Firmly agree with both Beato and Donald Fagan on this….Most music labels like this are lazy and stupid…..Would never classify Steely Dan as “anything rock” they are a fusion band….
It’s akin to calling ABB a “southern rock band”, it is all BS…..
I agree, and i mentioned upthread a while back that i think one of the main problems with YR is it’s too broad; im way pickier about what i would call true Yacht Rock, or what constitutes Yacht Rock at all .
But i also think two things can be true- i think i can sit here as a guy with no discernible musical talent and say to people who’s life work is this music, who’s livelihood is this music (even if YR increased the exposure and money somewhat) and i can say to these people ‘Lighten up, it’s only a fun phrase !’…. But i think it can also be true that these guys feel like their careers are being boiled down to a catchy term and almost belittled.. How could i tell them that’s not valid when they are in the thick of it ? To me it’s very much like Andrew McCarthy’s docu we discussed here last year on the Brat Pack.. even though that term came about in real time, whereas YR was coined a quarter century later- both are things most of us think are cool, and would loved to have been a part of back then.. but who’s to say casting directors didnt see it as a negative back at the time and maybe it cost Anthony Michael Hall or Molly Ringwald certain parts they wanted ? I certainly cant tell them that didnt happen.. So yeah i see validity on either side with this, for sure .