Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary (2024)

Post by **bunniefuu** » 12/10/24 21:09

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

In the late '70s in Los Angeles,

there was

a very particular sound

and it was

dominating pop culture.

And then,

25 years after the fact,

a group of comedians

create this web series

and all of a sudden the name

"yacht rock" was branded.

But what I was interested in

was talking to the artists

and giving them an opportunity

to define the music

they were making at that time.

(THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES)

(CROWD CHEERING)

("TAKIN' IT TO THE STREETS"

BY DOOBIE BROTHERS PLAYING)

FRED ARMISEN: Yacht rock, to me,

it's a very relaxing feeling.

It's like the singers

all seem to be saying,

"Hey, it's gonna be okay."

It has this certain--

It sits in a certain zone

where it's not--

it's not that it doesn't rock,

but it doesn't rock too hard.

You know what I mean?

It doesn't rock, but it rocks.

You don't know me

But I'm your brother

I was raised here

In this living hell...

It's one of those things

that you know it

when you hear it.

It's like p*rn*graphy.

You can't define it necessarily,

but it's very clear

when something

is or is not yacht rock.

You

Telling me the things

You're gonna do for me

I ain't blind and I don't like

What I think I see

Takin' it to the street

We're takin' it

To the street

Takin' it to the street...

QUESTLOVE:

For me, it's a utility

more than it is music.

Like, it's just always there

when you're shopping,

when you're

at the dentist's office,

and in my case,

even in the principal's office.

Like, it's always there...

(CHUCKLES) ...when you need it

and it's always there

when you don't need it.

Takin' it to the street

Takin' it, takin' it

Takin' it to the street

Yeah, yeah...

THUNDERCAT: I've never

identified it as yacht rock.

I've never looked at it

as, like, a...

Something that was...

"Oh, yeah, that's over here."

I, like--

I've always looked at it

from the inside being like,

"Dang, that's just

amazing songwriting."

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Takin' it to the

(CHEERING)

("RIDE LIKE THE WIND"

BY CHRISTOPHER CROSS PLAYING)

Let's try "yacht rock

sails again" for two.

Yacht rock is a genre,

but it's also just a vibe.

MICKEY GUYTON: Hey, y'all been

listening to yacht rock?

I listen to it on the app...

-(CLEARS THROAT)

-...24/7, no card required.

KYLE RICHARDS:

What's yacht rock?

It's music you listen to

on a yacht.

Oh...

CLEVELAND BROWN:

There's a yacht rock cruise

that leaves

from the Quahog Marina tomorrow.

And I'm not even kidding!

PHILLIP DANIEL: For those of you

who don't know

what yacht rock is,

you do know what it is.

It's all of your favorite hits

from the '70s and '80s.

It just happens to be

its own special genre.

And I've got

Such a long way to go...

KEVIN SUCHER:

So we'd play the stuff that,

you know, when I was younger,

I listened to

in the dance chair.

So I'll ride

Like the wind...

I don't wanna do

Your dirty work no more

I was born the son...

LIZ LEMON:

You know, the whole thing

would turn out like a movie

where Christopher Cross

sings a song like...

All my days

I've been waiting

Gunned down ten

Gonna ride like the wind...

You don't know me

But I'm your brother

And I've got

Such a long way to go

Such a long way to go

I've drugged all the concessions

so you'll do what I say.

Drugs at a Steely Dan concert?

I never thought I'd see the day.

Gonna ride like the wind

(VOCALIZING)

(SONG CONCLUDES)

(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)

(NOTIFICATION DINGS)

QUESTLOVE:

I remember on my Myspace page,

someone gave me a link

to something

called Yacht Rock.

This is like pre-YouTube.

Like, YouTube is 2006

and this came out in 2005.

Just like a whole bunch

of these comedians

that decided

to put these vignettes

of like,

"How this song got made."

STEVE HUEY:

We were living in Los Angeles.

We weren't making

very much money.

And one of the things

that we did

was we bought

dollar vinyl records

from the local

Amoeba Records store.

And the stuff that was available

for a dollar

was a lot of soft rock.

We'd read the credits

on the back of these albums

and we'd see

the same names popping up

over and over and over again.

And eventually,

it clicked, like...

"This is a scene."

JD RYZNAR:

I was obsessed with, like,

"Guys, you wouldn't believe it,

but the guys in Toto are on

this Michael Jackson album.

The guys in Toto

are on this Steely Dan album.

Listen to Michael McDonald

on here.

I bet you never

heard him here before.

Oh, Kenny Loggins

and Michael McDonald wrote

'What a Fool Believes'

together.

Oh, look at

this cover of Full Sail

with Loggins and Messina.

They're on a boat.

And there's this vibe.

This is well-crafted stuff.

This is relaxing stuff.

It's high-class music.

It's like a yacht. Yacht rock."

From 1976 to 1984,

the radio airwaves

were dominated

by really smooth music,

also known as yacht rock.

HUEY:

The way we like to explain it is

almost all yacht rock

is soft rock,

but not all soft rock

is yacht rock.

We always meant something

that sounded

like a million bucks.

It wasn't literally about,

like, boats or whatever.

RYZNAR: And so you've got bands

like Steely Dan,

Michael McDonald,

with and without

the Doobie Brothers.

Kenny Loggins,

Christopher Cross,

Toto,

all of these great musicians.

They were making

elevated pop music

that's infused

with jazz and R&B.

That's what

a fool believes, Kenny!

That's what...

That's what a fool believes.

(HUMMING)

QUESTLOVE: Somehow,

we had a space in our heart

for this Yacht Rock series,

which gave people this sort of

newfound look at this music

that no one wanted

to claim as their own,

but we loved it all along.

We were just afraid

to let you know

that we have a soft space

in our heart

for this genre of music.

(LOVE WILL FIND A WAY

BY PABLO CRUISE PLAYING)

RYZNAR: All of a sudden,

this new "genre" we made up

started to get embraced

by the world.

It's now time for a very special

yacht rock tradition,

a visit from our old friend,

Captain Zog, who's going to come

and teach us all

the latest yacht rock dances.

JAKE TAPPER: There were

more expressions of love

in that press briefing than on

the average yacht rock album.

Look, I love yacht rock

as much as the next person,

but eventually,

I want to see Journey, right?

It's all right

Once you get past the pain...

HUEY: I think the moment

that we realized

it really transcended

its origins

in the web series

was when SiriusXM

debuted their

yacht rock channel.

ADAM RITZ: It's the weekend

Yacht Rock Radio.

We will connect the dots between

the Marvel Cinematic Universe

and the Yacht Rock Radio

universe.

RYZNAR: Now, there's all these

yacht rock cover bands

wearing captain's hats

and doing silly dances.

Love will find a way

AMANDA PETRUSICH:

The fact that the term emerged

from what was essentially

a comedy show,

did have a really big impact

on the way that the music

is now ironically appreciated.

When in fact,

I think the records

that they were making

were entirely sincere

and earnest and pure.

Yacht rock!

STEVEN HYDEN:

All the caricatures

that people use

to define this made-up genre,

like the mustaches

and the leisure suits

and the smooth grooves

are pretty reductive.

Some of the caricatures

aren't even true.

No musician in California

in the '70s,

I guess other than, like,

the Captain

from Captain & Tennille

was actually wearing

a sailor's hat.

You really have to get past

these superficialities

to understand

what this music really is.

And when you do that,

it actually becomes

a much richer saga

of how this thing came to be.

And that's the story I think

that people need to know.

(TRAFFIC RUMBLING)

("CAVES OF ALTAMIRA"

BY STEELY DAN PLAYING)

ANNOUNCER: The nation's

bicentennial holiday is down to

its last hour,

and it has been a day of...

JIMMY CARTER:

1976 will be the year

of inspiration and hope.

I recall when I was small

How I spent my days alone...

ROBERT W. MORGAN: This week,

on the Special of the Week

it's the Dan of Steel,

Steely Dan.

The bizarre brainchild

of the bizarre brains

of Donald Fagen

and Walter Becker,

Steely Dan have proven

that weird words

and wired melodies

can exist side by side.

Made alive a worldly wonder

Often told but never seen...

We like to call Steely Dan

the primordial ooze

from whence yacht rock sprang.

ALEX PAPPADEMAS: Donald

and Walter from Steely Dan

never really set out

to become what they became.

When they entered

into the music business,

professionally,

it was as staff songwriters.

The problem with the songs

that Donald and Walter

were writing at this time

is that nobody

could really record them.

There was always something

sort of inscrutably weird

about the lyrics.

GARY KATZ: I don't know

that I ever asked Fagen,

"What does this mean?"

For one, I didn't want him

to think I didn't know.

And for two, most of the time

it wasn't a matter

of knowing literally as it was

how it made me feel.

("REELIN' IN THE YEARS"

BY STEELY DAN PLAYING)

Your everlasting summer

You can see it fading fast

So you grab

A piece of something

That you think is gonna last

Well, you wouldn't even know

A diamond

If you held it in your hand

The things you think

Are precious

I can't understand

Are you reelin'

In the years?

MICHAEL MCDONALD:

I moved out west in 1970.

I was signed to and dropped

from a couple of labels,

you know, and I was

kind of going the way

of most people who come

to LA with a dream

and realize that it probably

ain't gonna happen.

I started playing clubs

to get out and meet

other players and stuff.

And along the way,

I met some guys

who were auditioning for bands

that were getting ready

to go on the road.

One of them was Steely Dan.

About a year later, I got a call

from the kid

who sat in on drums.

It was Jeff Porcaro,

and he said,

"Man, I was thinking about you,

and you need to come down

to this rehearsal I'm at.

It's with Steely Dan.

We're getting ready

to go on the road."

So I threw my piano in my Pinto

and drove down to rehearsal.

("BAD SNEAKERS"

BY STEELY DAN PLAYING)

MICHAEL: It was interesting

because there had been many gigs

that I had practiced

the material for

weeks in advance,

and didn't get the gig,

you know?

And here's one

where I walked in,

I didn't even know

half the songs, you know,

and they were just teaching it

to me on the spot.

But I was so determined

that I wound up

learning the songs

basically from being taught

by Donald what the songs were.

It certainly wasn't

my piano playing

that got me the gig.

It was pretty much my ability

to sing high. (CHUCKLES)

Yes, I'm going insane

You know I'm laughing

At the frozen rain

ALEX: By the Katy Lied album,

the band is essentially

Donald and Walter

and whoever is there that day.

