Yacht Rock
Yacht Rock is an 12-part series following the fictionalized lives and careers of American soft rock stars of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Created by JD Ryznar, Hunter D Stair and Lane Farnham, it is one of the most successful projects to come out of Channel101.
J. D. Ryznar and Hunter D. Stair devised the series after noticing the incestuous recording careers of such bands as Steely Dan, Toto, and The Doobie Brothers and the singer-songwriters Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald. For example, McDonald co-wrote Loggins' "This Is It" and Loggins co-wrote McDonald's band The Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes" and also performed backing vocals for several other 'yacht rock' artists, including Steely Dan and Christopher Cross. Yacht Rock's episodes were "hosted" by "Hollywood" Steve Huey, a legitimate music critic for Allmusic. It should be noted that the term "Yacht Rock" is never used throughout the series by any characters except for by Huey during his introductions, instead it is always referred to as "Smooth Music". The look of the series was the responsibility of the show's editor Lane Farnham.
The storyline of the series employs a non-linear chronology, jumping back and forth in various points in time. Also, Space.
- Big Bad: Gene Balboa runs his entertainment business like a Bond villain.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Several (real life) characters are revealed to be aliens.
- Easy Amnesia: McDonald after he gets run over by Warren G.
- Storybook Episode: Episode 6 uses the plot of episode 1 to tell a fairytale version of both the historical and modern Jethro Tull.
- Take That: Most of the parody is affectionate, but the invectives against Jimmy Buffett are particularly strong.
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James Ingram: "Yah mo murdered a lot of people out here tonight."
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- Those Two Bad Guys: Hall and Oates.