Weekend self-care open thread: Yacht Soul!

Happy weekend, friends!

As I've shared before, I'm a huge devotee of that sort-of-made-up genre called "yacht rock". I say "made up" because the songs we now consider to be yacht rock weren't called that when they came out. It's a retrospective categorization. 

For those new to the genre, yacht rock is soft rock, but with a kick in the ass. It's sunny 70s and 80s Los Angeles rock with serious musical chops and a funky, groovy core. Most of yacht rock comes from white musicians who were deeply immersed in Black musical culture, giving their compositions a heft that, well, let's be honest, the likes of soft rock doyens like Air Supply just didn't possess. 

The other day I was looking through my SiriusXM app, and what did I find? Why, a channel called "Yacht Soul." 

My friends, I have been listening to this channel exclusively for over a week. Yacht soul has the same sunny LA melodies, serious musical chops, and funk and groove. But these are the songs which the white yacht rock musicians were influenced by. This is the source of yacht rock, just like the blues are the source of rock in general.

And you all know this music. This is the music I was listening to on WBLS in New York City, and KJLH here in LA. Kool and the Gang. Michael Jackson. George Benson. Anita Baker. The songs are smooth, funky, and filled with groove. And, there's overlap between the two genres. George Benson's "Give Me the Night" is as yacht rock as Hall and Oates' "She's Gone" is yacht soul. Cross-pollination is what makes art possible. 

For this weekend, we're going to get funky and groovy.

Get your bell-bottoms on and hit the club this weekend.

As always, dear friends, be ever kind, gentle, and joyful with yourselves and those around you.