pop"! When I say every day at FR&B is a school day, I mean it!
Before Friday, there WASN'T such a thing as Yacht Pop (capitalized, too, if you please😉)....I just made it up!!! So, you're not ignorant.....at this moment, you're WAY ahead of the curve, Boobie! In fact, I'd say you're leadin' the pack!
If Pop Culture can't/won't/hasn't created a serviceable genre that suits MY tastes, I'll just create one....so I did! Now, when Yacht Rock radio (and others) ignore artists and songs like the ones here, I swoop in, with cape'n'cowl, to save the day! "Every day at FR&B is a school day"!! You may just have to stay after the bell, young man!😁👍I've got some erasers that need clappin'!
If I am ahead of the curve, you’re surfing waaaay ahead (or shall we say sailing in a beautiful yacht!). The world needs more people like you, Brad! And I mean it
Nice mix! The funny thing about Spirit (the band) is that the members were more successful away from the band.
You just mentioned JoJo Gunne another band was Firefall out of Boulder Colorado as Mark Andes was their bassist. Andes’ resume is quite stellar besides Jo Jo Gunne and Spirit, Andes played for Canned Heat, Heart, and I believe another band. Ed Cassidy, the drummer, was well known in the jazz world prior to pounding the skins for Spirit. John Locke (don’t you just love that name) played with the Scottish band Nazareth (the most unappreciated impactive Rock band that ever existed) later but was more of a studio musician than a concert artist. Randy California, who probably had more talent than Ferguson, Andes, and Locke combined, but never gained traction outside of Spirit which was a huge disappointment.
By the way, what you wrote about Gross was interesting, I never knew the background as I thought he was attempting to be just another singer like Brian and Carl Wilson. Gross was a great pick!
Thanks, IP! Glad you like. I remember, fondly, the debut Firefall album. You're right....while Nazareth was never a fave (although I had their first couple of '71 and '72 Warner Bros./US LPs...the second produced by Roy Thomas Baker), I agree that they're widely ignored in discussions about early classic rock/hard rock bands! Randy California was an underappreciated guitarist, taken too soon. Thanks for the Gross compliment. I'd always heard that Carl/dog story, but wanted to make sure some or all of it wasn't apocryphal!
It's funny how some songs click long-term with listeners. Some one-hot wonders last, others are forgotten. Every time I hear Henry Gross' "Shannon," I think of the song "Ariel," by Dean Friedman, which is kind of from the same era and although they don't have a similar sound, they have the same vibe in my head. Plus, as I once heard Casey Kasem note, "Ariel" is the only Billboard Top 40 song to contain the word "Paramus."
"From way downtown.....BAM!" So spot on about "Ariel." I've added it to my master list (this will be a recurring series, with 3 artists/songs per). Another album I had once upon a time! Such a wildly creative vocal arrangement. If you'd like to shoot me more of your personal thoughts/memories on "Ariel," I'll be happy to consider including them when "Ariel" makes it to a Yacht Pop piece! I've already made a note to credit you for reminding me of Friedman!
The thing that always amused me about "Ariel" is that included references that I didn't quite understand at the time. Including the mention of her being with the "Friends of BAI," which I always thought was some local Jewish group. Turned out the reference was to the local radio station WBAI. Also, as a teen I was always impressed that he could take her out for fast food and still end up getting lucky. Apparently playing in a rock band really was helpful back then.
Thanks, buddy! I have definitely heard some of these songs (probably by way of other so-called Yacht Rock bands), but there are plenty that are new to me.
I was gonna say, the dog pictured with Carl Wilson is NOT an Irish Setter, but I sallied on and continued ready! Quite a songwriting process drowning out the neighbors and playing seashore sounds!!
I watch my share of Westminster Dog Show telecasts, I'll have you know! I know my Toy Group from my Sporting!😉True dat, regarding the neighbor-cancelling! But, cool story that it was that record that might've added to the possible Beach Boys vibes Henry might've ingested to write it!🎵
Really enjoyed this Brad, thanks! Having attended university in Halifax, I was well aware of April Wine (Just Between You and Me is an absolute classic). The other two artists I hadn’t heard of despite having heard Shannon somewhere before. Looking forward to this regular series!!
