The smooth, sax-laden sounds of Michael McDonald and The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross and more are the subject of a new HBO documentary, Yacht Rock, which will hit the cable channel and MAX on November 29.
Produced by Bill Simmons of The Ringer, Yacht Rock is the latest from HBO’s Music Box series and features new interviews with McDonald, Cross, Loggins, and Toto‘s Steve Lukather & Steve Porcaro, plus Prince Paul, Questlove, Thundercat, Fred Armisen, Mac DeMarco, Vampire Weekend‘s Brian Robert Jones, the creators of ’00s-era comedy web series “Yacht Rock” (where the term was coined), and more. Here’s the official synopsis:
The film foregrounds the musicians and producers of the yacht rock scene, giving them their own platform to detail the genesis, evolution, and downfall of the sound, which was appreciated for its high-quality production, soulful vocals, and breezy, emo lyrics. Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, and other indelible musicians of the time, along with rock journalists and scholars, define the music as taking its cues from jazz, funk, and R&B, laying out its crossover origins and wide reach. The emergence of MTV and slick music videos crowded out the genre but, in the 1990s, hip-hop artists started to sample yacht rock and the music gained a new audience and new respect for its high standard of songwriting excellence, becoming a cultural touchstone for playful ribbing by comedians. Filled with the sounds of the era, incredible archival footage of recording sessions and performances, and humorous, self-reflective interviews, the film lovingly embraces the key players of the scene and the genre they didn’t even know they were creating.
The Yacht Rock trailer is out now and you can watch it below.