Basically,

they start bringing in

these really talented LA-based

session guys who can play

anything they put

in front of them.

JAY GRAYDON: Jeff Porcaro and I

were working a session.

During the hour break,

Jeff says,

"I've got a 15 IPS tape

of Katy Lied."

The album wasn't out yet.

And my jaw was on the floor.

When Black Friday comes

I'll stand down

By the door...

JAY: My first thought was,

"These guys sound like me."

Jazz chord changes,

but rock, pop grooves.

People would say, "Well,

you sound like Steely Dan."

And I'd go,

"Well, we think the same.

We're in the same lines

melodically.

We're closet jazzers

that are making pop records."

(LAUGHS)

When Black Friday comes...

GARY:

We were getting more successful.

People wanted to play

on our records.

For me, it was like going

to the candy store.

TOM SCOTT:

There was a period of time,

particularly in the middle

to late '70s,

in which there was

a group of LA musicians,

they could play

virtually anything.

Sit down and read anything

and any style.

STEVE LUKATHER:

People call you on the phone,

say be it Village,

be it Sunset Sound,

be it, you know, Capitol.

In 12 to six, they hire

for the week or whatever.

Sometimes we knew the artist,

sometimes we didn't.

Every day was a thrill

because you didn't know--

We didn't know

what we were gonna do.

There was no demos,

there was no rehearsals.

Most of the time we listened

to the song once

and all of us

have arranger ears.

And that just means

we can hear parts

in between the basic chords

and the melody.

And that's what they hired us

to do, to fill in the blanks,

because we were good at it.

When I got into high school

is when I really found out

about studio musicians.

When I met the Porcaro brothers,

you know,

Steve Porcaro,

and Jeff and Mike.

Jeff was in Steely Dan

when we were in high school,

and David Paich

was his best friend,

and Dave was working

on those records too.

GARY: They were c*ck,

really young, full of piss,

but we'd get perfect performance

almost every time.

DAVID PAICH: I started

doing sessions when I was 16.

My father had been

in the business

as an arranger.

Everything with sessions

was word of mouth.

If you played on a hit,

everybody wanted

the person

that was on the hit record.

So I started getting calls.

Jeff and I,

we'd always hang out,

and we'd each try and get

each other on that session.

STEVE PORCARO: My brother Jeff

was the one who was

just so naturally gifted

and he started getting hired

all over town

and he would

recommend us to these guys.

It was an amazing time

for us and for music too.

Basically, we're all trying

to do what George Martin

and the Beatles

and Brian Wilson did

in the studio,

and just take it another step.

BRIAN WILSON:

Watch me on that part.

RYZNAR: Back in California,

the Beach Boys were looking

at what the Beatles were doing

and wanted to copy that

and used a lot

of The Wrecking Crew,

the early LA session guys.

And the yacht rockers were

sort of the second generation

of session guys

after The Wrecking Crew.

JAY: On "Pet Sounds,"

you've got gorgeous pop

with hip changes,

great melodies, great harmonies,

everything, man.

It was the beginning

of a new era.

JASON KING:

If you think of the music

that was coming out of LA

in the early 1970s,

the Troubadour,

and the Whiskey a Go Go,

and Carole King

and James Taylor,

Laurel Canyon, The Eagles.

And then on top of that,

Motown had moved

to Southern California

in the early 1970s.

JAY: So that means

we've got Stevie Wonder.

Now we're getting into R&B.

RYZNAR:

Well, there's a lot of elements

to proto-yacht.

Stevie Wonder

and Earth, Wind & Fire,

who were doing incredible

forward-thinking things

with their music.

And another element

was jazz fusion, The Crusaders,

Herbie Hancock.

These were the guys

that were early adapters

of the Fender Rhodes

electric piano.

That's sort of the backbone

of the yacht rock sound.

Then we got Joni Mitchell.

And she goes from the simple

three-chord stuff

to using jazzers.

RYZNAR:

Then there's Seals & Crofts

who were becoming

more studio perfectionists

and bringing in guys

like David Paich

and Jeff Porcaro,

who were bringing in

more complex ideas

into the sessions.

HUEY: These guys take

the Steely Dan sound

out into their own projects,

incorporate it

into everything else

that they're doing.

It widens the sonic palette

of the Los Angeles music scene

and all this other stuff

that's kind of bubbling

under the surface.

JAY: This all comes together

into this group

of all different kinds

of artists

that got melodic

and used jazzy

kind of chord changes.

("I BELIEVE IN LOVE"

BY KENNY LOGGINS PLAYING)

Good evening.

Elvis Presley died today.

He was 42.

REPORTER: The moviegoers wait

for six hours or more.

They are waiting to escape.

INTERVIEWER: I mean,

we've just had so many...

Kinda burnt out

on all the social commentary

movies we've had.

MICHAEL SHEEHY: You're in tune

with the mellow sound

of KNX FM 93.

Loggins and Messina,

now just Loggins

with a new kind of sound.

Moving from country rock

to the late '70s, it's all

about being soulful, funky,

and oh, so smooth.

Just the thing to get a rocker

on the radio

in the disco-fied times.

Do you believe in love?

Well, Kenny does. Listen up.

I see faces

Coverin' an empty 'I'

Empty spaces where...

KENNY LOGGINS:

We were on the road,

and I remember

hearing Stevie Wonder

and going, "Well,

this is really different."

"Wow, I wanna--

How do I do that?

What do I do to do that?"

I believe in love, I do!

I believe I'm feelin' good

KENNY: And I'm hearing

all these chords

that I've never heard before.

And it's totally influencing

my songwriting.

So I evolved

from the folky thing

into sort of a synthesis

of smooth jazz

and a synthesis of R&B.

And then I start to want to move

my voice around a little bit,

and play with how I sing.

I believe in love

RYZNAR: The thing about

Kenny Loggins is he tried sh*t.

Like, he tried cool,

interesting stuff,

and his albums are, like,

really experimental

for pop albums.

HUEY: Kenny Loggins

cannot be contained

in one genre.

He has to explore.

He has to push his boundaries.

So even when Kenny Loggins

does yacht rock,

he's only doing it

a couple tracks an album

most of the time.

But when he does it,

it's so good

and so genre-defining

that he's still up

on the Mount Rushmore.

(CROWD CHEERING)

KENNY: There was some

bounce-back on going solo.

I didn't realize at the time

how difficult it was

to go from a successful duo

into being a successful soloist.

And I credit Stevie Nicks a lot

with my breakthrough

because it was

the duet with Stevie

that really made, ultimately,

the huge difference

in launching my solo career,

'cause she was so loved

at the time.

Sweet love showin' us

A heavenly light

I've never seen

Such a beautiful sight

Sweet love flowin'

Almost every night...

KENNY: I had become fortunate

in becoming the opening act

for Fleetwood Mac

during the rise of Rumours.

I like to say I went

on the Rumours ride with them

because I was out with them for,

you know, six, seven months

and became friends with the band

and especially Nick and Stevie.

And she said to me one day,

probably

we were drunk out somewhere

and she said,

"If you need a chick singer,

give me a call."

And it's like,

"Okay, got that going for me."

You and I were meant to be

Forever and ever...

KENNY:

The thing I learned early on is,

I'm not writing

for other people,

I'm writing for me.

And if I can hit that nerve

that either makes me wanna dance

or makes me wanna cry,

then I've got that song.

I always wanna

Call you friend

KENNY: I've discovered

that when I care about a lyric,

when a lyric really touches

the heart of the matter,

it touches other people.

So, my job has been to try to

really nail that emotion

so that the song

becomes a soundtrack

to your life.

("MINUTE BY MINUTE" BY

THE DOOBIE BROTHERS PLAYING)

STEVEN: I think if you want,

like, a microcosm of how

mainstream rock music changed

from the beginning of the '70s

to the end of the '70s, that--

like, the Doobie Brothers

are probably

the best place to go.

Hey, don't you worry

I've been lied to...

STEVEN: You look

at the beginning of the '70s

and the Doobie Brothers are like

this post-Woodstock, good time

boogie band

that bikers listen to in bars.

And then by the end of the '70s,

they've evolved

into this jazzy pop R&B band

that is using a lot of chords

and playing songs

with tricky time signatures.

It's a big, big change.

But minute

By minute, by minute

By minute

I keep holding on

I'll be holding on...

MICHAEL: You know, at that time,

Jeff Baxter was touring

with the Doobies

for the greater part

of a couple of years

and became an integral part

of their live show.

And, well, they needed

one other guy to kind of fill in

for vocals and backgrounds

and stuff.

And Jeff threw my name

in the hat.

He pretty much guaranteed

that I could handle the gig

because they didn't have time

to really audition anybody.

So I met up with them

in New Orleans.

I showed up again

with my trusty Wurlitzer piano

and I practiced for two days,

and finished out the tour

from there.

But minute, by minute

By minute, by minute...

TED TEMPLEMAN: The evolvement

of Michael McDonald

joining the band,

instrumentally,

it's changed a lot

because there's been emphasis

on keyboards

rather than guitars.

And now the guitars

in a lot of the instances

are secondary to the keyboard

in terms of

how you cut your tracks.

Call my name

And I'll be gone...

MICHAEL: It's been said

that I changed

the band or something,

but you gotta understand

the Doobies were always

that kind of band.

Long before I joined them,

they really hearkened

to that template of bringing

a lot of different types

of songs to one album.

So it was really a group effort.

Someone

Minute by minute,

By minute...

MICHAEL: You know,

we were big fans

of like, Earth, Wind & Fire

and Ray Charles,

and some of these acts,

their music

was fairly sophisticated.

You know,

we weren't nearly as good.

But inadvertently,

we brought something to it

that we didn't even realize,

you know?

The Doobie Brothers?

Were you a half-brother?

QUESTLOVE:

When the Doobie Brothers

were on What's Happening!!,

I thought they were

like a scary rock group.

And then I was like,

"Okay, I like this guy."

He has a really comforting voice

akin to a really funky Muppet.

That episode came on and then

every Black person

I knew watched it.

And then suddenly,

we were Doobie Brothers fans.

HUEY:

To us, yacht rock has to be

conscious of the existence

of Black music.

Whether it's a jazzier artist

or more of an R&B artist,

there has to be some of

that element in there for it

to sound like yacht to us.

JASON: What's interesting,

I think, about yacht rock

is that you had these

sensational White musicians

who had been acculturated

on Black music styles,

on R&B, on jazz, on gospel.

