Whether you choose to call it Yacht Rock,
West Coast AOR (Adult Oriented Rock),
or simply the mellow sound of the late 1970s
and early 1980s - the smooth sounds of
soft-rock are popular once again.
This form of music manhandled the
Top 40 charts during the mentioned years
leaving many metalheads, punks, and fans
of other “serious” genres of music wondering
what happened.
Suddenly, the whole look and vibe of modern mainstream music had changed and radio stations everywhere had become engulfed with songs about Piña Coladas, and sailing.
Men wearing sailors caps, sporting full beards and/or thick mustaches, wearing Hawaiian shirts while willingfully crooning out their emotions, permeated the airwaves.
What in the h, e, double hockey sticks, was this all about?
If you are not familiar with the artists of West Coast AOR, you can usually recognize them by their album covers alone.
Vinyl record collectors like myself will typically come across tons of these records while browsing through the LP bins of record stores and thrift shops.
These are the album covers that typically display sunsets, water (oceans, lakes or rivers), boats, the artist aimlessly staring off into the distance, or a combination thereof.
Even singer-songwriters who had already made a name for themselves in other genres of music before the soft-rock era took over had released albums or singles during this time that many would consider to be "Yacht Rock-like" including: Hall & Oates, George Benson, Loggins & Messina, The Commodores, Stanely Clarke and George Duke , Rod Stewart, Al Jarreau, the list goes on.
Let the truth be told, apart from a few talented singer-songwriters whose careers were launched during this time period (i.e. Rupert Holmes, Robbie Dupree, The Captain & Tennille, Stephen Bishop, Peter Beckett and Christopher Cross), buffoonery in the West Coast AOR genre began to take over.
Soon enough we began to witness a host of non-talented "label made" performers who hopped on the soft-rock bandwagon and laughed all the way to the bank.
Indeed, these are the ones who have caused the era as a whole to be looked at as a joke.
Sometime during the late-80s, many of the artists that ruled the Top 40 between the years of 1976 -1982 began to see their songs parodied and laughed at by the younger generation now fueled by MTV and the angst driven gangster rap, punk, and heavy metal of the time.
These kids were more interested in strappin' a nine and bashing someone's head in, than sipping a tropical drink and going for a sail.
But to me, this era of soft-rock music has a special meaning as it was the soundtrack to my early childhood years growing up in San Francisco.
I was 4-years-old when all of this was going down and this was right when I'd begun to get into music; matching names and faces with what I heard on the radio.
Living in the City, I just couldn’t escape songs like Michael McDonald's “I Keep Forgetting,” Ambrosia’s “The Biggest Part Of Me," Al Jarreau's’ “Mornin’,” Kenny Loggin's “This Is It,” and Christopher Cross' "Sailing."
Whenever I pop in one of my self-made soft-rock mixed CDs, or throw one of my old LPs on the turntable, it takes me back to getting up early in the morning with my mom and big brother in preparation for elementary school, playing balloon volleyball in the living room and flying kites with the fam in a park near the Marina on a sunny, breezy afternoon in San Francisco.
Personal nostalgia aside, late-70s/early-80s West Coast AOR has recently seen a resurgence in popularity among the indie rock, rap and electronica scenes.
All of a sudden, this music is popular again - and it was bound to happen.
Many of the more recent artists like the Killers, Death Cab For Cutie, The Roots, Chromeo, and Kings Of Leon, are now naming many of the aforementioned artists as their influences without shame.
As it stands, not only has the music seen a comeback among the younger crowd, but so have the fashions that went with era, including those pastel colored fitted T-shirts exhibiting screen prints of sail boats and sunsets, full beards and mustaches, feathered long hair and afros, and oversized "Mrs. Roper" sunglasses - all of which were seen as jokes to many not so long ago.
I also can't forget that the widely popular Yacht Rock online web series that was broadcast in 2005-2006 had a lot to do with the resurgence of the sounds of smooth.
The series, created by self-proclaimed soft-rock fan, JD Ryzner was basically his take on the lives of some of the most popular artists of the time and how they came up with the lyrics to their hits.
Ryzner, along with his cast, would play the parts of these singers (which included Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Daryl Hall, John Oates and others), carrying out different hilarious scenarios in each episode.
In an interview with Seattle Weekly back in 2007, John Oates credits Yacht Rock with rekindling the interest in Hall & Oates saying, “I think Yacht Rock was the beginning of this whole Hall & Oates resurrection...they were the first ones to start to parody us and put us out there again and a lot of things have happened because of Yacht Rock."
Although some soft-rock enthusiasts have put down the series for simply being yet another mockery of the era - it definitely has perked the interest of their viewers to at least find out more about the artists, hence rising the music's popularity even more.
We sat down with a couple of our favorites whos careers took off during this golden age of West Coast Pop, including Robbie Dupree and Peter Beckett.
We also give you the whereabouts of Rupert Holmes and Christopher Cross.
Only here on SoulsandSounds.com.
ROBBIE DUPREE
During the 1960s, Robbie Dupree began his career singing in doo-wop groups on the street corners of Brooklyn. He'd began performing with several top notch musicians in the Greenwhich Village area including future disco band Chic guitarist, Nile Rogers.
"To be safe, Nile would have to walk me through Harlem and I'd walk him out of certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn!" says Robbie of performing gigs with the now famous producer Rogers, in racially discriminative NY neighborhoods.
