Like many, I recently watched the documentary, Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary, which tells the story of how some of my (and your) favorite music came to be known as «yacht rock.» And the answer, as it is wont to do… may surprise you. Yacht rock is a descriptor that has been applied after the fact, come up with by a group of comedians in the early 2000s for a web series parodying this kind of music. 

In a musical sense, it’s music made by a swath of California bands from the 70s and 80s who all had jazz influence and prioritized funky melodies. In an aesthetic sense, it’s music you could imagine sipping a beer to while you cruise around on a boat in the summertime. You know it when you hear it. It’s Toto, Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers, Kenny Loggins, and really anything touched by Michael McDonald. In short, it’s good music.