They could play

that music authentically.

They were not musical tourists.

They were kind of

musical cosmopolitans.

PORCARO:

The Black influence on our music

is obvious on our records.

It's for real, you know?

That's all I can say.

It was really in our bones.

KENNY:

We were taking elements of R&B

and putting

our own sensibilities

of melody and style to that.

That's what you do.

You write what you hear.

You write what you feel.

BRENDA RUSSELL: There was more

of an open feeling

about all music in general

with musicians, you know.

I heard it described

as cross-pollination.

You could play anything

in the '70s.

There were no rules,

so to speak.

JAY: I never had any problems,

'cause as soon as they heard

the White kid play,

the White kid's accepted.

It's, "Where do you put

the pocket?"

"Do you got

the right groove, man?"

"Can you play in tune?"

"Whatever,

that's all that matters!"

PRINCE PAUL: For me, growing up,

a lot of the artists

we listened to,

it just goes by melody.

It goes by, "Oh, that's funky."

Or, "It's soulful."

And a lot of those artists,

at least in my community,

we didn't even know

that they were White artists.

You know,

you hear it on the radio,

you get a vibe,

all your friends are singing it.

And, you know, later on,

when you buy the album,

you go, "Oh!"

(LAUGHS)

Oh, he's not Black.

Okay. (LAUGHS)

NARRATOR: Welcome to the land

of Steely Dan.

ALEX: Steely Dan's Aja

is the record

that stereo salesmen use

to demonstrate how good

a set of speakers is.

Whatever you think about

the production sound

of the '70s,

that is the pinnacle of what

they were aiming for.

Even if you hate it,

you have to acknowledge

that it is the most

perfectly recorded album

of all time.

GARY: We showed up at the studio

until we were dead tired.

We stayed at the studio.

In all the time we worked,

neither Donald

or Walter ever said,

"How much have we spent?"

Never once.

As Donald would say,

"It's my money."

("PEG"

BY STEELY DAN PLAYING)

Donald wanted to use me

alone again, you know,

'cause I had done it

on a couple tracks

on the Katy Lied album.

I've seen your picture...

MICHAEL: They liked the sound

of me singing all the parts

and then doubling myself.

So, they looked

for opportunities to kind of

use that as a...

almost like an instrument,

you know, more than

just backgrounds, you know.

So won't you smile

For the camera...

MICHAEL: But I realized

that the harmonies

were a little more complex

than I was really astute enough

to handle.

So, I found that I was

having difficulty singing

to the part I had just done.

And I said, you know,

"Donald, do me a favor."

I said, "Just show me

each part, note for note."

GARY: I remember, you know,

Donald would go out as he would

and he'd say,

"This is the part."

And Michael sang it, you know,

perfect the first time.

And I pushed the button,

I said, "Okay, let's double it."

And Donald leaned over me

and said,

"He sounds like a thousand

camels in the courtyard."

Peg

It will come back to you

Peg

It will come back to you...

MICHAEL: When we heard it back,

I kind of went,

"Wow, that's amazing."

WALTER BECKER:

We were very fortunate.

We got some really great

performances from musicians.

We took a long time doing it,

so things that didn't work out,

we just kept throwing them away

until we got something

really special.

MICHAEL:

I was always looking at Donald

to see how I was doing.

(LAUGHING)

And if he ever shot me a look,

my immediate go-to was,

"Oh, my God,

I'm getting fired," you know.

Steely Dan is famous

for rejecting drummers

and bass players and guitarists.

JAY: With "Peg,"

I was the seventh guy

to take a shot at the solo.

ALEX: Jay Graydon will go down

in history as the man

who pulled the sword

from the stone,

and it ends up being

one of the greatest solos

in the Steely Dan catalog.

("PEG"

BY STEELY DAN CONTINUES)

BRIAN ROBERT JONES:

I've tried to learn

the guitar solo from "Peg."

I made it, like,

three seconds in and I was like,

"I can't play this."

Like, "This is too hard."

He bends two strings

at the same time.

And he's doing it all over

the neck in perfect tune.

And, like, no one can do that.

Like, no one's doing that now.

There's maybe a guy,

maybe a guy, maybe one guy

is gonna do that now.

JAY: Fortunately, it worked,

and I got away

with musical m*rder.

(SENTIMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)

THUNDERCAT: I remember

my dad brings home Aja,

eyes dilated immediately.

(GASPS)

AMANDA: For a long time,

I thought, "Steely Dan,

man, that's just music

for dorks and weirdos."

And I felt myself

sort of allergic to the idea

that music was

a kind of math equation

that could be solved.

And if you just worked

hard enough in the studio

and you did enough takes

and you programmed

everything perfectly,

that somehow you could make

this cultural artifact

that would be gleaming

and wonderful and timeless.

And that to me

is so antithetical

to the idea of punk rock

that it's almost

like the circle closes

and it becomes somehow

incredibly punk rock

that they did that.

PRINCE: When you listen

to the album, it is flawless.

From the mixing

to the production

to the musicianship,

but it still doesn't

sacrifice the soul.

And that to me

is pretty amazing.

How do you get perfection

and kind of a soulful vibe

at the same time?

It's hard to achieve.

RYZNAR: Aja is probably

the creative apex of this music

because along with it being

hugely influential

to other artists

who wanted to emulate

that level of complexity,

it also sold like hotcakes

and got the public ready

for, like, this smoother,

more complicated pop music.

MICHAEL: I remember,

with Steely Dan,

thinking, "It's amazing,

these guys were

the darlings of pop radio,

and these songs

are so atypical."

And the audience never hesitated

to love this music, you know,

from the first time

they heard it.

Their music doesn't fit

the mold of what the rules

for pop music are at all,

you know.

It's funny,

I was actually thinking

"Peg" was recorded here

at the studio, and Aja.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM:

Sing the melody for a second,

'cause I just want to see if it

sounds any good at all to you.

If we left your melody on there

and I just sang, like,

the lower part or something...

LUKATHER:

This is a legendary studio,

Village Recorders.

And this particular room,

studio D,

was added later in the '70s,

right before Fleetwood Mac

did Tusk.

And they hired a bunch

of studio guys and friends

and stuff to come in

and hire us to play

and just kind of work the bugs

out of the new Neve desk

that was in here.

We were the first ones

to make new music

in this beautiful room.

It's not your situation

I just need contemplation

Over you

I'm not so systematic

It's just that I'm an addict

For your love

FILM CREW MEMBER: Countdown,

roll nine. Toto, take one.

(ALL LAUGH)

INTERVIEWER: Just tell us

a little of how the group formed

and... uh, Steve?

Well, we've known each other

for a long time

in different ways,

like David and Jeff Porcaro

went to school together,

and myself and Steve Porcaro

went to school together

just a couple years

behind these guys.

PAICH:

We were Valley dudes, literally,

and the heart of the Valley

is, like, Grant High School,

where we used to work

homecomings and dances.

We tried to get experience

whenever we could,

you know, playing with anybody,

any jazz band,

any rock band you could.

We were just thirsty for music.

We were kind of like

a nonviolent g*ng,

you know? (CHUCKLES)

PORCARO: I had always hoped

that David Paich and my brother,

that they were going to

put together their own band,

but then they started doing

so well

in the studios, I'd kind of

given up hope.

I figured, "You know what?"

David Paich

was this burgeoning producer

and songwriter,

and Jeff was working

day and night in the studios.

I figured, "They're not going

to stop that to start a band.

No way is that going

to happen."

HUEY: In 1976,

you get David Paich

and Jeff Porcaro touring

and playing on Boz Scaggs'

Silk Degrees album,

and David Paich is Boz Scaggs'

co-writer on that album.

Makes himself a name

in the music industry

by turning this album

into a hit.

Suddenly, these guys

make Boz Scaggs

into a rock star,

and the music industry says,

"Wait, who are they?"

Hey, boy

You better

Bring the chick around

To the sad, sad truth

The dirty lowdown...

RYZNAR:

When Silk Degrees came out

it became the new sound of LA.

PAICH: Boz and I just sat down

and we just clicked.

We just started writing tunes

like "Lowdown"

and "Lido Shuffle."

It was just organic

and spontaneous,

and I think we got

to bring the initial Toto sound

to those records.

PORCARO: As soon as Boz toured,

I joined their touring band,

and then Lukather.

LUKATHER: You know, I look back

at pictures of myself

and, like, I thought

I was so grown up, man.

I look like I'm 12 years old,

zits on my face, you know.

(LAUGHING)

It's pretty funny, man.

I mean, I was really young,

and I was still a teenager.

PAICH:

Someone came up and suggested,

"Well, hey, you guys

should form your own group."

And we were, like, winking

out the corner of our eye,

"Oh, that's a great idea,"

you know,

'cause we'd always planned

to reform our high school band,

and Toto ended up being

that band.

Hold the line

Love isn't always on time

Oh, oh, oh...

LUKATHER: You know, like,

our first single came out,

everybody dug it,

and it was all over.

We had a hit record.

My God, the dream comes true.

And we started selling

a lot of records

and we would go out for,

you know, a couple of months

here and there

and then get back in the studios

because we had

this great studio career.

We wanted to figure out

a way to do both.

PAICH: Toto was just

a really popular band

to call for sessions because we

were kind of a unit

and we are a little bit more

rock and roll,

a little bit more cutting-edge

than most session players.

LUKATHER: If you look

at the collective discography,

it would be staggering.

We were everywhere. I mean,

crossed a lot of party lines.

Hold the line...

PAICH:

People like Jackson Browne,

Steely Dan, Seals & Crofts.

Lukather would get calls

from Cheap Trick

and Alice Cooper.

Jeff would play

with Dire Straits,

Bruce Springsteen.

But I played

on over 2,000 records,

and I know Luke probably did,

like, four or five thousand,

and Jeff probably did four

or five thousand.

We were, uh...

We were pretty busy.

PORCARO: Whatever success we had

with Toto,

we still loved getting called

for other things.

And then taking the studio chops

that we had,

not having to hire other people

to come in,

we were, uh, self-contained.

PAICH: We really had

a confidence at the time,

and because of the level

that the musicians were at,

music was obtainable real fast,

and the creativity level

set a bar

that was there

at the very beginning.

(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)

CHRISTOPHER CROSS:

My band in San Antonio

at the time was called Flash,

and my manager, Joe Miller,

he had a club

called The Jam Factory,

and he booked Deep Purple

on their first US show.