Thanks, Mark! Well, not having heard of two out of the three artists is why we're here! And, knowing "Shannon," but not knowing who sang it, just cements it that much more!
Hall & Oates, Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, and Michael McDonald don't need me for a thing (and, I love each and every one, for this song or that)! As far as the general Yacht Rock universe, places like satellite radio has them covered....each at least twice an hour...and, that's not even on heavy rotation!
But, similarly slotted artists, with songs celestial radio hasn't yet played to sick-making frequency (and they're bitchin', bangin', and happenin' songs), we lift them up, here!📣🎵👍
What can I say that hasn't already been said by your thousands of followers? To my ears, Yacht Rock is essentially the same thing as Yacht Pop. In fact, I think Yacht Pop might be a better nomer. Is nomer a word? Misnomer is, so it should be if it's not. Actually, I've changed my tune. As "Pop" is often used to mean "soda pop" or "soda," the best name might be Yacht Tab. Or Fresca of the Sea. Or Sprite of the Sea. I'm fishing here.
I agree with MK in that I feel that April Wine is the outlier band to your Yacht Pop subgenre. I think it's because Canadians are so damn nice and friendly that they come off as easy-going even when they are rockin' hard. In that sense, all Canadian music is Yacht Pop.
Oh - I always learn something in your pieces, but I was surprised to learn that Jay Ferguson wrote the theme to the American "Office." I feel like I should have known that. It's a classic.
Yacht Rock, I'm sure, would be called "Yacht Pop" if those who occupy the space (and promote it and push a satellite radio station) weren't so virtue-signaling their desire to sound big, bad, and tough with that "rock" word. But, if (and it is) "pop" is short for "popular," then that's exactly what YR is...popular.
April Wine may indeed be a YP outlier, but that's not why they're here. As is so often the case, it's the song. Just the song. I'm not even sure I've ever, consciously, heard another song by April Wine in my life. If I have, it was forgettable, or I dispatched them, forthwith, into the "loud and/or ponderous" file (oh, that's a full one!). My one criterion for the song's inclusion here? I like it. I even sang it often in karaoke! It matters not who recorded it or how loud they can shoot their canon.
Ex: The Bay City Rollers...I want to have absolutely nothing to do with them during the 3 minutes it takes to endure "Saturday Night." But, their "You Made Me Believe in Magic"? Sublime, and that recording (and a few others of theirs) keeps me a fan, willing to happily excuse their cheap and tawdry "SN" belch. 👉It's.......the song.👈
I can beat your "Office" story, although I, also, didn't know who wrote it: I've never seen an episode. When I played the theme, I go, "Well, isn't that cute?" Everyone else? "Oh, yeah, bring it, Carell! You da man!" or something similar!
Thanks for learnin' something here! We gwine-a call this place, "Schoolhouse Rock".....oops, I sense that's taken! "Schoolhouse Pop"?🏫🥤Yes, that has a certain ring to it!🔔
I know a bunch of people who will fight you on Sign of the Gypsy Queen being Yacht Rock but thrilled to see April Wine getting recognition!
The point of the article is exactly that: "Sign of the Gypsy Queen" is anything BUT Yacht Rock.😁If it was, it wouldn't have found itself anywhere near my pen'n'paper! I used to enjoy singing "Gypsy Queen" at karaoke a decade ago!
Ah, I misunderstood! I happen to love the artists that are grouped under "yacht rock" (the term is hillarious because the most prominent of the artists lumped there all came from working class families) so I defend the music to the death. I was singing along to it while listening to it on this post. April Wine is such an underrated band.
I love Yacht Rock, too. That's how I was able to write this....one doesn't josh a bit with something they loathe. As always, my teeth-grinding comes from radio....decades ago, it was terrestrial radio (that once fed me!); now, it's celestial radio, and like it has for decades, it tends to play everything to the brink of listener intolerance.
This new Yacht Pop series will seek to shine a light on YR-"eligible" artists, but they just aren't given heavy rotation on, say, XM/Sirius satellite radio's YR station. Ferguson, Gross, and April Wine (to my knowledge) don't get any love from YR stations. I think they fit all their criteria.