Years and years had gone by and fed up with only getting so far performing on the streets of New York, Robbie decided to take a chance and move out West for a better opportunity in the music biz...with literally only 40 bucks in his pocket.
Robbie moved to Los Angeles in 1978 and hooked up with friends Peter Bunetta and Rick Chudacoff, who soon became his producers.
With a soulful, yet adult contemporary friendly sound, things were looking good for this former doo wop street corner singer.
Signing on to Elektra records in 1979, Robbie released his first self-titled album in 1980 which spawned the hits "Steal Away" and "Hot Rod Hearts". His follow-up LP "Street Corner Heroes" included the one chart single "Brooklyn Girls".
But then what happened?
Robbie took a break from the music business for a few years, but returned in 1989 signing on to Capital Records.
Apart from his own music, he'd also spent some time producing for other artists.
Throughout the 1990s Robbie had released nine albums of his own through different record companies with moderate success in the adult contemporary realm although none of them reached the success of his 1980 debut.
A true hard working musician from day one, Robbie continues to record and tour.
His first studio album in over 10 years, Time & Tide, was release just last year on his own record label, Robbie Dupree Records.
Check out www.robbiedupree.com for updated concert information and more!
PETER BECKETT (of PLAYER)
The band that brought you the hit singles "Baby Come Back" and "This Time I'm In It For Love" have gone through a few changes since they began in 1977.
After "Baby Come Back" hit the top of the charts in 1978, Player toured as an opening act for Gino Vanelli, Boz Scaggs, Eric Clapton, Heart and more.
Then what happened??
Four albums later, the band split up and lead vocalist Peter Beckett took his career in a different direction, writing songs for other artists including Olivia Newton-John, The Temptations and Kenny Rogers as well as lending his writing talents to several 80's TV shows and movies including: Karate Kid, Cocktail, Little Shop Of Horrors, Major League and more.
Liverpoolian Peter, who'd been in several bands prior to Player--including progressive rock band Paladin--got a band together in the mid-90's and called it Player, with him and original bass player, Ron Moss, being the only original members.
"We did a few casino's, but then I got alot of work doing movie and TV stuff and Ron got the male lead on the Bold & The Beautiful soap opera. So everything kind of kicked in. We could only then perform on weekends--the guys playing with us needed work, so they ended up joining other bands," says Beckett.
Ron and Peter went without performing as Player for a couple of years until just recently, they've found the perfect members to complete the band and get a move on once again.
"These guys are just great! We've been rehearsing for about a month and we did one show down in Redondo Beach. That's the only show we've done with this new lineup. We've just signed with Kawaliye Entertainment out of New York and they're starting to get things going for spring and summer shows," says to Beckett.
And what does Peter think about the recent commercial use of his hit single?
"In the last few years, "Baby Come Back" has been in a slew of movies--the last one being Transformers. Little kids now know the song! And it's all over the TV now in the Swiffer commercial. It's real fortunate because it's in peoples living rooms everyday and we've had millions of hits now on our website. All these kids are interested."
When asked about his influences, Peter mentioned Motown, early Eric Clapton, The Beatles and not surprisingly--Daryl Hall.
"I hate to admit this...and I shouldn't...(laughs)..but I loved Hall & Oates! I mean, I really did. If I said I wasn't influenced by Daryl Hall, I'd be lying."
Which explains why many still think "Baby Come Back" was sung by Hall & Oates!
Check out www.player-theband.com for recent photos, updates and concert dates!
RUPERT HOLMES
Even if you're not a soft-rock fanatic, you most likely have heard the song "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)".
Producing this solo career launching hit about a tropical drink--the taste of which Holmes actually can't stand---was not exactly what the singer-songwriter-playwright and author expected.
Holmes had already made a name for himself in the music business as writer, having written songs for Barbara Streisand including tracks for A Star Is Born.
He'd done several albums prior to the now notorious Partners In Crime (1979), which spawned the hits "Escape", "Him" and the lesser known classics "Lunch Hour" in which Rupert depicts quickies at lunch time from work exclaiming "how do you find time to eat?"
And who can forget the ode to then new "Answering Machine" - containing another catchy chorus "I'm so sorry you have just reached my answering machine".
But where or where did Rupert go?
Holmes hasn't stopped working since. His talent in making songs similar to mini-movies lead him to eventually quit making albums of his own and take a different route writing movie scores, Tony Award winning novels, and Broadway plays.
He's currently hard at work working on his next novel.
Check out: www.rupertholmes.com for updates.
CHRISTOPHER CROSS
The "music video generation" left behind many of the artists who'd become popular during the West Coast AOR era, including the big man with the angelic voice, Christopher Cross.
Cross' hits included "Sailing", "Ride Like The Wind" and "Arthur's Theme" kicked the singer-songwriter's career into full gear.
He'd won five Grammy's and one Oscar but after that....what happened?
Unless you are a big fan of Cross, you probably didn't know that he continued to write and produced songs way after the release of his hit self-titled album, Christopher Cross (1979).
Cross has released nine albums since then, including a Christmas album.
Cross' more recent releases, Walking In Avalon (1998) and The Cafe' Carlyle Sessions (2008), have more of a jazz feel and are noticeably different than what you will remember.
For recent interviews and more check out: www.christophercross.com
Now when and where is the next Yacht Rock party?
-Raina LeGarreta
Mustache &
Margarita Mayem
The Return Of 'Soft-Rock'