And Ritchie Blackmore,

the guitar player,

got a reaction to a flu shot,

and he couldn't perform.

So, Joe talked

to the band and said,

"Look, I got this guy,

you know, Chris Geppert,

he's a big fan of Ritchie's,

and he could probably sit in."

So, they told people,

"Ritchie's not here,

Chris is gonna get up

and play guitar."

"You can get a refund

if you want,"

but 80 percent

of the people stayed.

Ritchie later told me that,

"We had people sit in

over the years,

but no one ever subbed for me

in my entire career except you."

And I said,

"Well, you know, there you go."

("NEVER BE THE SAME"

BY CHRISTOPHER CROSS PLAYING)

CHRISTOPHER:

The original demos I did,

all the songs ended up

on the record.

I financed my original songs

by selling weed.

I had a very successful

weed business,

and I bought, you know,

a tape machine

and some consoles and stuff

and invested

in the studio in Austin.

And then

when I got my demo done,

I looked at Billboard magazine,

saw Mo Astin,

chairman of the board

at Warner Brothers.

And I said, "Well, Mo Astin,

he's too important.

I can't get to him."

Well, I didn't know

anything about A&R.

I sent my tape

to Mo Astin's assistant.

He had nothing to do with A&R.

But he got my tape,

and he kind of liked it.

And he went to lunch

that day with Lenny Waronker,

head of A&R,

and forced Lenny to listen

to the tape in the car.

The way that you did

That very first day

And I'll

Never be the same

Without you here...

CHRISTOPHER:

Lenny told me years later

that had I just sent it to A&R,

it would've been

rejected outright

because they weren't really

accepting anything.

So it was pretty serendipitous

that I sent it to the wrong guy.

No, I'll...

RYZNAR: Christopher Cross

came in wanting to make

a Steely Dan album.

And he had a producer

who worked with Steely Dan,

who didn't want him to make

a Steely Dan album.

And as a result of that tension,

they came up

with something totally original.

CHRISTOPHER:

Michael Omartian, my producer,

I drove him crazy

with Steely Dan.

Like, "Everything we have to do

as good as Steely Dan.

"We gotta do this,

Steely Dan, Steely Dan."

So, I came in the studio,

the lights were dim.

He was at the piano,

he'd just played the piano solo.

I came in, and he said,

"What do you think?" And I said,

"I think there's a note

in the second bar

that's a little late."

And he said, "I was emoting."

You know, I said, "Well...

But, I mean,

I don't think Steely Dan--"

But he said,

"That's it, I'm done."

And he left.

He got in his Porsche and left.

HUEY: Anytime Steely Dan fans

get mad at us online

that Steely Dan

isn't yacht rock,

the artist they most wanna be

disassociated from

is Christopher Cross

because they don't think

he has anything

to do with Steely Dan.

And that means that they're

not reading album credits.

Christopher Cross's albums

were produced

by Michael Omartian,

who did a lot of arranging

and piano work for Steely Dan.

He's got guest spots

from Larry Carlton.

He has guest work

from Jay Graydon

on guitar as well.

And very important,

he's got backing vocals

from Michael McDonald.

MICHAEL: We were working

at Amigo Studios,

and I knew Michael Omartian,

his producer.

There was a track that

he thought it would be great

if I could do some backups.

I said, "Sure," you know?

He was so gracious

about everything.

We were nobody, you know,

but he--

It's not the way

Mike's mind works.

He's not trying to evaluate,

"Who are you?"

You know, "What is this going

to mean in my career?"

"Is this something

worth me doing?"

You know,

"I'm Michael McDonald."

It's just not the way he thinks.

It didn't take us very long

to do it, really, did it?

It went pretty quickly,

and I knew I liked Chris,

I had no idea that

we would be friends the rest

of our lives. (CHUCKLES)

("RIDE LIKE THE WIND"

BY CHRISTOPHER CROSS PLAYING)

CHRISTOPHER: I was playing

at a club in Houston.

We were doing "1985"

by McCartney of Wings.

And in the middle of that song,

I started doing this...

(VOCALIZES)

It's a C minor, sort of.

(VOCALIZES)

People would go crazy.

They'd start dancing

and moving around.

It just seemed to really connect

with the audience,

so we would jam on that riff.

And then we drove from Houston

down to Austin to record,

and I was sitting

in the front seat of the van

and I'd taken acid,

and I wrote the words

to "Ride Like The Wind,"

driving from Houston

to Austin on acid.

It is the night

My body's weak

I'm on the run

No time to sleep

I've got to ride

Ride like the wind

To be free again

And I've got

Such a long way to go...

CHRISTOPHER: It was really cool,

but it happened so fast.

"Ride Like the Wind"

was at the top of the charts

and then the next thing I know,

I was out with The Eagles,

and then on the road

with Fleetwood.

But my first tour was

with Bonnie Raitt,

and in the middle of the tour,

Bonnie came to me and said,

"I think I should be opening

for you." (CHUCKLES)

And I've got

Such a long way to go

Such a long way to go...

RYZNAR: "Ride Like the Wind"

is such a strange song,

because Christopher Cross

is singing like an outlaw,

and you don't believe it

for a minute,

'cause his voice

is so friendly and kind.

And then Michael McDonald

comes in with...

Such a long way to go

And you're like,

"Oh, maybe they are criminals.

He's hanging out

with this guy?

Okay, they're up to trouble.

I get it now."

ALEX: One way to know if you

are listening to yacht rock

is if you hear the sound

of Michael McDonald's voice.

He is such

an important sonic element

to so many of these records.

There's that SCTV sketch

where Rick Moranis

plays Michael McDonald,

and it depicts the life

that I think Michael McDonald

lived at this time,

which is that he is running

from session to session.

MAC DEMARCO: I love that.

In the '70s,

the sessions are happening.

Michael's so busy

that he can only come in

and do that and he's got to go.

You know, it's amazing.

And I've got

Such a long way to go

Such a long way to go

To make it

To the border of Mexico...

MICHAEL: We were in some hotel

and just sitting there

smoking a joint.

And in the middle of it

I just said,

"I think I gotta go.

I'm a little too high."

And I said,

"I wanna go lay down."

(CHUCKLES)

So I went into my room.

I used to leave the TV on.

As I walked in,

it was-- SCTV was on.

And I thought maybe

I was hallucinating.

The whole time, I'm saying,

"Is this really happening,

or am I just losing it,"

you know?

And years later,

Rick Moranis apologized to me.

I'll probably need you

next week. I'll give you a call.

Okay, see you.

MICHAEL: Because I guess

he wondered

if I was offended

by it or something.

I said,

"No, quite the opposite,"

you know? (CHUCKLES)

It was-- I got a lot of mileage

out of that, you know?

("YOU BELONG TO ME" BY

THE DOOBIE BROTHERS PLAYING)

JASON:

When you hear Michael McDonald,

he has this ability to do

what some

of the great R&B singers did,

which is to testify,

which is really a kind of,

you know,

gospel kind of church tradition.

And, you know, he doesn't sound

like anybody else.

Why'd you tell me this

While you look

For my reaction...

I remember they said,

"We got this song called,

'You Belong to Me,'

and we just need

some background."

And so Michael starts

to sing it for us.

And when he starts singing...

I've got lovin' eyes...

...we just froze.

I was like, "Oh, my God,

what is that coming out

of his mouth?"

Tell him

You belong to me

Tell him you were foolin'

-You belong to me

-Oh...

BETHANY COSENTINO:

His style of singing,

like it's such a thing.

And I think

that it is something

that like a lot of people mock

or have made fun of

at certain points in time,

but really it's like

what makes

a person their own artist

is their individuality.

And I think

that Michael McDonald

just has one of those voices

and it's like

you could hear it from

a f*cking football field away

and you'd be like,

"Oh, there he is,

Michael McDonald,

that's his voice."

-Tell him

-You belong to me

That you belong to me

You belong to me...

HUEY: I don't know if it was us

who dubbed Michael McDonald

the king of yacht rock,

but if it wasn't,

it should have been.

You hear Michael McDonald

popping up

on so many

other yacht rock tracks.

It underlines that this was

a scene and everybody worked

on each other's records.

(FUNKY MUSIC PLAYING)

KENNY: When I first heard

Mike McDonald,

I said,

"I got to write with that guy.

This is what

I've been looking for."

And the first thing

we wrote together was

"What a Fool Believes,"

which is like the quintessential

yacht rock song

of the era for some reason.

Still trying to figure that out.

I tell the story

of my poor sister.

She's gonna hate me.

About-- She came over

to my house to clean the house

'cause she knew

Kenny Loggins was coming over.

I hadn't met Kenny yet,

and she was,

like myself, a big fan of his,

you know.

So I was playing things

at the piano

while my sister was cleaning

my house, you know?

And then just

as I was about to head up

to his front door,

I heard the...

(HUMMING "WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES")

And he's singing...

(HUMMING "WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES")

'Cause there were no words.

And then when he got

to the end of that part

of the verse, he stopped.

I said, "I'm thinking about

playing this for Kenny.

What do you think?" She goes,

"I don't know about that one."

And she goes,

"He might think you're trying

to write a circus song

or something," you know.

And just at that moment,

Kenny was outside the door

and the doorbell rings.

KENNY: And I said, "That thing

you were just playing,

can you play that again?

I think I know

how the next part goes."

So I looked

at my sister and kind of,

you know, but...

And if it had been

ten minutes later?

If it had been

ten minutes later...

-Song of the year.

-...I would have never

played it for him, yeah.

He came from somewhere

Back in her long ago

The sentimental fool

Don't see

Tryin' hard to recreate

What had yet

To be created...

"What a Fool Believes"

gets a 100

on what we call

the "yachtski scale,"

where we rate

all the yacht rock songs.

RYZNAR: This is 100.

This is the high bar

from which we measure

all other songs.

She had a place in his life

He never made her

Think twice

As he rises to her apology

Anybody else

Would surely know...

DONNA SUMMER:

The song of the year is...

Whoo! "What a Fool Believes."

What a fool believes

He sees...

MICHAEL: I always enjoyed

writing with Kenny

because I always thought

he was such a great composer.

For me, I always felt

like that brought

my writing up to another level.

I had to kind of reach

a little higher.

They were something different

from what I wrote

on my own, you know?

KENNY: It took a long time

for Michael and I

to recontact each other

after "What a Fool Believes"

won a Grammy.

There was this unspoken feeling

of how do you top that?