My new little Yacht Pop invention was just a way for me to showcase these artists and songs that tend to get ignored by the Yacht Rock cognoscenti, but by all accounts COULD fit on the format. But, I'm picking songs and artists (these three are a perfect example) who exhibit quite a preponderance of power pop elements.....or simply, show off classic pop songwriting!!
Thanks for your input, MK! I always want to make sure I'm explaining myself clearly, especially when I'm carving out a new rock genre out of whole cloth!!😉
I've been listening to the "Yacht Rock Deep Cuts" channel on the Sirius XM app to escape the limited usual suspects they play on the regular Yacht Rock channel. FWIW, I've heard Thunder Island on both of them.
Nice to know my article has had such rapid and all-encompassing influence!🤣Great to hear, really! Unless and until an artist becomes as omnipresent on such stations as Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, et al, there's still room for trumpeting the ones that stand out! Lemme know when "YRDC" changes their name to "Yacht Pop Anchors"!😁
Thrilled this is going to be a series. And I forgot to mention in my April Wine excitement what a trip down memory lane it was to hear Thunder Island again. That's another album to add to my TBL (to be listened) list.
Yay! I just heard a recent song, MK, that has no biz being in any "Yacht"-y genre, but when one creates a genre, one can make the rules!!! Here it is....it'll be on a future "Yacht Pop" piece....I'll share it with you if you promise to keep it under your hat. If you didn't know when it was recorded, you might think it was smack in the middle of the late-'70s Yacht Rock lane! So, it'll be an honorary Yacht Pop entry, at some point!👇
https://open.spotify.com/track/10WDCU0ey0CJXE43aaJVcm?si=fae01be30b004ca2
As for Ferguson...what an artist! Lengthy early rock history that would've been impressive if it stopped there! So, plenty of pop-filled rock, and TV and film scores, to boot! He'll, sadly, never make the Rock Hall, but let's build a Rock'n'Roll Fairly Modest Corridor of Fame for the Jay Fergusons of the pop world who, otherwise, would never enter the Rock Hall sans ticket!
Now, as for you, young lady......the fans at the gate have been clamoring for you to sign up for a Tune Tag round! If you're game, just e-mail me any song/any artist/any genre/any era, and I'll reply with my Song #1, with brief info! bradc318@gmail.com
Wow, I would never have guess that the song was from last year. It has such an authentic 70s sound! Thanks for sharing. I'm going to do more of a deep dive.
As for the Tune Tag, as I mentioned to Steve I've been feeling a little intimidated. I'll screw my courage to the sticking place and send you something.
Brad - I like how you take any opportunity to share the wonders of Drugdealer. I know we've talked about them a couple times before, but I will remind you, and, as MK is unaware, I had Drugdealer's 2022 album Hiding in Plain Sight in my best albums of last year.
And I second the Tune Tag suggestion, MK. Mr. Kyle has been known to bring a boatload of new readers to a newsletter, so it's the best promotion of SOTD as you will get this side of the Mississippi!:)
Hahaha I’m super into that. I’d also love a specific Yacht Rock Hall of Fame in SoCal maybe in Malibu. Or a permanent location at margaritaville
You mean there AREN'T already locations there? I'm gonna guess there's a Yacht Rock Bar and Pool Room at the estate of one Michael McDonald....who, by the way, guested on so many of-the-era artists' recordings, he was once actually booked for a background-singing session for one of his own albums!🤷♂️
Hahaha I am learning so much about one of my favorite genres ever.
Please know I'm teasing about that McDonald bit....a formula gag I stole from "The Rutles," where they portrayed the late '60s Beatles parody band as suing each other so much that, at one point, the George character sued himself!
Hahaha honestly though I would believe it if it actually happened. I’ve got a great story of McDonald recognizing the moment his music was yacht rock too
Feel free to write it up and e-mail it to me, especially if you have no plans (or a place to have it "fit" on your site) to publish it on your "FP". I'd be happy to add stuff around it (pix, song links, etc) to make it a collab that could get you some wider coverage for you! I'd love to feature McDonald, but have really nothing otherwise organic to springboard a piece about him. LMK!
THAT IS BRILLIANT. Will do absolutely!
