HBO Releases Trailer for ‘Yacht Rock’ Documentary
Simply put: The smooth rock sounds of the ‘70s and early ‘80s are having a new moment in the world, and it’s honored in the new HBO/Music Box film Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary. (Get it? “Yacht” and “dock”-umentary? What a delightful portmanteau!)
The film takes a look at the major yacht rock stars of that era, including Christopher Cross, Steely Dan, Toto, Kenny Loggins, and Michael McDonald. The film also takes a look at the rise and fall in popularity of these artists.
HBO notes in a press release, “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.”
In addition to Cross, Loggins, and McDonald, other popular yacht rock artists who sat for new interviews for the film include Toto’s Steve Porcaro, Steve Lukather, and David Paich. Fans of the genre who also sat for new interviews include De La Soul’s Prince Paul, Vampire Weekend’s Brian Robert Jones, Thundercat, The Roots’ Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Mac DeMarco, and Fred Armisen.
Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary premiers on Friday, November 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and Max.
A Fun Story About a Classic Kenny Loggins Song
Kevin Cronin — and apparently a bunch of other people — were offered the classic tune “Danger Zone” before Kenny Loggins recorded it for the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun.
Cronin touched on how he was offered to record the track in a May 2022 interview with WCSX’s Big Jim’s House saying, “First I told my side of the story, and Kenny [Loggins] looked at me like he’d never heard any of that before. Then he told his side of the story, and I’d never heard any of that…I think [the producers of ‘Top Gun’] pitched it to [Jefferson Starship/Starship singer] Mickey Thomas. I keep hearing other singers who go, ‘Oh, yeah, they pitched that to me, too.'”
Obviously, “Danger Zone” was offered to a number of singers before Loggins was tapped to sing the hit. So, why did the REO Speedwagon singer turn it down?
“I heard the demo, and it just didn’t do it for me,” recalls Cronin. “It sounded like a disco song to me, and it didn’t have any of the jangly guitars and vocal harmonies that I kind of like. And I also, honestly, I didn’t think that I could do the song justice, and the fact that Kenny got it…Kenny took a song that if you really strip it down, there’s not a whole lot going on there song-wise. But Kenny took it and just made magic with it, and so it turned out as it should have been. And it’s one of Kenny’s biggest songs. I think he closes his show with it at this point. So I’m glad it worked out that way.”
