I don't blame Donald one bit for that response. Yacht Rock began as a pejorative term for bands who were considered too soft to be called R&R, which is bullshit. At some point over the last 20 years, younger music fans became obsessed with rigidly categorizing everything into a specific genre. Most of us who were listening to music in the 70s weren't concerned with "genres". We were more than happy to have all these different sounds coming at us in that era. You could tune in to an AOR FM radio station and hear The Allman Brothers, Traffic, Yes, Zeppelin, Bad Company, Pink Floyd, and Steely Dan all in the same hour. It was just great music. We didn't care how many genres were folded in to the songs. They were musical alchemists, and it was brilliant!
Steely Dan is much more than yacht rock. But talking about yacht rock without mentioning Steely Dan is just wrong, because Steely Dan is one of the biggest names in yacht rock. Apparently Steely Dan ended up authorising some of their music to be used in the documentary because otherwise the documentary wouldn't make sense.
@@bluesrock1 You don't make a documentary about yacht rock because the genre yacht rock is important. It just provides a convenient scope for a documentary. Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Christopher Cross, Michael McDonald, Rupert Holmes were from a similar era, were always crossing paths with each other, made music that was worthy of a documentary. The genre is not important but the documentary is. The most important aspect of yacht rock, for me, is that it was like disco. It blurred the line between black and white.
"The Cuervo gold. The fine Columbian. Make tonight a wonderful thing." Steely Dan had some of the greatest musicians in all of recorded music. And wrote some Yacht Rock classics. Donald Fagan is a good old cranky New Yorker, expect nothing less.
He is also full of SHIT cause HE licensed Steely music for the film and SAID ' I am gonna say ' fuck yacht rock'. Yacht rock is a bullshit name for what is actually some great music played by great musicians that has lasted damn near 50 years! It has aged better than say 'Wet Ass Pussy' will sound in 40+ years! + Fagan and Becker used SO many of the same musicians that played on all these records so.. He is posturing to seem cool at almost 80 years old? THIS said I am a massive Steely Dan fan. Also a Toto fan and a fan of MIke Mc and Christopher..
He knows that he belong to that genre but he did not like the new term "yacht rock" even because this music was born as a sort of mix of many genres that have nothing to do with any boats .
another bs label that we the public are supposed to accept...like punk, post punk, emo, alternative, electronica.....all bs labels coined by some non musician....trying to put us in a box....why?
"Yacht rock " was once called AOR or FM ...Steely Dan recorded even a song dedicated to that genre , and it is one of their best song, called FM no static at all (soundtrack of the movie FM)
"Yacht rock " was once called AOR or FM ...Steely Dan recorded even a song dedicated to that genre , and it is one of their best song, called FM no static at all (soundtrack of the movie FM) and the genre that you have cited are what "yacht rock" is all about
@Kouros-t6d That's a load of crap and completely wrong. There was never a "genre" called FM. FM radio was the better sounding RADIO FORMAT than AM. FM stations generally played the longer album cuts from the LP instead of radio edited singles which were 3 to 4 minutes long. Steely Dan's song FM was the title track to the movie FM which was about that radio format. It had nothing to do with Yacht Rock, because there was no such thing as Yacht Rock. AOR ie "Album Oriented Rock" which was a very broad generic term for playing cuts off albums that weren't hit singles. It really was a silly term that covered just about anything. Steely Dan's FM is one of their FUNKIEST bad azz JAZZ ROCK FUSION songs and is about as far away from "Margaritaville", "Sailing", "Steal Away", "Key Largo" as you can get. I was there. I've seen Steely Dan live over 20 times. Steely Dan played jazz fusion funk rock. Songs about drug addicts, hookers, drug dealers, gamblers, pervs and other assorted characters on the fringes of urban society. Not songs about relaxing on an expansive Yacht sipping fancy cocktails on the way to Aruba. DUUUURRRR.
@@kbrewski1 All over the world this genre is known as AOR Adult oriented Rock(in Europe west coast AOR) as you said I don't know why somebody renamed it as "yacht Rock" anyway the music of steely dan...doobie brothers..toto...gino vannelli ...robbie dupree...ambrosia...wild cherry...the eagles...fleetwood mac....christopher cross etc....belong to THIS genre... a mix of rock pop funk jazz blues soul like it or not . I don't care about the lyrics you can talk about cocktails or social issues but the music is what counts, Fagen toured with MMcDonald and Boz Scaggs so he should shout his mouth since there's nothing more "yacht" than those two.
You know, I LOVE Steely Dan, but I'm not exactly sure that Donald & I would become fast friends. Kenny freaking Loggins said it best: "As time went on, I came to understand that it was kind of their ass-backwards way of honoring us"!!!! People honor others in many different ways, Some do it with love letters, others do it with love songs, some do it with dedications on the radio, & yes...............some do it with jokes, parodies, & roasts. That's what the whole web series is all about, honoring these very special musicians in a joking manner. Kenny gets it, Michael gets it, so why doesn't Donald?!! He has a REAL stick up his ass!!! For Christ's sake, the man's own songs, both by himself, & with Walter Becker, are offbeat & funny, in their own way!!!!
