In the musical sense, yacht rock refers to the highly polished brand of soft rock that emanated from Southern California during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In part, the term relates to the stereotype of the yuppie yacht owner, enjoying champagne and smooth music while out for a sail. Additionally, since sailing was a popular leisure activity in Southern California, many "yacht rockers" made nautical references in their lyrics and album artwork, particularly the anthemic track "Sailing" by Christopher Cross.
The foundation of the yacht rock scene was a local pool of versatile session musicians who frequently played on each other's records. This professionalism often gave yacht rock recordings a high level of sophistication in musical areas such as composition, arrangement, and instrumental skill.
The most popular yacht rock artists enjoyed massive commercial success. During its peak years, yacht rock dominated the Grammy Awards, with Christopher Cross and Toto sweeping the major awards in 1981 and 1983 respectively, feats consistently derided by Grammy prognosticators. [3] However, yacht rock was not a hit with most rock critics at the time, who dismissed it as being corporate rock that was overproduced, generic, and Middle of the road, favoring such acts as The Clash, Patti Smith, and Elvis Costello instead.[4
