Yacht Rock, Ranked

Six of these ten have Michael McDonald on them, which is the correct amount.

Entries
10
Category
Music
Updated
  1. A silk scarf draped over a vintage synthesizer in a dim 1970s studio with shag carpet.

    10. Lowdown

    Boz Scaggs · 1976

    Jeff Porcaro, David Paich and David Hungate are the rhythm section, shortly before they formed Toto. Scaggs figured it had no chance as a single until a Cleveland R&B DJ played it off the album. It won the Grammy for Best R&B Song. Toto's audition tape, basically.

  2. A sleek speedboat slipping out of a moonlit harbor, a second identical speedboat tied up at the dock behind it.

    09. Steal Away

    Robbie Dupree · 1980

    A No. 6 hit that sounded so much like What a Fool Believes that McDonald's publishers considered legal action, though McDonald himself never accused Dupree. The LA Times called it a wimpy rip-off. It scores 94 Yachtski anyway. The harbor accepts tributes.

  3. A drum kit with a single spotlight on the hi-hat, sticks crossed on the snare, a rose lying on the kick drum.

    08. Rosanna

    Toto · 1982

    Jeff Porcaro built the half-time shuffle out of Bernard Purdie, John Bonham and Bo Diddley, and drummers have been studying it ever since. Record of the Year, No. 2 on the Hot 100. David Paich says it is about three women, despite the Rosanna Arquette rumors he let ride.

  4. A glossy electric guitar on a studio stand surrounded by six other guitars leaned against the wall under late-night studio lamps.

    07. Peg

    Steely Dan · 1977

    Seven top session guitarists tried the solo before Jay Graydon nailed it after about six hours. Michael McDonald stacks the harmonies, Rick Marotta drums, De La Soul later sampled it. Fagen says the name means nothing; it just fit a dotted half note. Very Steely Dan.

  5. A small white sailboat gliding across a glassy, pastel-colored bay at dusk, sails full.

    06. Sailing

    Christopher Cross · 1979

    The song that put the boat in the genre. No. 1 in 1980, Grammys for Record, Song and Arrangement of the Year, and one of the first digitally recorded hits. VH1 later named it the most softsational soft rock song ever, an honor nobody else was competing for.

  6. A lone horse saddle on a dusty highway shoulder at night between Houston and the Mexican border, wind blowing tumbleweeds past.

    05. Ride Like the Wind

    Christopher Cross · 1979

    Cross wrote it on LSD driving from Houston to Austin, and it is about an outlaw fleeing to Mexico. Michael McDonald answers him on backing vocals because producer Michael Omartian wanted a second voice. It sat at No. 2 for four weeks behind Blondie. Unlucky outlaw.

  7. A basketball resting on a hospital windowsill beside a vase of flowers and a cassette tape.

    04. This Is It

    Kenny Loggins · 1979

    Co-written with McDonald, who sings backup, and shaped by Loggins visiting his ailing father, not a breakup. Loggins called it a life song. It won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal and became NBC's college basketball theme, a lot of mileage for a hospital visit.

  8. A Fender Rhodes electric piano and a gleaming saxophone on a yacht deck under soft evening light.

    03. Heart to Heart

    Kenny Loggins · 1982

    Loggins, McDonald and David Foster wrote it; McDonald plays the Rhodes and David Sanborn takes the sax solo. It scores 99.625 on the Yachtski scale and peaked at a modest No. 15. The charts were not ready for this much upholstery.

  9. A sticky note stuck to a bass guitar headstock in a sunlit recording studio, a drum kit glowing behind.

    02. I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)

    Michael McDonald · 1982

    Jeff Porcaro on drums, Louis Johnson on that bass line, Steve Lukather on guitar. It hit No. 4, then Warren G built Regulate on top of it. Leiber and Stoller got a writing credit because it echoed their 1962 song of the same name. Somebody forgot.

  10. A reel of studio tape cut into pieces and spliced back together on a mixing console, a captain's hat resting beside it.

    01. What a Fool Believes

    The Doobie Brothers · 1978

    McDonald and Kenny Loggins wrote it, Loggins recorded it first, and nobody remembers that. The Doobies' version hit No. 1, won Record and Song of the Year, and holds a perfect 100 Yachtski. Ted Templeman cut up the master tape to get it right. Smooth takes surgery.

Honorable mentions

  • A rowdy bar piano on a dock, half a sailboat visible at the edge of the frame, beer bottles on the keys.

    Lido Shuffle

    Boz Scaggs · 1976

    Same album as Lowdown, same Porcaro, same Paich, a No. 11 hit, and it scores 47.5 Yachtski: officially nyacht, by two and a half points. Scaggs adapted the shuffle from Fats Domino. Too much bar band, not enough marina. Close enough to wave from the dock.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A single flip-flop and an empty salt shaker on a hot beach, a margarita glass with no salt on the rim.

    Margaritaville

    Jimmy Buffett · 1977

    It scores 2.75 out of 100 on the Yachtski scale. Buffett's biggest solo hit, No. 8, partly inspired by a lost flip-flop and a margarita with no salt. It is a beach song by a beach man. Yacht rock happens on the water, recorded in LA by people who own boat shoes.

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