Oh my mind is literally blown. No idea that jay ferguson did the office theme song!
A career that spans the decades! He's one that, if not deserving of the Rock Hall (and, I'm not even intimating he shouldn't belong....I'm just going by the stupidity that usually follows usual Hall selections...and, non-selections), there should be a little nook or alcove in the Cleveland edifice, marked "The Rock'n'Roll Corridor of Generally Incredible And/Or Lengthy and Interestingly Creative Careers," or, if that would require too long a plaque, words to that effect!
😂
Ah ha. Ok well that could maybe explain something, anybody else following this please do correct me if I’m wrong, but whenever I have attempted to see what Sirius FM is all about I get a message saying something like ‘unfortunately currently unavailable in you geographic location.” My attention span for this kinda stuff diminishes to zero immediately.... so, game over. What other genres have I missed due to this?
At one time, XM was its own satellite radio company, and Sirius was another. About a decade ago, they merged to create https://www.siriusxm.com/ I checked, but couldn't find an immediate pronouncement of international availability, although they had a separate "Canada" link.
If you're interested, they've got a real time chat function where, if you were curious, you could ask them about their western Europe availability.
Other genres? You're brave to ask, Nic! Here's Sirius/XM's list of music channels: https://www.siriusxm.com/music?intcmp=Global%20Nav_NA_www:Home_Music
and, toward the bottom of the page, they've got genre buttons, and it's within "Rock" and "Pop" where you'll, likely, find their Yacht Rock channel.
Here's their dedicated YR channel page: https://www.siriusxm.com/channels/yacht-rock-311?intcmp=CHG_NA_www:GenrePageRock_YachtRock311Page
In the '50s, there was an American TV show, where, at the end, the host would say...."Thanks for watching, and it's all because 'You Asked For It'!" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Asked_for_It😁👍
Sometimes, Brad, you make me feel like I’ve been living under a rock 🪨 I don’t know any of these bands (apart from you mention The Beatles in passing, I know them), names or even genres - I never heard of Yacht Rock!
Well, another sad commentary on American "culture," Yacht Rock is, and has been, a thing here for about a decade. Yacht Pop, whelped solely in my restless noggin about 48 hours ago, is an outcropping of the limitations predictably and incessantly revealed by radio (this time, the celestial variety....satellite radio): Missing completely the many artists who deserve more exposure (that's where I come in), and waaaaay over-playing artists to the point of exhaustion (you know, like terrestrial radio did back in the day)!
So, if you listened to a Yacht Rock station (like on XM/Sirius satellite radio) for a day, you'd be driven to violent illness the next time you heard Michael McDonald. None of us wants to get sick of hearing McDonald's endlessly interesting and wonderful voice, but such is the effect of yet another example of radio overkill!
Don't hate me for being thorough, Nic 😉, but the damn thing even has its own Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_yacht_rock_artists
I'm not even gonna look, but I'm willing to bet a quid'n'a sheckel that Jay Ferguson, Henry Gross, and/or April Wine is nowhere to be found....and, by all acounts, all three fit solidly into the established and "authentic" YR def!
Maybe one day there'll be a "Yacht Pop" Wiki page, with links to all my YP articles! Stay tuned! Meanwhile, Jay Ferguson? Call me!☎
Wow, that list is something else. The Pointer Sisters? A lot of head-scratching going on there.
Oh, I know.........Lists, right? So, they'll (whomever "they" are!) put the Pointers on a list like that, and ignore both of our solo artists here...Ferguson and Gross, either or both would be a fitting addition to a Yacht Rock list. Nothing against the Pointers, but.....c'mon!🤣
In no universe I can think of would the Pointers be considered rock. Really have to wonder.
True dat❗
Thanks, Brad, for another great piece! Colour me ignorant, but I didn't even know there was such thing as "yacht pop"! When I say every day at FR&B is a school day, I mean it!
Before Friday, there WASN'T such a thing as Yacht Pop (capitalized, too, if you please😉)....I just made it up!!! So, you're not ignorant.....at this moment, you're WAY ahead of the curve, Boobie! In fact, I'd say you're leadin' the pack!