Thank you! You said what I was going to say. Donald has always had that stick up there. Steely Dan were always stuck up. Listen, there are people way more talented, Paul, John, Jimi the OG Brian Wilson just to name a few and they aren't nearly as arrogant as the SD guys.
Let's say the TRUTH....Steely Dan are the QUINTESSENTIAL West coast AOR FM "Yacht Rock" or "like the hell you wanna call it" band !!! And also solo works like Fagen's Nightfly are a perfect example of this style that embraces the most important modern genres of American Music like rock pop soul disco funk jazz and blues!
Oh please, none of those bands wrote music for yachts... Also, guys like Christopher Cross and Michael McDonald wrote profoundly complex music as well. And what's more, what is wrong with enjoying great music near the ocean ;) 🏝
The thing that sets classic "yacht rock" bands apart from classic rock bands? If you go to see them perform live now they don't need to use pre recorded tracks or auto-tune.
"Yacht rock " was once called AOR or FM ...Steely Dan recorded even a song dedicated to that genre , and it is one of their best song, called FM no static at all (soundtrack of the movie FM)
Lukather didn't play on any Steely Dan tracks, but he did play on basically every other significant record in that era. Other Toto guys did plan with the Dan.
Good on Donald Fagen for expressing his annoyance about being told his genre is Yacht Rock. What an utterly ridiculous thing for the director to say to him. What this shows is that Garet Price knows nothing about Steely Dan or what their actual contribution is to the evolution of popular music.
Yacht Rock is possibly just 70s/80s pop rock that had some R/B moments. I can't completely define the so-called genre however Chris Cross seems like it and hopefully cashing in on this weird revival. I think it's a campy commentary on this music no different than calling it thd Oldies circuit...im mean Soft rock and Easy listening seemed like a terrible name in retrospect.
The term Yacht Rock, says more about audience preference, than the musical styles of the various bands included in this nebulous term. Don't get your panties in a bunch Donald. Naming a genre doesn't change one note performed. Jazzbos, can often be nasty fookers.
"Yacht Rock" didn't exist in the 70s. There was no such thing. No one used that term. Yacht Rock became a "fake music genre" due to an internet parody video done by a group of low budget SNL wanna bes in a series of sketches done all to make fun of primarily Micheal McDonald and The Eagles, among others. It was in 10 or 12 parts and can be found on YT. It's pretty amateur and lame, and the whole point was to make fun of easy listening "soft rock" that was popular in the 70s and early 80s. Steely Dan was tangentially poked fun at because McDonald sang backup vocals on some tunes. DJs and the rise of digital radio like Sirius etc picked up on the term and started making "Yacht Rock" playlists and channels as a marketing thing. This was in the early 2000s. Again, long after the 70s, and long after Steely Dan's prime output. It all started as a parody and a joke, a negative term, and it was an artificial made up genre used to villify certain songs and groups of artists. Steely Dan couldn't be further from Yacht Rock. Its jazz fusion funk rock. Their lyrics are mostly about drugs, pimps, hookers, gamblers, pervs and other sketchy characters and low lifes on the edges of urban society. They didn't write songs about drinking margaritas on a luxury yacht. DURRRRRRRR
"Yacht rock " was once called AOR or FM ...Steely Dan recorded even a song dedicated to that genre , and it is one of their best song, called FM no static at all (soundtrack of the movie FM)
@@kbrewski1 I go playing the most "yacht" record of them all : The Nightfly from the man himself.....call it like you want but what count is the sound not the term
"Gaucho" is absolutely yacht rock (which I do not regard as a pejorative category, by the way). It's a quintessential yacht rock album. "Time Out of Mind" is one of the songs I would use to *define* yacht rock, along with a couple of tracks by Pablo Cruise. BUT that doesn't mean Steely Dan's entire oeuvre is yacht rock. "Aja" is jazz fusion, not yacht rock. And the Dan's earlier music is even further removed from the category.
I forgot about Pablo Cruise! Are they in the documentary? (I don't have HBO.) Also, agree - there are enough Steely Dan/solo-Fagen songs that could fit adjacent to Michael McDonald's music. But SD's catalog is much wider and more original. I was a big fan.
Except that S. DAN is exceptionally performed and well written rock flavored muzak! Which doesn't negate the fact that "Yacht Rock" is the goofiest label EVER applied to the form!
Jimmy Buffett is TROP Rock, not Yacht Rock. PARTS of Steely Dan's catalogue is Yacht Rock, not all of it. Just like not all of Michael McDonald's catalogue is not Yacht Rock - a lot of soul, R&B, etc. Yacht rock is a genre based on a style of music and in many instances, certain songs fall into that formula, but it doesn't mean that every song that a band does makes that band a Yacht Rock artist. Thanks for attending my TED Talk.
