Yacht rock holds an incredibly special place in my heart. The smooth production style, the gorgeous three-part vocal harmonies, the sultry smooth rhythm sections, the saxaphones and synths– it’s all just so wonderfully easy to listen to. This is a sub-genre of music I’ve loved forever, became relatively obsessed with when I got Sirius XM radio in our car in 2018 (Channel 311 represent), and then when I became a father it was pretty much over. There was no turning back.
The term yacht rock is actually a more recent term for the late 70’s/early 80’s music it references. As Masterclass explains, it actually come from a web-based comedy series in the mid-2000’s:
Creators JD Ryznar, Hunter Stair, and Lane Farnham wrote a fictional take on the life of real yacht rock stars—like Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, The Doobie Brothers, Hall & Oates, and Kenny Loggins—imagining them as a group of friends and rivals lounging and recording in Los Angeles’s Marina del Rey. While the events in the Yacht Rock series were fictionalized, the show represents the smooth music that dominated the soft rock scene during the time period. The show enjoyed cult hit status, and its extended word of mouth helped revive interest in many of the artists it covered.
– “Yacht Rock Guide: A Brief History of Yacht Rock” via Masterclass
Christopher Cross is one of the more prominent bands in the genre, with “Sailing” and “Ride Like The Wind” being the two most ubiquitous tracks on yacht rock playlists across the world. The making behind this album is actually quite interesting and Texas Monthly did a great profile on it a handful of years ago. In short, Christopher Cross was seen as somewhat of a punchline at Warner Brothers record outside of a junior member of the staff Michael Omartian who saw the potential in Cross’ pop writing prowess. Lead singer Chris Geppert was a notorious stickler for details and had Omartian in the studio for nearly 700 hours during the production of the album, and it paid off when the band became the first artist ever to win Best New Artist and Album, Record, and Song of the Year in one night at the Grammy Awards.
That’s where things took a professionally tragic turn for the worst for the band and Geppert himself. Geppert accepted the Grammy’s on stage alone and without his bandmates (a decision who regretted immensely as the years have gone by), Geppert had a failed marriage that cost him deeply financially, and he struggled dealing with childhood trauma throughout his life growing up in a very rough military family. The rise of MTV and the importance of physical appearance in the early 80’s also hurt Christopher Cross’ popularity– he was a heavyset man and the press would consistently refer to his physical appearance in articles describing his music. All this led to the hits drying up after the massive success of their debut album, and the band eventually faded into obscurity, with Geppert despondently telling Rolling Stone in 1981 that “I guess I got all my Christmas presents in one Christmas” (a quote that is unfortunately also a bit funny when read aloud).
Christopher Cross would experience a renaissance two decades later when yacht rock had a second act, and as mentioned earlier, the band has become synonymous with the genre. It’s a fitting end for the music of Christopher Cross considering how good this record really is– there really isn’t a stinker on the whole album, a sterling example of what yacht rock can be when done right and handled with care.
Standout Songs: “Ride Like The Wind”, “Sailing”, “Never Be The Same”, “Say You’ll Be Mine”
