'70s Yacht Rock Icons, With 2 No. 1 Songs, Make Surprising Statement About the Beloved Genre
It's no secret that yacht rock is one of the most popular categories of music at the moment. Those in search of proof need look no further than Spotify, where the yacht rock playlist has nearly 2 million followers. But what exactly is yacht rock? As it turns out, some of the genre's most iconic stars don't even seem to know.
In a new interview with Guitar World, Doobie Brothers guitarists Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons, and John McFee opened up about their decades-long career...and how they feel about their status as yacht rock legends.
"I've never even been on a yacht," McFee admitted.
"I don't even know what the term is supposed to mean - ‘yacht rock,'" Johnston added. "It just seems kind of absurd to me."
In truth, yacht rock doesn't really have much to do with boats at all. The term only dates back to about 2005, according to History, when music-loving friends JD Ryznar, Hunter Stair, Dave Lyons, Lane Farnham, and Steve Huey's comedy series Yacht Rock became a viral sensation.
"Fusing softer rock with jazz and R&B, very polished production, and being centered around that studio musician culture in Southern California in the late '70s and early '80s are the three main defining elements of yacht rock," Huey explained in The Yacht Rock Book: The Oral History of the Soft, Smooth Sounds of the 70s and 80s by Greg Prato. "To us, it's not just soft rock; it's a specific subset of soft rock that ideally has those elements."
"Apparently, we weren't the first people to ever put those two words together. But it was popularized by the internet series, so as far as 99 percent of America is concerned, that is where the phrase came from," Huey added.
Wherever "yacht rock" came from, at least the Doobie Brothers seem to agree on the fact that they're not fond of being described as such. As revealed in the GW interview, the band's friendships are a big part of what's kept them going for so long - though, as Simmons pointed out, they "have disagreements like anybody else."
"We've certainly had our moments when we've gotten on each other's nerves, especially at the end of a tour when it's like, ‘Oh, my God, is he gonna keep snoring when I'm trying to sleep?'" Simmons quipped. "But we've been lucky enough to sustain our relationships, and really, it's all about the music. We've got great writers and players, and people love what we do."
The Doobie Brothers still love performing live
When the Doobie Brothers head out on tour with Santana this summer, fans can expect to hear plenty of the band's biggest hits, which could include "Listen to the Music" and "What a Fool Believes," even though the group has played them countless times.
"People always ask me if I get tired of playing the same songs, and the answer is 'no,'" Johnston said. "They're hits, and I don't get tired of them because every night is different. The challenge is to just do my best every time we go out on the stage."
According to Johnston, the band's most popular songs are "still fun to play."
"What really makes them fun is the crowd," he explained. "The crowd's reaction drives your exuberance for a song, because we played these songs to death. We've been playing them for over 50 years. When the crowd gets up and starts singing along and dancing and stuff, that makes it all worthwhile."
Just don't call it yacht rock.
Related: 1979 No. 1 Classic Called a 'Piece of Crap' Became Band's Biggest Hit
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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 4:55 PM.