I dunno 'bout Yacht Rock but hearing Steely Dan nowadays Harkens me back to my just-outta-college, 1st-real-Gov't-Engineering job in the early '80's, on a typical TGIF, I'd get together w/the other Engineering Nerd / Geek / Dorks before heading out to the clubs to stand along the wall not dancing just looking Creepy - We'd have Steely Dan (Legit Yacht Rock), Jazz Crusaders & Michael Brecker (Legit Smooth Jazz) CD's (CD was a new format then & very Hip) on the stereo - Carver Amp's & Klipsch speakers turned up to 11 - very Bright sound - Phat lines of YaYa on the glass topped coffee table . . . I was a secret Deadhead, would not Dare let that Genre out of the Baggie . . .
Good for Donald Fagen. The people who call Steely Dan "yacht rock" obviously don't listen to the lyrics. There is nothing light and trivial and gentrified about Steely Dan. It's not music to be played in the background while a group of millionaires on a yacht play Liar Dice, it's music to be listened to and digested and hopefully make the listener realize that they might not always be making the right decisions in life.
Yacht Rock is a marketing term for marketers to make money with older acts on cruises and in "concerts" at State Fairs and Casinos. Agree with Fagen on this, SD is way too musically and lyrically accomplished to be stuck into any one genre and he was justifiably insulted.
Interesting take from Donald Fagen, who toured with Boz Scaggs and Micheal McDonald as the Dukes of September…. I’m curious to know what he would call their music. In the end it’s just a label to categorize music. I understand it may have a negative connotation because those who coined it made fun of it, but I think when you look at what is considered Yacht Rock, a lot of it is pretty sophisticated.
I read his road diary and he basically spent 100 pages bitching and moaning about everything, especially the audience. This is why I'll never go to his shows, he seems to have only contempt for his fans. I love his music, but he comes off as a real insufferable sourpuss.
I'm not a boomer (unfortunately) and I find YR one of the freshest music all around...much more vibrant and eviolute than dumb metal (c)rap and other prefabricated garbage.
Steely Dan are the greatest yacht rock band. We can defend them against such an accusation but it fits. Yes their music was complex and jazz infused but when your sitting on your yacht in the hot California sun listening to Rikki don’t lose that number while sipping your pina colada you understand that yacht rock can be complex too.
While some of my favorite songs ever written and produced are "Yacht Rock", I agree with the narrator that most of Steely Dan's music was more rock jazz, a sound unlike any other groups. I consider them my first exposure to any kind of jazz. That said, Fagens reaction showed his conceit, ego, and that he considers himself better than all the rest of those great artists. Too bad, but Im not surprised at all. I quit listening to them after "Two Against Nature" as lyrics too weird, suggestive. 2 dirty old men.
I think if you started to tell me this story, say at a party on a yacht, circa 1978, I’d excuse myself and go grab a Mt. Gay and tonic. Cool story though, bro… a genre on to themselves. Rad.
WRONG. YACHT ROCK DID NOT EXIST AS A TERM IN THE 70S. IT IS A MADE UP DEROGATORY TERM CREATED FROM AN INTERNET PARODY IN THE EARLY 2000S. YOU'RE A CLUELESS BOOB.
@@kbrewski1 I COULD'T CARE LESS ABOUT THE TERM THEY COULD CANCEL IT EVEN NOW CALL IT LIKE THE HELL YOU WANT IT BUT THE SOUND OF STEELY DAN AND EVEN MORE DONALD FAGEN SOLO ALBUM THE NIGHFLY ARE THE QUINTESSENTIAL AOR FM WEST COAST SOFT ROCK YACHT ROCK SOUND!!!! IT'S NOT THE TERM IS THE SOUND STUPID!
so if you watch the doc - it was coined by a youtube series where comedians totally made up the term. I guess Fagen looks at it as a back handed compliment. The doc was dope AF! bye
What a scream this video is. You can say all these same things about Toto. Obviously you haven't listened to much Toto past "Roseanna" and "Africa". Southern Rock was a bullshit category too but it was an easy way to say "This music has a certain feel". That's all the term "Yacht Rock" is as it's saying "This isn't the Who or Zeppelin". At this stage of the game any documentary that explores the great music of that time is worthwhile. Young kids are discovering all the old music now and giving it new life. This is just another path to that. By the way I'm sure if Fagen makes any money of streams and purchases of Steely Dan music as a result of this documentary he won't be returning the checks.
Steely dan as well as any other so called yacht rock band is a mixture of the most important american genres : soul rock pop jazz blues and disco and funk
Easy listening? Have you heard Bodhisattva? Or Showbiz Kids? Or Black Friday? Or Razor Boy? There’s nothing “easy listening” about that music or the lyrics.
@@georgegonzalez1996 you should understand that the term "easy listening" is more worthy than jazz or rock and SD recorded LOTS of songs of this genre fortunally
Steely Dan, and Donald Fagen in particular has got to be the most overrated musician/musical project in history. Not a band. Two guys who hired a bunch of great studio musicians when they recorded and toured. I find most of their music sterile with no soul. No surprise he has no sense of humor.
I love the fact that Steely Dan is being labeled as Yacht Rock, and I totally support it. My proof? Listen to MinuteMen’s cover of Dr. Wu. Minutemen use simple guitar, bass, drums and vocals to create a masterpiece out of the overblown, overproduced, self-absorbed yuppie sound of Dan’s version. MinuteMen completely destroyed Dan and forever revealed what a shit stick Dan is - and all in under two minutes!