If Pop Culture can't/won't/hasn't created a serviceable genre that suits MY tastes, I'll just create one....so I did! Now, when Yacht Rock radio (and others) ignore artists and songs like the ones here, I swoop in, with cape'n'cowl, to save the day! "Every day at FR&B is a school day"!! You may just have to stay after the bell, young man!😁👍I've got some erasers that need clappin'!
If I am ahead of the curve, you’re surfing waaaay ahead (or shall we say sailing in a beautiful yacht!). The world needs more people like you, Brad! And I mean it
🙏
Nice mix! The funny thing about Spirit (the band) is that the members were more successful away from the band.
You just mentioned JoJo Gunne another band was Firefall out of Boulder Colorado as Mark Andes was their bassist. Andes’ resume is quite stellar besides Jo Jo Gunne and Spirit, Andes played for Canned Heat, Heart, and I believe another band. Ed Cassidy, the drummer, was well known in the jazz world prior to pounding the skins for Spirit. John Locke (don’t you just love that name) played with the Scottish band Nazareth (the most unappreciated impactive Rock band that ever existed) later but was more of a studio musician than a concert artist. Randy California, who probably had more talent than Ferguson, Andes, and Locke combined, but never gained traction outside of Spirit which was a huge disappointment.
By the way, what you wrote about Gross was interesting, I never knew the background as I thought he was attempting to be just another singer like Brian and Carl Wilson. Gross was a great pick!
Thanks, IP! Glad you like. I remember, fondly, the debut Firefall album. You're right....while Nazareth was never a fave (although I had their first couple of '71 and '72 Warner Bros./US LPs...the second produced by Roy Thomas Baker), I agree that they're widely ignored in discussions about early classic rock/hard rock bands! Randy California was an underappreciated guitarist, taken too soon. Thanks for the Gross compliment. I'd always heard that Carl/dog story, but wanted to make sure some or all of it wasn't apocryphal!
Wouldn’t have figured Jay Ferguson to be the piano-stool-throwing type!
Don't short the piano player!🎹🎵😁👍
It's funny how some songs click long-term with listeners. Some one-hot wonders last, others are forgotten. Every time I hear Henry Gross' "Shannon," I think of the song "Ariel," by Dean Friedman, which is kind of from the same era and although they don't have a similar sound, they have the same vibe in my head. Plus, as I once heard Casey Kasem note, "Ariel" is the only Billboard Top 40 song to contain the word "Paramus."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONXQbbJJLuM
"From way downtown.....BAM!" So spot on about "Ariel." I've added it to my master list (this will be a recurring series, with 3 artists/songs per). Another album I had once upon a time! Such a wildly creative vocal arrangement. If you'd like to shoot me more of your personal thoughts/memories on "Ariel," I'll be happy to consider including them when "Ariel" makes it to a Yacht Pop piece! I've already made a note to credit you for reminding me of Friedman!
The thing that always amused me about "Ariel" is that included references that I didn't quite understand at the time. Including the mention of her being with the "Friends of BAI," which I always thought was some local Jewish group. Turned out the reference was to the local radio station WBAI. Also, as a teen I was always impressed that he could take her out for fast food and still end up getting lucky. Apparently playing in a rock band really was helpful back then.
How 'bout that! I never knew that. As for playing in a rock band being helpful, you certainly couldn't go by me and my experiences!
Thanks, Brad! Listening to the full album now.
Which one? April Wine?🍷
Oh, sorry - Thunder Island. Just letting it rip.
He's such a bitchin' new find for most! Add him to the list of the criminally underheard, if not unknown! Enjoy, Andrew.
Thanks, buddy! I have definitely heard some of these songs (probably by way of other so-called Yacht Rock bands), but there are plenty that are new to me.
I was gonna say, the dog pictured with Carl Wilson is NOT an Irish Setter, but I sallied on and continued ready! Quite a songwriting process drowning out the neighbors and playing seashore sounds!!
I watch my share of Westminster Dog Show telecasts, I'll have you know! I know my Toy Group from my Sporting!😉True dat, regarding the neighbor-cancelling! But, cool story that it was that record that might've added to the possible Beach Boys vibes Henry might've ingested to write it!🎵
Toy Dog Pondering!!
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