What do you do

for a second song?

Like a sophomore jinx thing.

Finally, I ran into him

on the street one day

and I said,

"We gotta get together

and write a second song."

So, let's just write

a shitty song,

get that out of the way.

You know, do that thing

that we're afraid of.

And then-- So the shitty song

that we wrote was "This Is It,"

which won a Grammy

the next year.

This is it

Make no mistake

-Where you are

-This is it

Your back's to the corner

This is it...

RYZNAR: "This Is It" was huge

at the time. I mean,

you watch NCAA basketball

in the early '80s or late '70s

and they're playing

"This Is It."

That's the theme song

to like NBC's coverage.

HUEY: They also co-wrote

"Heart to Heart"

with David Foster.

And that's, I think,

Loggins's finest

yacht rock moment of all time.

Does anything last forever?

I don't know

Baby, we're near the end...

THUNDERCAT:

One of my favorite songs,

for real, for real

is "Heart to Heart."

I don't think there's ever been

a moment psychologically

where I didn't feel the pain

of what Kenny was expressing

in that song.

I was like, "Oh, my gosh,

this guy's pouring

his heart out."

Heart to heart

Does anything

Last forever...

QUESTLOVE: Oftentimes, you hear

these great songwriting duos

in music history,

and I really wish

that Loggins and McDonald

wrote and did

more songs together

because clearly there's

a magic synergy there.

It's the perfect marriage

of poetry,

the right musicianship,

the right emotions.

Heart to heart...

HUEY: Around the late '70s

and early '80s,

you start to hear

other people copying

the "What a Fool Believes"

piano riff.

The most obvious example

is Robbie Dupree's "Steal Away."

It's in the title.

Why don't we steal away

Why don't we steal...

I mean, one of the things that

unites some of the songs

that we would call yacht rock is

this thing that's been coined

the "Doobie bounce,"

which is basically

a rhythmic motif.

No, I can't take it...

HUEY: You hear how much

that piano riff gets reused

or reconfigured

into somebody else's own idea.

Baby, goodbye

Can't you see

You're not changing?

Oh, baby

When the band is

In the groove

He's so shy

QUESTLOVE: It's that sound

of the Fender Rhodes,

basically, translating

what your body feels

as you're sitting down.

It's perfect sitting down

dancing music.

Watch your step

Or you'll end up...

Get used to it

When nobody's watching

I'll cry...

Open your hearts

If you don't want me to

("KISS ON MY LIST"

BY HALL & OATES PLAYING)

HUEY:

We also hear "Kiss on My List"

as a little bit of a

"What a Fool Believes" rewrite,

just in the little

back-and-forth piano riff.

But Hall & Oates

are not actually

a yacht rock artist.

RYZNAR:

They're from a different world.

They have R&B influences,

but they're

Philadelphia influences,

very specific.

Another example

is Fleetwood Mac.

Fleetwood Mac

should be yacht rock

by all definitions of the term,

but they don't really

have the jazz there.

HUEY:

The Eagles are not yacht rock

because The Eagles

are a country rock band.

They might be a real smooth,

mellow country rock band,

and they might be from LA,

but they're not yacht rock

because there's way

too much country.

RYZNAR: The thing about

the villains in the web series,

we put them in there as villains

because they weren't yacht rock.

They were the opposite of what

we felt the scene was.

Be on the beach

In the Caribbean

With the cheeseburgers

RYZNAR: The scene was friends

who like, wanted to make cool,

smooth, interesting music

together.

That was the time when, like,

yacht rock was exploding

on the radio

and to get a hit,

you just had to sound

like "What a Fool Believes."

It was a really influential song

and I don't think

a lot of people give credit

to it for that.

You can really see a world

before "What A Fool Believes"

and a world after.

(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)

DAVID PACK: It was just such

a beautiful time.

Everybody's influencing

each other.

And we had spent so much time

on the road

with the Doobie Brothers.

Michael was just crushing me

with his voice, his songs,

and the Doobies

with their two drummers.

I mean, if you could have

heard him back then

like I did in '78, '79.

It was just, like,

a soul Pavarotti on steroids.

(VOCALIZES) It was like,

"Oh, my God," one note

and the auditorium

was just like...

It was like, "Oh, my God."

And I thought Ambrosia,

I think in comparison,

like, "Oh, my God,

we got a long way to go, guys."

And I think it was

that frustration

of, "I wanna break through

with something great."

One day I went to Michael,

"How did you come up

with those changes

for 'Minute by Minute'?"

He said, he goes,

"You know, David,

those practice books

by Handel, I study those

and I kind of study

how chords work

with each other

and interlock with each other

and interesting key changes."

And all of a sudden,

that sort of unlocked something

in my imagination

to go out further.

("BIGGEST PART OF ME"

BY AMBROSIA PLAYING)

PACK: So, after that little tip

by Michael,

I'm messing around.

All of a sudden, I just hit

on the chord sequence.

(HUMMING)

On the way to a party

for the Fourth of July,

my family was running late.

I set up the piano

for a few minutes,

and that all popped out.

-There's a new sun arisin'

-In your eyes

I can see a new horizon

Realize

That will keep me realizin'

You're the biggest

Part of me...

PACK: I came back the next day

forgetting that

I had written something,

played the cassette

and I was like,

"Whoa, that's-- that's cool."

So the next day I was like...

Make a wish, baby

Oh, now that works.

"Make a wish," you know?

Then the whole thing opened up.

Make a wish, baby

Well, And I will make it

Come true

Make a list baby

Of the things

I'll do for you...

PACK: Honestly,

if Ambrosia hadn't toured

with the Doobies

all those months,

I don't think I would

have written that song.

I want to give credit

that Michael inspired me

because he was doing

what I would call

progressive R&B pop.

That song, "Biggest Part of Me,"

has become sort of my signature.

I sang it for President Clinton

for his first dance.

He was right in front of me

with Hillary Clinton dancing,

and I sang, you know...

Make a wish, baby

He turned around,

he goes, "I love that song."

Together

-We are gonna stay together

-Forever

PACK: When we're creating it,

we're just...

we're just putting our hearts

and souls into it.

We're putting our pain, I mean,

Paul McCartney even said,

"I never paid for a therapist,

I just did music."

Part of me

ALEX: I think yacht rock

became a safe space

for a certain kind of man

to express emotions

at a time when men

were maybe just starting

to learn how to do that.

I think, you know,

it's the '70s,

we're going to therapy,

we're exploring

parts of ourselves

that maybe

we hadn't explored before.

And there was something about

not having to put up

a macho front

in quite the same way.

Hello, yeah

It's been a while

Not much, how about you?

I'm not sure why I called

I guess I really just

Wanted to talk to you

RYZNAR: It's men talking

about their mistakes,

and it's men talking

about how sad they are

about their breakups.

And there's always

been music like that.

But there's something

about yacht rock

where men just embrace

being the sad sack loser

in a really big way.

I'm not talking

About moving in

And I don't wanna

Change your life...

HUEY:

Repeated over and over again

in a lot of yacht rock songs,

you have this theme

of the heartbroken fool,

hearts running free,

a lot of guys singing

very sensitively

about how their love affair

didn't work out

or their love affair

never happened

in the first place,

or, "Man, that girl really loves

someone else and not me."

Stay at home and watch TV

You see, it really

Doesn't matter much to me...

QUESTLOVE: Hard rock is supposed

to be like the machismo,

cis-hetero male

affirmative soundtrack music.

And, you know, yacht rock

is kind of the opposite of that

'cause it's emo, it's emotional.

I'd really love

To see you tonight...

MOLLY LAMBERT: That's part

of what gives it its longevity,

is it's like these songs

are about timeless issues

of, like, wanting to love

and be loved.

And that never goes out of style

'cause that's

the human experience.

Say I love you

Then say goodbye...

ROB TANNENBAUM:

You could declare

not just your sensitivity

but your torment

at how sensitive you are,

your sense of being ravaged

by having feelings,

which, I think,

is fairly unique to yacht rock.

("SAILING" BY

CHRISTOPHER CROSS PLAYING)

CHRISTOPHER:

I was just sitting at home,

my oldest son was in the crib,

and, uh, I was just

kind of messing around,

and I started playing this riff,

and believe it or not,

I just started singing,

and I sang the first verse

and the chorus to the song

completely unsolicited.

It just sort of came out.

Where? I don't know where from.

Well, it's not far down

To paradise

At least it's not for me

And if the wind is right

You can sail away

And find tranquility

Oh, the canvas

Can do miracles...

CHRISTOPHER: And once

I got the verse and chorus,

I just got up, walked

around the linoleum floor

of my shitty apartment

and just said,

"Wow, that's something--

there's something there."

Sailing

Takes me away to where

I've always heard it could be

Just a dream

And the wind to carry me...

CHRISTOPHER: To me, the song,

it's about transition

that you experience through art

and that place

that art takes you.

But I did some sailing

when I was young

with an older friend of mine,

and, uh, I always joked

that, you know,

had he taken me bowling,

it probably would have

been about bowling.

But it doesn't matter.

If you dig the groove,

whatever you like about it,

just enjoy it.

I used to get irritated

when people didn't think it was

anything more

than just sailing in a boat.

And it was cool, NSYNC did it,

they had a huge hit

with it and it brought it

to a much younger audience

and I've had

some people bring their kids

to shows who are younger,

and this one little girl came up

to the booth and said,

"That's so cool you played

that NSYNC song tonight."

And her mother said,

"That's not it, that's his song,

it's not NSYNC."

If the wind is right

You can sail away...

HUEY: "Sailing"

is where you finally get

a yacht rock song

that's literally about sailing.

It's not as overtly jazzy

as a lot of the other

cornerstones of the genre,

but considering

who it's coming from

and what it's about lyrically,

it has to be up there.

We've got to take at least

one thing literally.

Sailing

Takes me away to where...

THUNDERCAT: That song,

I'm again belting 'em out loud.

You know, don't catch me in,

like, Ralphs.

I'm, like, juggling

pomegranates and, like,

singing into bananas.

PETER ALLEN: Okay, open it up.

-The winner is...

-They're my friends.

-"Sailing," Christopher Cross!

-Yes! "Sailing."

-(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

-Christopher Cross, "Sailing"!

YOUNGER CHRISTOPHER:

"Sailing" was really never

supposed to be released

as a single,

but I gotta say,

I'm really glad it was. And...

It's certainly my favorite song

off the album,

and I don't know what to say.