@ is that what passes for a well thought out retort in your world? Come on, show me your smarter than a fifth grader and say something half way fucking relevant.
@edvonblue Yes I have. It sucks tiny balls. It blows chunks. It's projectile vomit. Sounds like they literally worked on it for a minute. If it was supposed to be a joke, it's not even funny. It's not singing. Or music. It's not even complete. They might as well just recorded themselves taking mondo Dooks on each other.
If you replace "Yacht" with "Pretentious Douche" the term yacht rock will take on a new level of clarity. Not to be painting with too broad of a brush, that is, generally speaking, an accurate description of Steely Dan, Toto, Loggins and Messina, Pablo Cruise, etc...and the people that were listening to them back in the day. Hipster pricks before the term "hipster' was in use.
The people that I know that listen to the artists you have cited are ALL musicians and lovers of great music .....the whole so called "yacht rock" genre is one of the best genres ever because is played by great Musicians.
@@Kouros-t6d I never said that they weren't good musicians. That's why they were studio musicians. Toto was made up entirely of studio musicians, and they were the session guys in all of those yacht rock bands, except for when Steely Dan used Larry Carlton instead of Steve Lukather. Just because you are a good musician, that doesn't mean that you are not a pretentious douche. The two are not mutually exclusive. As a side note, you should clean up that circular reasoning. 'They are lovers of great music because they love the music that I have arbitrarily defined as being great' is a bit flawed.
You enjoy listening to songs about drug addiction, drug dealers, hookers, pervs, gamblers and other fringe characters on the edges of society in the elevator? What a wacko.
LOTS of other SD songs are so called "yacht rock" : reelin in the years....do it again (with wonderful DISCO flavours)...babylon sisters...FM...and many others
@@Kouros-t6d I guess I’ve always considered Steely Dan as somewhat yacht rock beginning with Aja, but Royal Scam and prior not so much. But I guess you can pick out a few songs amongst the pre-1977 mix and still find a few.
I don't blame Donald one bit for that response. Yacht Rock began as a pejorative term for bands who were considered too soft to be called R&R, which is bullshit. At some point over the last 20 years, younger music fans became obsessed with rigidly categorizing everything into a specific genre. Most of us who were listening to music in the 70s weren't concerned with "genres". We were more than happy to have all these different sounds coming at us in that era. You could tune in to an AOR FM radio station and hear The Allman Brothers, Traffic, Yes, Zeppelin, Bad Company, Pink Floyd, and Steely Dan all in the same hour. It was just great music. We didn't care how many genres were folded in to the songs. They were musical alchemists, and it was brilliant!
Yet when it came to disco music...
@@augustosolari7721 OK, you got me there!
Steely Dan is much more than yacht rock. But talking about yacht rock without mentioning Steely Dan is just wrong, because Steely Dan is one of the biggest names in yacht rock. Apparently Steely Dan ended up authorising some of their music to be used in the documentary because otherwise the documentary wouldn't make sense.
@@sieteocho By today's genre classifying obsessed listeners, you're correct, but Donald's initial response to the term says it all.
@@bluesrock1 You don't make a documentary about yacht rock because the genre yacht rock is important. It just provides a convenient scope for a documentary. Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Christopher Cross, Michael McDonald, Rupert Holmes were from a similar era, were always crossing paths with each other, made music that was worthy of a documentary.
The genre is not important but the documentary is.
The most important aspect of yacht rock, for me, is that it was like disco. It blurred the line between black and white.
"The Cuervo gold. The fine Columbian. Make tonight a wonderful thing." Steely Dan had some of the greatest musicians in all of recorded music. And wrote some Yacht Rock classics. Donald Fagan is a good old cranky New Yorker, expect nothing less.
He is also full of SHIT cause HE licensed Steely music for the film and SAID ' I am gonna say ' fuck yacht rock'.
Yacht rock is a bullshit name for what is actually some great music played by great musicians that has lasted damn near 50 years! It has aged better than say 'Wet Ass Pussy' will sound in 40+ years! + Fagan and Becker used SO many of the same musicians that played on all these records so.. He is posturing to seem cool at almost 80 years old? THIS said I am a massive Steely Dan fan. Also a Toto fan and a fan of MIke Mc and Christopher..
@@TimothyGreenwood707 You're taking this WAY too seriously, dude.
The way I see, SD are not Yacht Rock, but lovers of Yacht Rock will appreciate some of their stuff.
90% of their more popular stuff included Fagen solo album The Nightfly that is even more "yacht rock" than SD.
Calling Steely Dan "Yacht Rock" is like calling a 747 a kite.
...or not knowing the difference between Wayne Shorter and Kenny G.
Yeah, Steely Dan is not yacht rock
Steely Dan are one of the most important so called "yacht rock" band this is a FACT
It is
And yet Fagen still allowed the doc to use 6 Steely Dan songs. Amazing that all the diehard fanboys fail to recognize their own hero's sarcasm.
