"Yacht Rock"

"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....

...Corporate Rock is an often pejorative term used primarily by music critics to describe rock music, particularly music from arena rock bands, which are alleged to be purely commercial, formulaic, or lacking in creativity or authenticity. According to these critics, the primary goal of the corporate rock artist or band in making music is profit and radio airplay rather than artistic creativity. As a result, corporate rock is typified by catchy, mainstream radio-friendly, formulaic songs following a pop music model. The term was first used in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Despite the negative opinions of critics, many corporate rock bands attained a high degree of commercial success, and some still have loyal followings today." (wikipedia)

Personal note: I heart Yacht Rock!


Kenny Loggins - This is it
Michael McDonald (Doobie Bros) - What A Fool Believes
Steely Dan - Hey Nineteen
Toto - Africa
Hall And Oates - I can't go for that
Christopher Cross - sailing