I'm speechless.

This is the greatest night

of my life.

Thank you very much.

STEVEN: I mean, most people

don't sell five million records

on their debut.

You know, most people

don't win five Grammys

for their first record.

You beat out some biggies

who will probably never forget.

-Dangerous people?

-Yeah.

MAC DEMARCO:

And everyone was like, "My God,

he's taken all the Grammys."

Like, "What's going on?"

People must have

been pretty angry about that,

which is funny.

You know, it's funny.

Streisand, Sinatra.

-Yeah.

-Huh? Did you hear from them?

Did they send you

congratulatory telegrams

-and say...

-No. Um...

(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

CHRISTOPHER:

She was not a happy camper.

I think someone had told her

that she was gonna win.

As a matter of fact, I think

it might have been Aretha

or somebody.

And I said,

"This is so exciting.

I'd love

to meet Barbra Streisand."

She said, "Honey,

tonight is not the night."

ROB: He swept

the three major categories,

and he added a fourth,

which was Best New Artist.

And that's kind of incredible,

that in your rookie season,

you win the triple crown

and win rookie of the year.

And no one duplicated that

until a few years ago

when Billie Eilish did it.

MOLLY:

Truly a song like "Sailing"

becoming the most popular song

in the world

feels to me

like a viral hit now, you know?

Where you're like,

you couldn't predict

that that would be the song

that everybody would love.

("ROSANNA" BY TOTO PLAYING)

And that's it.

The biggest revolution in...

Today marks my first State

of the Union address to you.

PRESENTER: It's NBC week

and tonight, what's so funny?

JACK T. COLTON:

God damn it, man.

The Doobie Brothers broke up.

sh*t. When did that happen?

All I wanna do

When I wake up

In the morning...

PORCARO: Toto did real good

out of the gate,

but, um, we maybe got

a little indulgent

and thought we could do

whatever we wanted to do,

and the second album

did not do quite as well.

PAICH:

I never thought I'd experience

pressure from a record company.

But after our third album

also failed to do results,

they said, "Well, can you still

come out with another hit?"

And it was kinda

like a do-or-die situation.

So I realized that we had

to put everything

that we possibly knew

about making a great record

into one album.

And I started writing "Rosanna."

Not quite a year

Since she went away

Rosanna, yeah...

PAICH: I'd written a song,

and the day

that I was finishing the song,

Steve Porcaro walked

into the house,

and he was

with Rosanna Arquette.

And of course,

she charmed everybody.

Everybody fell in love

with her, including me.

And I just said, "Rosanna, huh?"

PORCARO: I think her name

just fit perfect.

And I'm sure he had

a little crush on her,

like everyone else did

at some point, probably.

Meet you all the way

LUKATHER: "Rosanna"

is like the Toto track.

We knew we had something there,

and when it came out

and was a hit again,

we were like... Phew!

("AFRICA" BY TOTO PLAYING)

PAICH: We already had

the Toto IV album done,

so we were just messing around

with some new keyboards,

and I played this riff.

And then I wrote a song

and brought it into the studio,

and everybody decided,

"Well, we have a little bit

of spare time here.

Let's-- Let's fool around

with it a little bit."

I hear the drums

Echoing tonight

But she hears only whispers

Of some

Quiet conversation...

PORCARO: Let's talk about

the song "Africa."

Last song on side two.

Who puts

their only number one song

as the last song

on side two? It was buried.

Now we worked our asses off

on it for sure.

Jeff did all these tape loops.

It was very, very cool

what we did.

I k*lled myself on that song.

I was doing

all kinds of weird stuff

with my modular synths.

You know, we worked hard

on everything we did.

Having said that,

Lukather and I didn't even think

it should be on the album.

LUKATHER: Oh, I did say

that I would run naked

down Hollywood Boulevard

if it was a hit record.

It's gonna take a lot

To drag me away from you...

PORCARO:

The lesson in humility for us,

you know, shows what we know.

And it's our

only number one hit.

I bless the rains

Down in Africa

Gonna take some time

To do the things

We never had, ooh-hoo

GARRET PRICE:

PAICH:

Oh, boy, that's a deep one.

I usually don't respond

to that question anymore.

But just my desire to travel

and stuff.

I'd never been to Africa,

but that didn't let

that stop me writing a song

about it, you know?

For some solitary company

LUKATHER: You know,

we've made the whole record

before the lyrics were on it,

so we didn't really know

all the Serengeti stuff,

you know, which we still laugh

and cringe at.

Rises like Olympus

Above the Serengeti...

PORCARO: We, of course,

gave him a hard time.

We would repeat

some of those lines

back to him mercilessly,

you know what I mean?

"What? What is..." You know?

But the record company

was real big on "Africa,"

and I remember I was

in a hospital, and I was

walking down the halls,

and I heard "Africa"

coming out of the radio,

and I was like, "What?"

I couldn't believe it,

that they were playing it

on the radio.

You know, that tune?

I bless the rains

Down in Africa

Gonna take some time

To do the things...

HUEY: I think "Africa" has

that quality of, "What is this?

Where did this come from?

Why are those the lyrics?

Why can't I get this

out of my head?"

BRIAN: It's one of those songs

that you've heard it

so many times

and it almost gets annoying,

but then that chorus hits.

It's gonna take a lot

To drag me away from you...

You're like, "No,

that's pretty good, isn't it?

That's-- That's--

That's pretty good."

JASON: I actually love Toto.

I mean,

in terms of writing melodies,

the quality of the musicianship

itself is also superb.

What I don't love about Toto

is the lyrics.

Just the chutzpah,

the audacity

of a White rock band

making a song about Africa,

a continent that

you've never actually been to.

And don't get me started

on the video.

The music video, that was--

that's crazy.

Um, I don't even think

you can imagine

anyone doing that now.

Although, what's weird is that

because of this hipster,

ironic detachment moment

we live in,

people think

it's the greatest song

that's ever been written.

Here we go

with the song, "Africa," Weezer!

I bless the rains

Down in Africa

(GROANS)

Gonna take some time

To do the things

We never had

LUKATHER:

Nobody laughs harder than we do.

God bless, you know?

It's connected

with a lot of people

and it drives

a lot of people crazy,

but come on, man,

we cut that in 1981.

Think I haven't heard this song

a couple times, huh?

STEVIE WONDER:

The winner for Album of The Year

-is Toto. Toto IV.

-(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

("AFRICA" CONTINUES

PLAYING OVER TV)

His first solo album

on the Warner Brothers label.

Let's put some hands together,

g*ng, for Mr. Michael McDonald.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING)

("'I KEEP FORGETTIN'"

BY MICHAEL MCDONALD PLAYING)

QUESTLOVE: I remember

that episode of Soul Train,

seeing Porcaro and Lewis Johnson

and Greg Phillinganes

playing with Michael McDonald.

That's a staple episode.

Like, anytime

that a White artist

ever appeared on Soul Train,

that's just

a different type of cosign.

We say that, you know,

you get a lifetime pass

to the barbecue.

I keep forgettin'

We're not in love anymore

I keep forgettin' things

Will never be the same again

I keep forgettin'...

MICHAEL:

A lot of the Black stations,

those were the stations

that picked up

my first single,

"Keep Forgettin'."

They made it a hit.

When I stopped by

while I was

on the road with the Doobies,

they would play

your whole album.

And the DJ would talk to you

about each song.

And by the time you got

to the airport

to go to the next town,

there'd be people

in the baggage claim going,

"Hey, I just heard you

on the radio."

And it was very electric.

It caused a buzz, you know,

that we weren't used to getting.

And I know

That it's hard for you

To say the things

That we both know are true

But tell me how come...

JASON: You have these

White rock musicians

essentially making R&B music,

and some of them get played

on Black radio,

but also

there are some Black artists

who'd figure out

that in order to get radio play

at a time of great segregation

in the music industry,

they need to be able

to do adult contemporary music.

QUESTLOVE: Oftentimes,

I think yacht rock is associated

with, like, White groups

and White songwriters

and producers,

but I know more Black yacht rock

than I do

"traditional" yacht rock.

Al Jarreau's music, yacht rock.

Pointer Sisters' "Slow Hand,"

yacht rock.

You know, George Benson,

"Turn Your Love Around,"

like, that's yacht rock.

Turn your love around

Don't you turn me down

I can show you how

Turn your love around

RYZNAR:

George Benson is an example

of a jazz guy who goes pop

and just the act of doing that

makes yacht rock.

JASON: A lot of these artists

are realizing

that in order

to have the kind of careers

that they'd like

to be able to cross over,

and to be able to reach

non-Black audiences as well,

they had to sort of curb

some of the more

aggressively funky aspects

and make a more polished,

genteel music.

But I also think they gravitated

to that sound.

So many Black musicians,

like, we love

some of the White easy-listening

and adult contemporary music.

Lucky

I feel in love with you...

BRENDA: You had to really know

who you were as a Black artist

because I remember walking

into a record company

and I said, "Okay, I'm not R&B."

And he said,

"Honey, you Black, you R&B."

(LAUGHS) I went,

"Oh, excuse me, I didn't know."

So, you know, it was hard

to cross over into the pop thing

because people had

a preconceived idea

of what you're supposed

to sound like.

THUNDERCAT: Al Jarreau,

George Benson, George Duke,

and many to name off.

There's a part

where I'm just like,

"That was allowing the art

to lead."

There was a moment

that was golden.

There was a time

when you could see Steely Dan,

Stanley Clark, George Duke,

and Frank Zappa

on the same bill.

And Stevie Wonder,

and it'd be like this...

"You lucky m*therf*ckers.

You lucky son of a--"

If you got to see that,

you could chop

one of my toes off.

Yeah, you could.

Doobie Brothers?

(HESITATES) Take the pinky.

Take it, it's worth it.

QUESTLOVE: All of these artists,

they just provided

the soundtrack of our lives,

and then suddenly

all that changed,

where not only did you have

to sound a certain way,

you had to look a certain way.

This is it. Welcome to

MTV, Music Television,

the world's first 24-hour

stereo video music channel.

I heard you on

The wireless back in '52...

ALEX: MTV sort of

scrambles everything

because suddenly it's about

who's coming up with the visual

and who can be

a rock star changes.

Oh, oh

AMANDA: Artists of the MTV era,

you know, Prince, Madonna,

Michael Jackson,

they were visually astounding.

You couldn't take your eyes

off them.

So I think

there was this sense of music

becoming a more

multidimensional enterprise.