He knows that he belong to that genre but he did not like the new term "yacht rock" even because this music was born as a sort of mix of many genres that have nothing to do with any boats .
The publishing company probably approved that.
Treating Yacht Rock like a real genre is wild. The term wasn't even coined until like 2001.
another bs label that we the public are supposed to accept...like punk, post punk, emo, alternative, electronica.....all bs labels coined by some non musician....trying to put us in a box....why?
"Yacht rock " was once called AOR or FM ...Steely Dan recorded even a song dedicated to that genre , and it is one of their best song, called FM no static at all (soundtrack of the movie FM)
Top coining going down in 2021.S dan are total and utter yaught rock merchants like the geezer rock buzzin AI bland bizaare and boring.
SPOT ON!! Steely Dan is jazz fusion funk rock
"Yacht rock " was once called AOR or FM ...Steely Dan recorded even a song dedicated to that genre , and it is one of their best song, called FM no static at all (soundtrack of the movie FM) and the genre that you have cited are what "yacht rock" is all about
@Kouros-t6d
That's a load of crap and completely wrong. There was never a "genre" called FM. FM radio was the better sounding RADIO FORMAT than AM. FM stations generally played the longer album cuts from the LP instead of radio edited singles which were 3 to 4 minutes long. Steely Dan's song FM was the title track to the movie FM which was about that radio format. It had nothing to do with Yacht Rock, because there was no such thing as Yacht Rock. AOR ie "Album Oriented Rock" which was a very broad generic term for playing cuts off albums that weren't hit singles. It really was a silly term that covered just about anything.
Steely Dan's FM is one of their FUNKIEST bad azz JAZZ ROCK FUSION songs and is about as far away from "Margaritaville", "Sailing", "Steal Away", "Key Largo" as you can get. I was there. I've seen Steely Dan live over 20 times. Steely Dan played jazz fusion funk rock. Songs about drug addicts, hookers, drug dealers, gamblers, pervs and other assorted characters on the fringes of urban society. Not songs about relaxing on an expansive Yacht sipping fancy cocktails on the way to Aruba. DUUUURRRR.
@@kbrewski1 All over the world this genre is known as AOR Adult oriented Rock(in Europe west coast AOR) as you said I don't know why somebody renamed it as "yacht Rock" anyway the music of steely dan...doobie brothers..toto...gino vannelli ...robbie dupree...ambrosia...wild cherry...the eagles...fleetwood mac....christopher cross etc....belong to THIS genre... a mix of rock pop funk jazz blues soul like it or not . I don't care about the lyrics you can talk about cocktails or social issues but the music is what counts, Fagen toured with MMcDonald and Boz Scaggs so he should shout his mouth since there's nothing more "yacht" than those two.
One person's ceiling is another person's floor. To each his/ her own .
Both Yacht Rock and Soft Rock of the 70s and 80s is really good music! On Spotify all these bands are played under Yacht Rock.
You know, I LOVE Steely Dan, but I'm not exactly sure that Donald & I would become fast friends. Kenny freaking Loggins said it best: "As time went on, I came to understand that it was kind of their ass-backwards way of honoring us"!!!! People honor others in many different ways, Some do it with love letters, others do it with love songs, some do it with dedications on the radio, & yes...............some do it with jokes, parodies, & roasts. That's what the whole web series is all about, honoring these very special musicians in a joking manner. Kenny gets it, Michael gets it, so why doesn't Donald?!! He has a REAL stick up his ass!!! For Christ's sake, the man's own songs, both by himself, & with Walter Becker, are offbeat & funny, in their own way!!!!
I agree with you.
Thank you! You said what I was going to say. Donald has always had that stick up there. Steely Dan were always stuck up. Listen, there are people way more talented, Paul, John, Jimi the OG Brian Wilson just to name a few and they aren't nearly as arrogant as the SD guys.
Let's say the TRUTH....Steely Dan are the QUINTESSENTIAL West coast AOR FM "Yacht Rock" or "like the hell you wanna call it" band !!! And also solo works like Fagen's Nightfly are a perfect example of this style that embraces the most important modern genres of American Music like rock pop soul disco funk jazz and blues!
TRUE
Oh please, none of those bands wrote music for yachts... Also, guys like Christopher Cross and Michael McDonald wrote profoundly complex music as well. And what's more, what is wrong with enjoying great music near the ocean ;) 🏝
The thing that sets classic "yacht rock" bands apart from classic rock bands? If you go to see them perform live now they don't need to use pre recorded tracks or auto-tune.
Well said! "Yacht Rock" singers were smart enough not to destroy their vocal cords ❤❤❤
Yacht Rock is not a thing except a label for a generation that doesn’t know how to understand anything without a label.
Pablo Cruise is yacht rock
"Yacht rock " was once called AOR or FM ...Steely Dan recorded even a song dedicated to that genre , and it is one of their best song, called FM no static at all (soundtrack of the movie FM)
Whats wrong with not wanting to be labeled that?
Whats wrong with not wanting to be labeled at all?
If you would have watched the video, you would know
Because its made up modern culture vomit
Lukather didn't play on any Steely Dan tracks, but he did play on basically every other significant record in that era. Other Toto guys did plan with the Dan.
