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r/Yachtrock

▲ 418 r/Yachtrock+5 crossposts

Michael McDonald's 'I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)' is a certified classic but I love his appearance on the Soul Train in 1982 with this amazing all-star band because it features:

  • Jeff Porcaro [of Toto] on drums 🥁
  • John McFee [of The Doobie Brothers] on guitar 🎸
  • [Michael Jackson's musical director and session musician extraordinaire] Greg Phillinganes on the clavinet 🎹
  • Louis "Thunder Thumbs" Johnson [of the Brothers Johnson] laying down the iconic bass line 🎸🔥
  • [Michael McDonald's two sisters] Maureen McDonald and Kathy Walker with the background vocals 🎤🎤

The only album musician missing from this Soul Train appearance was legendary guitarist Steve Lukather [of Toto]. Lukather was also a prominent contributor to Michael Jackson's Thriller. 

u/Consistent_Edge9211 — 13 days ago
▲ 9 r/Yachtrock

Amy Grant might have an essential

I keep double-checking the yachtornynacht list and am amazed this one has slipped through the cracks: Amy Grant's 'Don't Run Away'. I know she very much wanted to take Jesus to the mall, and her voice tends to pull in that direction, but damn... the production is spot on, you got a faux McDonald in the chorus, a spicy guitar solo.
Also on her 'Age to Age' album is the track 'Got to Let it Go' which is very close as well. It's a bit closer to Joe Jackson than Steely Dan but, yeah, I think it's there.
She really skirted the yacht with all the dull, easy listening sub-genres she explored on her first four albums, but the stars might have aligned on these two tracks.
I already have a recent submission in the podcast queue, so, I've got about three months before I can submit again, but if anyone else on the patreon wants to give it a go, have at it.

reddit.com
u/Brett_who6 — 3 days ago
▲ 24 r/Yachtrock

Essential Yacht Human Nature by Michael Jackson is back on the hot 100

It’s on at 29 due to the Michael Jackson biopic. It’s too bad most people don’t realize this is essentially a Toto song. I don’t follow the hot 100 much but when was the last time a yacht song charted?

youtube.com
u/delijoe — 1 day ago
▲ 10 r/Yachtrock

Keith Urban: "Called in the King of Yacht Rock to sing my song. (He said yes)." Michael McDonald sings the chorus with a VERY prominent and deliberate Doobie Bounce in the middle of each chorus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssC-ReImg9Y

There's no way the producers didn't call it a Doobie Bounce when putting this together. It feels like a huge hat tip to this community.

u/faqwtf — 4 days ago
▲ 27 r/Yachtrock

Is it Nyacht, or is it… Pizza Hut Hits???

Saw this posted on Instagram, and boy are a lot of these songs from the yacht era that might even be written by yachty guys (Goodrum, Bugatti and Musker) that people confuse for yacht but aren’t. Is it possible they’ve been Pizza Hut Hits this whole time?

u/Decent-Plum-26 — 6 days ago
▲ 2 r/Yachtrock

Looking for ID of an unknown song

Can't say whether it's a yacht rock song for sure (not much to go off of), but last time I asked about a random-ass obscure AOR song someone on here identified it in a heartbeat. It's been bugging me for decades.

https://vocaroo.com/1gto1UNRWb4m

You can briefly hear it in this radio FM dial surf on the right channel, it goes something like "take the highway, down...".

reddit.com
u/IMustBust — 4 days ago
▲ 9 r/Yachtrock

Before accusing me of being a complete yacht rock noob, I know what the Crossfire is on a basic level... it's the production style that produces that awesome smooth yachty sound on Christopher Cross' self titled album.

I know that much, but what I'm asking here is can someone with some deeper knowledge of music than I have explain what it is musically... and what to look for to find it in other songs that are not expressly CC songs. I've heard the guys mention crossfire a few times with non-CC songs and I'd love to really know what to listen for other than just "this sounds like a CC song"... thanks!

reddit.com
u/delijoe — 13 days ago
▲ 12 r/Yachtrock

The biggest block of John Oates news over the past year has been about the collapse of his relationship with longtime songwriting partner Daryl Hall, but there is a lot of positive going on in the 78-year-old musician’s life as well. He recently released a solo album, is playing some tour dates throughout 2026, and has published a compelling memoir.

What makes Change of Seasons worth reading, at least in the first section, which I cover here, focused on Oates’ childhood and then the 1960s, is that it does not just revisit the breakup or the recent headlines. It also tries to explain how Hall and Oates came together in the first place, why they worked so well, and what Oates thinks the duo really was. That makes the memoir feel less like a score-settling exercise and more like a useful history of one of pop music’s most durable partnerships.

First off, according to him, Hall and Oates are not a duo ...

https://popculturelunchbox.substack.com/p/john-oates-tells-the-story-of-the

u/IcyVehicle8158 — 13 days ago
▲ 12 r/Yachtrock

Once again Sirius XM butchers yacht rock once again with this dumb list of best yacht rock guitar solos.

While I fully agree with Jay Graydon's solo on Peg and possibly Benson on Breezin... you got two nyacht songs, and I think they could have found a better example then Baby Come Back... for instance my favorite solo, Christopher Cross on Ride like the Wind...

What other YR guitar solos would you put on this list rather than what Sirius has here?

u/delijoe — 7 days ago
▲ 5 r/Yachtrock

Featuring David Palmer on lead vocals instead of Donald Fagen as usual. From "Can't Buy A Thrill".

u/_Sterle — 10 days ago