And I think a few yacht rock

artists probably got left behind

in that transition.

Video k*lled

The radio star...

GARRET:

Hated it.

I didn't study to be an actor.

I didn't work on my look.

You know, that was always a beef

about we didn't have an image,

we didn't look the part.

CHRISTOPHER: The "Video k*lled

the Radio Star" thing,

it was just absolutely true

in my case.

I just wasn't comfortable.

I think my physicality,

I think part of it was

that I was never--

I was always kind of a shy guy.

Oh, oh

MICHAEL: When videos came along,

I felt like one

of the silent screen stars

who was entering

the realm of the talkies.

It's like,

"Well, why are they doing that?"

Because we've developed

this whole art form

that is based

on listening to the songs.

I was afraid that with videos,

people were gonna

start watching music

and not listen

to it anymore, you know?

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

ROB: You didn't have to be

great looking to be on MTV,

but you did need

to have an interesting look

or to be deadpan or have a wink.

Phil Collins

was a huge star on MTV.

Was he a matinee idol?

No. But he played along.

Cyndi Lauper

is a gorgeous woman who went far

out of her way

to make herself look weird

and crazy.

So the videos become bigger,

funnier, more colorful.

And there are bands that want

to play along with this

and bands that don't.

HUEY: You have MTV putting

all these new stars

on the airwaves

that crowds these guys out.

You get the influence

of new wave

and synth pop.

And then on top of that,

you also get

the immediate impact

of this big blockbuster album

that knocks

a lot of these more

adult contemporary artists

off the pop charts.

ANNOUNCER: Michael Jackson

is back in action

with his new album, Thriller.

ALEX: Thriller certainly helps

hasten the end

of this moment

because among other things,

it's the dawn

of the mega music video

that turns

everything upside down.

But at the same time,

even Thriller is stocked

with guys who came

from that scene.

It's, uh, the--

the final result of a dream

that we had in a studio a year

and a half ago, and it worked.

This kind of a thing

only happens as a reaction

of what the world wants,

I think.

JASON: In a lot of ways,

Thriller was Michael Jackson's

transactional commercial album.

They were really strategic

and really shrewd,

and they decided

to make the album

a kind of marketing exercise.

What if every song

on the album could appeal

to a different audience?

HUEY: Thriller is very eclectic.

It's got a bunch

of different styles

of music on it,

but they didn't have a lot

of time to record it.

If you're going

to pump out an album

in a short amount of time,

you need supporting musicians

who can also do it all.

And that's where

the Toto guys came in.

LUKATHER: I met Quincy Jones

through David Foster

when Quincy was doing

The Dude record.

Q took a shine to me, man.

I just went in there.

He said, "I'm doing

Michael's next record.

I want you to be part of it."

RYZNAR: The first thing we cut

was the Paul McCartney duet,

"The Girl Is Mine."

Quincy began to collect Totos.

Quincy would use

Steve Porcaro often

to do keyboard parts

and to program synthesizers.

By the time Thriller

came around,

he also brought in David Paich

and Jeff Porcaro.

So now you've got

almost the entire band

of Toto working

with Quincy Jones

to back up Michael Jackson

on a lot of the tracks.

But Quincy just

needed one special song

to finish off the album.

Looking out

Across the nighttime

She hopes

To be the first in line...

PORCARO:

When I wrote "Human Nature,"

we were at a point

after Toto IV,

they were wanting

to do more stadium rock.

I played it for him

and no one jumped up and down

and said, "Boy, did you

knock one out of the park."

But, uh, Quincy

heard it accidentally and just,

I think, loved the atmosphere,

which is always what

I've kind of been about.

What was great

is he let me reproduce my demo

for the most part.

Why, Why?

Tell her

That it's human nature

Why, Why

Do they do me that way?

QUESTLOVE: There are literally

no words of what it was like

to be alive watching

the Thriller effect

happen to the music industry.

But 40 years down the line,

I think it did a lot

of damage to what we knew

as a certain type of music

or a certain type

of creative process.

Because once Thriller comes,

your visuals have to be right.

It just started

a tsunami effect

that if you didn't

get down with it,

you just drowned

and you're out of it.

INTERVIEWER: Um,

how do you see this album

different from your first one?

This album will be

a little more plain.

It'll be like, um...

Well, maybe simpler in places.

There may be songs

without drums or whatever.

And, you know, more space

to the record, probably.

INTERVIEWER: (LAUGHS)

So wish you lots of luck

-and please...

-Thanks.

INTERVIEWER:

Let your smash coming,

you know, keep coming here.

Good. Everybody

will be looking for it.

Hopefully, it'll be

worth the wait.

CHRISTOPHER:

Radio had been embracing

my first album across formats,

and they sort of decided

I was a balladeer at that point.

He's in a tuxedo,

riding with Burt Bacharach.

He's schmoozy, he's schmaltzy.

So then work

reflects your personal life.

And I'd been through a divorce,

and I wrote

a very ballad-heavy,

torchy kind of record.

Some very pretty songs on it,

but it wasn't as eclectic

and balanced as my first record.

And I think I lost a lot

of momentum at radio.

And so as time went on,

I was always battling

that sophomore jinx.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

STEVEN: With Christopher Cross,

what explains his career

is gravity.

The winners are Burt Bacharach,

Carole Bayer Sager,

-Christopher Cross,

and Peter Allen.

-(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

STEVEN: He had all these

extraordinary achievements

right away.

He shot into the stratosphere,

and there just was nowhere else

left to go

but down at that point.

His albums speak for themselves.

They sell in the millions.

He's here tonight with a song

from his second album.

Here's another great talent

for you to meet.

-Christopher Cross, here.

-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

CHRISTOPHER:

It was sort of meteoric

and there was nowhere to go

but down.

I was not prepared for it.

I went from playing clubs

to 20,000 seaters.

So I don't think I handled

the whole thing very well.

And, you know, kind of wish

I could go back and do it again.

But I think that period of time

was just kind of a big blur.

And I was just treading water

to keep up.

I didn't really acclimate

to my success

until I wasn't sort

of famous anymore.

HOWARD STERN:

Oh, you know who's stopping by?

Uh, Christopher Cross.

Remember that guy?

HUEY: Once we get into the '80s,

movie soundtracks

become a safe haven for a lot

of these yacht rock guys

to extend

their pop stardom careers

at least a few more years.

That's where

the commercial opportunities

are available for them

all of a sudden

in this new,

video-centric MTV age.

Thanks to soundtrack

success with songs like

"Footloose," "I'm Alright,"

and "Danger Zone,"

this star continues

to mix movie hits

with his own singing

and songwriting.

RYZNAR: Once Kenny Loggins

started to transition

to movie soundtracks,

he blew up.

That turned out

to be his bread and butter.

STEVEN:

The thing with Kenny Loggins is

that he's still

a yacht rock artist,

but he's not really making

yacht rock songs.

But really, like,

that was the point,

that he was maybe

the most successful

at distancing himself

from this sound

that by then had become pass.

RYZNAR: And then you get

"Sweet Freedom,"

Michael McDonald's chance

to finally do

a successful movie song

like his buddy Kenny Loggins

had been doing

for the last couple of years.

And it's the exclamation point

at the end

of the yacht rock era.

STEVEN: In a way,

the "Sweet Freedom" video

is almost like the beginning

of what you see

at yacht rock tribute concerts.

It's almost like the genesis

of what that genre

is going to be

like, 20 years in the future.

(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)

HUEY:

When you get into the mid-'80s,

all the major figures

of yacht rock

pretty much slipped

one way or another.

Michael McDonald is struggling

trying to make his second album.

Donald Fagen has writer's block

after The Nightfly,

and he just sort of retreats

into the background.

Kenny Loggins is getting into

synth pop and soundtrack work.

Christopher Cross, he's also

having some writer's block.

Toto fired Bobby Kimball,

the guy who did

all the high vocals,

and was struggling

to replace him.

ROB: Artists run out of hits.

It happens.

The zeitgeist

moves on without you.

The fact is Top 40 careers

have a natural end.

They always do and always will.

PORCARO:

I'll quote my brother Mike.

Mike used to always say,

"The groove

is a delicate thing."

You know, especially when

you have success,

it's hard to keep your humility,

uh, and not think,

"Oh, I've got it

figured out now."

STEVEN: And you can only

have so many hit albums

and number-one singles

and Grammys

before the public just says,

"Enough.

No matter how good you are,

like, we need something new."

1985?

Poof!

Like a f*cking fart, man.

(MUSIC CONCLUDES)

(RECORD SCRATCHING)

PRINCE: It just caught us

from the first play.

As soon as you heard it,

you just like--

it just spoke to you.

I've seen your picture...

PRINCE: The Aja album,

but specifically "Peg,"

was definitely a hood song

because you heard it

in the hood.

You could hear it blasting

in people's houses, at parties,

and that's probably

one of the big influences

why when Pos

from De La heard it, he's like,

"Yo, we gotta use this."

Because it was etched

in our childhood growing up.

("EYE KNOW"

BY DE LA SOUL PLAYING)

Greetings, girl

And welcome to my world

Of phrase

I'm right up to bat...

PRINCE: The music was incredible

to begin with

because you're starting out

with a base

that's already hit song

just based on

the instrumental itself.

But then the inspiration

of the lyrics

and how the lyrics were

and it was beautiful.

It's about, you know,

love, relationships.

But he could have rhymed

about buckling my shoe

and eating crap over that beat

and it would have worked

because the music is just so...

(CHUCKLES)

...you know what I'm saying,

just so dope.

QUESTLOVE:

In the case of De La Soul,

they decided, "You know what?"

"You mere peasants are taking

from the low-hanging fruit

of James Brown

and George Clinton

and the incredible

bongo rock band.

Like, anybody can do that.

But can you do something

with this Hall & Oates thing?

Can you do something

with this Steely Dan thing?

Can we find magic

on records by groups

that are not

under the funk ilk?"

And the answer

is a resounding yes.

If it has a pulse,

and if it has life,

it's up for grabs.

Eye know

I love you better...

HUEY:

Yacht rock has a foundation

in jazz and R&B,

and the result of that

is that Black audiences

appreciate this stuff

sometimes more

than the White audiences

did at the time.

So that's how you get

Warren G sampling

a Michael McDonald record

for a gangster rap hit.

It was a clear black night

A clear white moon

Warren G was on the streets

Tryin' to consume

Some skirts for the eve

So I can get some phones

Rollin' in my ride

Chillin' all alone

Just hit the eastside

Of the L-B-C...