I don't know what Yacht Rock is but I love almost all the music they call that. I love the Dan as much as anyone but lighten up, Francis.
Donald. Francis. Whatever.
Yeah….dont lump them in with those lightweights……
Good on Donald Fagen for expressing his annoyance about being told his genre is Yacht Rock. What an utterly ridiculous thing for the director to say to him. What this shows is that Garet Price knows nothing about Steely Dan or what their actual contribution is to the evolution of popular music.
Fagen was right to refuse to participate in the Yacht Rock documentary. Steely Dan defies category.
but he did not refused to tour with Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald two giants of so called "yacht rock" .... clown!
Yacht Rock is possibly just 70s/80s pop rock that had some R/B moments. I can't completely define the so-called genre however Chris Cross seems like it and hopefully cashing in on this weird revival. I think it's a campy commentary on this music no different than calling it thd Oldies circuit...im mean Soft rock and Easy listening seemed like a terrible name in retrospect.
The term Yacht Rock, says more about audience preference, than the musical styles of the various bands included in this nebulous term.
Don't get your panties in a bunch Donald. Naming a genre doesn't change one note performed. Jazzbos, can often be nasty fookers.
"Yacht Rock" didn't exist in the 70s. There was no such thing. No one used that term. Yacht Rock became a "fake music genre" due to an internet parody video done by a group of low budget SNL wanna bes in a series of sketches done all to make fun of primarily Micheal McDonald and The Eagles, among others. It was in 10 or 12 parts and can be found on YT. It's pretty amateur and lame, and the whole point was to make fun of easy listening "soft rock" that was popular in the 70s and early 80s. Steely Dan was tangentially poked fun at because McDonald sang backup vocals on some tunes.
DJs and the rise of digital radio like Sirius etc picked up on the term and started making "Yacht Rock" playlists and channels as a marketing thing. This was in the early 2000s. Again, long after the 70s, and long after Steely Dan's prime output.
It all started as a parody and a joke, a negative term, and it was an artificial made up genre used to villify certain songs and groups of artists. Steely Dan couldn't be further from Yacht Rock. Its jazz fusion funk rock. Their lyrics are mostly about drugs, pimps, hookers, gamblers, pervs and other sketchy characters and low lifes on the edges of urban society. They didn't write songs about drinking margaritas on a luxury yacht. DURRRRRRRR
"Yacht rock " was once called AOR or FM ...Steely Dan recorded even a song dedicated to that genre , and it is one of their best song, called FM no static at all (soundtrack of the movie FM)
@Kouros-t6d
Completely false and idiotic.
@@kbrewski1 TRUE instead AOR is a renowed name all around the world! It is idiotic and false not to recognize it.
@Kouros-t6d
Go play your Starland Vocal Band and Bertie Higgins records and quit Dumbing Down this thread even further.
@@kbrewski1 I go playing the most "yacht" record of them all : The Nightfly from the man himself.....call it like you want but what count is the sound not the term
"Gaucho" is absolutely yacht rock (which I do not regard as a pejorative category, by the way). It's a quintessential yacht rock album. "Time Out of Mind" is one of the songs I would use to *define* yacht rock, along with a couple of tracks by Pablo Cruise. BUT that doesn't mean Steely Dan's entire oeuvre is yacht rock. "Aja" is jazz fusion, not yacht rock. And the Dan's earlier music is even further removed from the category.
LOTS of SD songs are YR : do it again (witg DISCO flavour) home at last....reeling in the years.....aja.....and MANY others
I forgot about Pablo Cruise! Are they in the documentary? (I don't have HBO.) Also, agree - there are enough Steely Dan/solo-Fagen songs that could fit adjacent to Michael McDonald's music. But SD's catalog is much wider and more original. I was a big fan.
Donald Fagen’s response was the most “yacht rock” response ever.
Razz Runk= music combining rock, jazz and funk.
Except that S. DAN is exceptionally performed and well written rock flavored muzak!
Which doesn't negate the fact that "Yacht Rock" is the goofiest label EVER applied to the form!
But they were so smooothh.
God bless Donald Fagan !!!
Jimmy Buffett is TROP Rock, not Yacht Rock. PARTS of Steely Dan's catalogue is Yacht Rock, not all of it. Just like not all of Michael McDonald's catalogue is not Yacht Rock - a lot of soul, R&B, etc. Yacht rock is a genre based on a style of music and in many instances, certain songs fall into that formula, but it doesn't mean that every song that a band does makes that band a Yacht Rock artist. Thanks for attending my TED Talk.
Ambrosia started out as a progressive rock band.
I dunno 'bout Yacht Rock but hearing Steely Dan nowadays Harkens me back to my just-outta-college, 1st-real-Gov't-Engineering job in the early '80's, on a typical TGIF, I'd get together w/the other Engineering Nerd / Geek / Dorks before heading out to the clubs to stand along the wall not dancing just looking Creepy - We'd have Steely Dan (Legit Yacht Rock), Jazz Crusaders & Michael Brecker (Legit Smooth Jazz) CD's (CD was a new format then & very Hip) on the stereo - Carver Amp's & Klipsch speakers turned up to 11 - very Bright sound - Phat lines of YaYa on the glass topped coffee table . . . I was a secret Deadhead, would not Dare let that Genre out of the Baggie . . .
