Yacht rock originally known as the West Coast sound [ 4 ] [ 5 ] or adult-oriented rock [ 6 ] is a broad music style and aesthetic [ 7 ] commonly associated with soft rock , [ 8 ] one of the most commercially successful genres from the mids to the mids.
It was considered a pejorative term by some music critics. The term yacht rock did not exist contemporaneously with the music the term describes, [ 6 ] which was produced from to Ryznar et al.
Many "yacht rockers" included nautical references in their lyrics, videos, and album artwork, exemplified by Christopher Cross 's anthemic track, " Sailing " In , AllMusic 's Matt Colier identified the "key defining rules of the genre:". The "exhilaration of escape" is "essential to yacht," according to journalist and documentary filmmaker Katie Puckrik.
She quoted the lyrics of Cross's " Ride Like the Wind " , "to make it to the border of Mexico," as an example of the aspirational longing that demonstrates "the power of the genre".
Thwarted desire is another key element that counters the "feelgood bounce" of yacht in the same song. Puckrik identified a sub-genre, "dark yacht", exemplified in Joni Mitchell 's "accidental yacht rock" song " The Hissing of Summer Lawns " , which described the "tarnished love" of "a woman trapped in a big house and a loveless marriage".