When I first heard "Regulate,"

I'm like,

"I know what this is." (LAUGHS)

It becomes a point when

you're making hip-hop songs,

who has the smarts

to use it first?

And I'll give them credit

for taking it

and hearing something and go,

"We're gonna make something

out of this. This moves us."

MAC: It makes sense, though,

because it's like,

the records just sound so good.

Like, I'm sitting there

with the headphones on,

being like, "Oh, my God," like,

"How did they mic the drums?"

Like, this is insane, you know?

But it's like,

it sounds that good.

You might as well just use it.

And that Warren G song is dope.

So it's like,

they already did it once.

Let's just bring it back.

JASON: When you look at

the rise of G-funk music

in the 1990s,

that is a kind of smooth,

laid-back approach to hip-hop.

It made sense in a lot of ways

that they would reach back

to the West Coast sound

of the smooth funk

and jazz of that time period.

I'm tweakin'

Into a whole new era

G-funk, step to this

I dare ya...

He's talking about G-funk

and G is for Gangsta.

You know what I mean?

Like, the lineage of N.W.A.

is Warren G.

And one of

the most important songs

of the G-funk era is "Regulate."

And he's, like, giving

Michael McDonald new life.

It's almost like he gets

a second chance

at going to the top.

Gangster twist

If you smoke...

MICHAEL:

Warren liked the groove.

He loved Jeff's drumming,

and he just loved

the chord progression

we had come up with.

So he sampled it

for this track of his,

and it became a massive hit.

And of course,

that was the version

my kids liked. They'd go,

"Why don't you do

the... Warren G's version,

because, you know,

yours is lame?"

("SHOW YOU THE WAY"

BY THUNDERCAT PLAYING)

THUNDERCAT: From the beginnings

of hip-hop to now,

the value of the right sample,

the right chop,

the right beat

is just as important to me

as the value of the song

that was created.

And you can play an instrument,

but that doesn't

mean you have feel.

And there's a certain froth

of what these moments create

that you can only get from that.

You can try to call somebody

to replay it

and it'd be like,

"Man, that sucks."

It's like, well, yeah,

because you're talking

about Donald Fagen.

Like, what are you talking?

You can't...

There is one of these people,

even though we all

have similar traits

and we've all been

given the same sets

of fingers and hands

for the most part,

there's a part where, nah, man,

when that person does it,

that's theirs.

So you can only

get it from them.

Where no one can tell

Their worlds apart

We'll live with dark

Just take the ride

It's your boy...

THUNDERCAT: "Show You the Way"

is this moment for me.

Like, "What can I do to this?

What is this?"

It's always ticking in my mind.

And in the back of my mind,

I was definitely like,

"Man, this is Kenny

and Michael." (LAUGHS)

Your heart

Is struggling, baby

Trying to believe

There might be something

That you just couldn't see

KENNY: Thundercat,

somebody asked him on camera,

you know, who he would like

to write with.

And he said, Kenny Loggins

and Mike McDonald.

Let me show you

Show you the way...

MICHAEL:

So we all met up at the studio.

Steve played us a bunch

of stuff he was doing.

And there was one thing

he had already started.

And one of us,

Kenny or I, said,

"That kind of rings our bell,

you know, right there."

Wake up and dream

Tear down the wall

Before you believe...

THUNDERCAT: I would always

introduce Michael McDonald,

like,

"Michael f*cking McDonald."

You know, like, I'd make sure

to emphasize that.

To be able to share

the stage with him, like,

this guy's, you know,

like, you've influenced

every decision I've made

when it comes to the types

of way I express myself,

when it comes to musically.

It was a trip, man. It's--

Anytime he's ever come out,

and even Kenny,

it's like,

it's been a trip for me.

Thundercat, Michael McDonald,

Kenny Loggins.

-(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

-Fantastic!

I fully expected to be

totally forgotten by the end

of the '80s, you know,

and gone the wayside

of other musical genres

that had their moment

in the sun, you know.

(SING-SONG) The tambour

in my voice allows me

to communicate with whales.

Maybe that can help

FRED: There's nothing greater

in a way for any genre

of anything to be joked about

because it means

that it's relevant.

It means that it's identifiable.

-Catalina Breeze

-Catalina

-Catalina Breeze

-Catalina

FRED: I mean, in a way,

Blue Jean Committee,

you could see it as a joke

but it's still completely

done out of love.

When I hear those songs,

I'm like,

"How did they do this?"

Boy, they were not in a rush.

-WALTER WHITE: Steely Dan.

-Uh, no.

WALTER: Yes, absolutely.

No, look.

No, in terms

of pure musicianship,

I would put them up

against any current band

you can name.

AMANDA: In recent years,

there has been a shift

that I think

has opened up some space

for dunking on White guys,

you know?

And I think yacht rock

is folded into that.

Warren, you lucky m*therf*cker.

You need a smooth groove?

Sample this.

ALEX: This thing,

you come to it jokingly,

but then you suddenly

find yourself

appreciating it sincerely.

And I think that that's sort of

beautiful that like

all of these records

were sitting in the dollar bin

waiting for somebody

to pull them out

and kind of make

a case for them.

And it feels fresh

and it feels like a '70s

that we haven't necessarily

strip-mined culturally.

And I think

it's an amazing achievement

to retroactively name a genre

through your low-budget

web series

that you're filming

in your apartment.

STEVEN: I can't really think

of another genre

that was like invented

to describe music

25 years after the fact.

Another genre that, uh,

wasn't named at the time,

that was named

way after was classical.

Beethoven, you know, Mozart,

none of these people were going

like, "Yeah,

we're classical artists,

we do classical."

And they were like, "Do you

wanna do something else?"

Like, "No,

we're gonna play classical."

QUESTLOVE: Upon his passing,

I was trying to figure out

the most heartfelt,

loving tribute

that I could pay

to my pal, Anthony Bourdain.

And I crafted a playlist.

And I think of all my playlists,

that's probably

the most followed.

Like, everyone and their mom

comes to me either to start

an argument with,

"Take that off the playlist,

that is not yacht rock,"

to "You forgot these ten."

So, go figure.

But you're drowning

in the past, Mike.

And I got your life jacket

right here.

It's called the '80s.

And it's gonna be

around forever.

f*ck you, Loggins.

KENNY: At first, I felt,

like, a little insulted,

like we were

being made fun of.

But I began to see

that it was also

a kind of a*s-backwards

way to honor us.

And it was pretty funny,

you know, the whole sort of

alternate reality history

that they were creating.

They had taken

what we were doing

and defined it as a genre.

We hadn't really

seen it that way.

To us, it was just the next

logical step in making,

you know, pop music.

When are we gonna be done?

TODD BISHOP:

Till you get it perfect.

Take 537.

MICHAEL: What's funny about it

to me was my son

couldn't wait to show me

this thing he'd found

on the Internet.

And it was hysterical.

I couldn't deny

that it was funny.

I thought it was kind of uncanny

at times how they made up

these personalities

that more or less

had some basis of truth,

whether they knew it or not.

I always thought it was

kind of flattering

to be made fun of

because obviously,

it made an impression

on somebody.

Whether it's good or bad,

it doesn't really matter

at that point, you know.

-We love yacht rock!

-(CHEERS)

It's a funny thing. It's sort of

like forensic labeling.

It's way after the fact

that this term

has come into parlance.

And as a result,

it's probably done more

for that kind of music.

So, you know, in the end,

I guess it was a good idea.

(CHUCKLES)

PACK:

I've made peace with yacht rock,

but for the first few years,

I just hated it.

I'm like, why did they

pick our generation

to make all of our music

into like a big joke,

but it's turned into

this cottage industry

as... (CHUCKLES) I mean...

I'd love to see

what Donald Fagen says

about Yacht Rock Radio.

(DISCONNECT TONE BEEPING)

LUKATHER: I don't know

what it is about all the music

that I've ever been

involved with,

but there has to be

a silly title involved

with it as well.

"Yacht Rock."

Where's my f*cking yacht?

I played on all those records.

At the same time,

call it what you want.

People like the music.

GARRET:

It was called my career.

I'm going to work today,

and that's the music

I'm playing.

PORCARO:

Every day, I wake up real early,

and I go to work

in my studio writing songs,

trying to come up

with the next "Human Nature."

That's all I do now,

and I'm in heaven.

I'm loving it. Um...

I'm 65,

and there's not that many people

that care anymore,

but in my head,

I'm living the dream, so...

KENNY: I really never imagined

that I'd be doing it this long.

I'm so lucky

that I get to sing for a living.

How sweet can that be?

Even though my later records

didn't sell, you know,

and I made 12 of them,

the drive to do it

never really dissipated.

I just kept on doing it

because it seemed like

sort of a natural process

and an insatiable need

I needed to do it.

I think I know

why I was put here,

and I think I did my best

to honor that, you know?

But my fantasy has been like,

you know, if I do retire,

I'll be able to do

all the things I promised myself

I'd do,

which I probably wouldn't do.

But, uh, you know,

like exercise

and eat right and paint

and get a little gig somewhere,

three nights a week,

learning all these songs

I've always wanted to do live.

But I realized the reality

of that is

I'd have some drunk

sitting there...

-(LAUGHS) Yeah.

-...asking me to...

requesting songs,

I'd have to get some sign

that says,

"No f*cking requests."

("I GOTTA TRY"

BY MICHAEL MCDONALD PLAYING)

Maybe it's true

What they say about

Maybe we can't

Make the ends meet

Maybe we'll all have

To do without

Maybe this world's

Just incomplete

Well, we all look

For truth in this life

Searching with hope inside

If it's so hard living

In a desperate world

We all do the best

That we can

Some people see a change

Some will remain the same

Others will live their lives

Under the g*n

Some see the road as clear

Some say the end is here

They say

It's a hopeless fight

But I say I gotta try now

Oh, I've gotta try, baby

Maybe it's too much

To think about

Maybe there ain't nothing

Left to say

But if our time

Is really runnin'

Then this ain't no time

To run away

'Cause we're

Destined to look

For the truth in this life

Searching with tearful eyes

If it's so hard living

In a desperate world

Then tell me why was I born?

Some people see a change

Some will remain the same

Others will live their lives

-Under the g*n

-g*n

Some see the road as clear

Some say the end is here

They say

It's a hopeless fight

But I say I gotta try now

(SONG FADES OUT)