Good for Donald Fagen. The people who call Steely Dan "yacht rock" obviously don't listen to the lyrics. There is nothing light and trivial and gentrified about Steely Dan. It's not music to be played in the background while a group of millionaires on a yacht play Liar Dice, it's music to be listened to and digested and hopefully make the listener realize that they might not always be making the right decisions in life.
Yacht Rock is not a thing, stop feeding the trolls with attention they don’t deserve.
Yacht Rock is a marketing term for marketers to make money with older acts on cruises and in "concerts" at State Fairs and Casinos. Agree with Fagen on this, SD is way too musically and lyrically accomplished to be stuck into any one genre and he was justifiably insulted.
I love Fagen
Interesting take from Donald Fagen, who toured with Boz Scaggs and Micheal McDonald as the Dukes of September…. I’m curious to know what he would call their music. In the end it’s just a label to categorize music. I understand it may have a negative connotation because those who coined it made fun of it, but I think when you look at what is considered Yacht Rock, a lot of it is pretty sophisticated.
I read his road diary and he basically spent 100 pages bitching and moaning about everything, especially the audience. This is why I'll never go to his shows, he seems to have only contempt for his fans. I love his music, but he comes off as a real insufferable sourpuss.
" ... on another level musically." Yeah, what he said.
Yacht Rock: Groovy 70s soft rock in which aging boomers find comfort and the nostalgia of their youth while contemplating their impending doom.
I'm not a boomer (unfortunately) and I find YR one of the freshest music all around...much more vibrant and eviolute than dumb metal (c)rap and other prefabricated garbage.
Jimmy Buffett is NOT yacht rock, neither is Steely Dan. Yacht rock i even really rock, more West Coast AOR than anything else.
Its so funny that yacht rock comedy showed beef between bands and now that its in the spotlight, theres beef again lol
Donald answered sort of like they portrayed him in the YACHT ROCK series.
Obviously no one at HBO ever read a Steely Dan lyric.
what counts is MUSIC and LOTS of SD songs have an AOR west coast sound!
I love SD and I love Yacht rock. all my YR play lists have SD on every one of them.
Steely Dan are the greatest yacht rock band. We can defend them against such an accusation but it fits. Yes their music was complex and jazz infused but when your sitting on your yacht in the hot California sun listening to Rikki don’t lose that number while sipping your pina colada you understand that yacht rock can be complex too.
Smooth, quality tunes, a bit of down time with Cuervo and Colombian, and chilling on or near water; if it still sells the music join up!
Yep! Steely Dan are Yacht Rock. Easy listening 70's progressive FM pop. Your Grandpa & Grandma have their albums.
While some of my favorite songs ever written and produced are "Yacht Rock", I agree with the narrator that most of Steely Dan's music was more rock jazz, a sound unlike any other groups. I consider them my first exposure to any kind of jazz. That said, Fagens reaction showed his conceit, ego, and that he considers himself better than all the rest of those great artists. Too bad, but Im not surprised at all. I quit listening to them after "Two Against Nature" as lyrics too weird, suggestive. 2 dirty old men.
I think if you started to tell me this story, say at a party on a yacht, circa 1978, I’d excuse myself and go grab a Mt. Gay and tonic. Cool story though, bro… a genre on to themselves. Rad.
Great artists. Great music. No such thing as Yacht Rock or Soft Rock its all R&B like Richard said
Steely Dan yacht rock? Beyond stupid! Great music is the only label that works!
The term “Yacht Rock” is ridiculous in itself and just a lame attempt to pigeonhole so music streaming services can create a category.
The term came from a comedy show….
@@Intricateofmolasses Sounds about right.
the term was created in 2005. it takes 5 seconds to google something before yelling about shit that's unrelated.
@@xilverknight155 I did, it’s still a shit term.
@@robertpearson8798 you clearly didn't.
Steely Dan are one of the most important so called "yacht rock" band this is a FACT
WRONG. YACHT ROCK DID NOT EXIST AS A TERM IN THE 70S. IT IS A MADE UP DEROGATORY TERM CREATED FROM AN INTERNET PARODY IN THE EARLY 2000S. YOU'RE A CLUELESS BOOB.
@@kbrewski1 I COULD'T CARE LESS ABOUT THE TERM THEY COULD CANCEL IT EVEN NOW CALL IT LIKE THE HELL YOU WANT IT BUT THE SOUND OF STEELY DAN AND EVEN MORE DONALD FAGEN SOLO ALBUM THE NIGHFLY ARE THE QUINTESSENTIAL AOR FM WEST COAST SOFT ROCK YACHT ROCK SOUND!!!! IT'S NOT THE TERM IS THE SOUND STUPID!
Steely Dan more on the same level as Chicago, jazz-rock!!!
so if you watch the doc - it was coined by a youtube series where comedians totally made up the term. I guess Fagen looks at it as a back handed compliment. The doc was dope AF! bye
DF needs to lighten up. Ask his wife.
Steely is definitely yacht rock
Whiteboy NYC funk.
"You tell yourself you're not Yacht Rock......."
It's self evident to most - too cynical, jazzy and clever for Mopes with too much money..
Jimmy Buffet is not Yacht. Doesn't meet the criteria
What a scream this video is. You can say all these same things about Toto. Obviously you haven't listened to much Toto past "Roseanna" and "Africa". Southern Rock was a bullshit category too but it was an easy way to say "This music has a certain feel". That's all the term "Yacht Rock" is as it's saying "This isn't the Who or Zeppelin". At this stage of the game any documentary that explores the great music of that time is worthwhile. Young kids are discovering all the old music now and giving it new life. This is just another path to that. By the way I'm sure if Fagen makes any money of streams and purchases of Steely Dan music as a result of this documentary he won't be returning the checks.
Pretty sure Fagan is just having fun with this. Hes notorious for playing up his grumpy persona.
No he's not. Believe me
I always think of Steely Dan as being in the cocktail lounge jazz genre.
with plenty of cocktails to make the music bearable
Steely dan as well as any other so called yacht rock band is a mixture of the most important american genres : soul rock pop jazz blues and disco and funk
Maybe he should have answered " Easy Listening"!
Easy listening?
Have you heard Bodhisattva? Or Showbiz Kids? Or Black Friday? Or Razor Boy?
There’s nothing “easy listening” about that music or the lyrics.
@@georgegonzalez1996 you should understand that the term "easy listening" is more worthy than jazz or rock and SD recorded LOTS of songs of this genre fortunally
Hey 19 is bubble gum
Steely Dan, and Donald Fagen in particular has got to be the most overrated musician/musical project in history. Not a band. Two guys who hired a bunch of great studio musicians when they recorded and toured. I find most of their music sterile with no soul. No surprise he has no sense of humor.
"Yacht Rock"...dumbest label I've ever heard.
Yacht Rock is a stupid term
Fagen, being an a**hole? That's supposed to be news? 🤣
Definitely Yacht Rock. Too bad, get over it.
Go play your Starland Vocal Band records.
@@kbrewski1 They're all scratched up from when you borrowed them ;}
I love the fact that Steely Dan is being labeled as Yacht Rock, and I totally support it. My proof? Listen to MinuteMen’s cover of Dr. Wu. Minutemen use simple guitar, bass, drums and vocals to create a masterpiece out of the overblown, overproduced, self-absorbed yuppie sound of Dan’s version. MinuteMen completely destroyed Dan and forever revealed what a shit stick Dan is - and all in under two minutes!
Lmfao 🤏, what a dope.
@ is that what passes for a well thought out retort in your world? Come on, show me your smarter than a fifth grader and say something half way fucking relevant.
@@kbrewski1 you’ve obviously never even listened to MinuteMens version, have you?
@edvonblue
Yes I have. It sucks tiny balls. It blows chunks. It's projectile vomit. Sounds like they literally worked on it for a minute. If it was supposed to be a joke, it's not even funny. It's not singing. Or music. It's not even complete. They might as well just recorded themselves taking mondo Dooks on each other.
If you replace "Yacht" with "Pretentious Douche" the term yacht rock will take on a new level of clarity. Not to be painting with too broad of a brush, that is, generally speaking, an accurate description of Steely Dan, Toto, Loggins and Messina, Pablo Cruise, etc...and the people that were listening to them back in the day. Hipster pricks before the term "hipster' was in use.
The people that I know that listen to the artists you have cited are ALL musicians and lovers of great music .....the whole so called "yacht rock" genre is one of the best genres ever because is played by great Musicians.
@@Kouros-t6d I never said that they weren't good musicians. That's why they were studio musicians. Toto was made up entirely of studio musicians, and they were the session guys in all of those yacht rock bands, except for when Steely Dan used Larry Carlton instead of Steve Lukather. Just because you are a good musician, that doesn't mean that you are not a pretentious douche. The two are not mutually exclusive. As a side note, you should clean up that circular reasoning. 'They are lovers of great music because they love the music that I have arbitrarily defined as being great' is a bit flawed.
Hey Donald, if you don't like it or being called Yacht Rock, fine. But don't be an asshole to the reporter.
Donald doesn't understand how sofisticated 'yacht rock' is.
steely dan best suited to elevators
You enjoy listening to songs about drug addiction, drug dealers, hookers, pervs, gamblers and other fringe characters on the edges of society in the elevator? What a wacko.
Nah…they are Yacht Rock to the core. Donald is an egomaniac.
I guess Aja is a bit yacht rock, but the albums that preceded it are not at all and are better than Aja.
LOTS of other SD songs are so called "yacht rock" : reelin in the years....do it again (with wonderful DISCO flavours)...babylon sisters...FM...and many others
@@Kouros-t6d I guess I’ve always considered Steely Dan as somewhat yacht rock beginning with Aja, but Royal Scam and prior not so much. But I guess you can pick out a few songs amongst the pre-1977 mix and still find a few.