Where Can You Watch the Original ‘Yacht Rock’ TV Series?

Remind Staff November 27, 1:37 pm

If you’ve ever wondered where the term “yacht rock” came from, the answer is a 2005 video parody series of the same name. Yacht Rock’s 12 mini-episodes (each was about five minutes long) defined and named the genre. And now, in anticipation of HBO’s upcoming Music Box: Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary, you can watch all of the original Yacht Rock series on YouTube.

The show, which presented absurd fictional back stories for famous yacht rock tunes and artists, was the brainchild of J.D. Ryznar, Hunter Stair and Lane Farnham, who in the series respectively also took on the roles of singers Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, with “Hollywood” Steve Huey playing himself as the host of the fake flashback docuseries.

SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 21: (L-R) Steve Huey, David Lyons, J.D. Ryznar, and Hunter Stair attend Feral Audio Live with Dan Harmon and his podcast pals at San Diego Convention Center on July 21, 2016 in San Diego, California.

A few of the Yacht Rock creators, Steve Huey, J.D. Ryznar, and Hunter Stair, at Comic-Con in 2016. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Yacht Rock premiered as part of the Channel 101 monthly video festival in Los Angeles. Created by writer/producer/director Rob Schrab (The Sarah Silverman Program) and Dan Harmon, the man behind shows such as Community, Rick and Morty, and Krapopolis, Channel 101 was modeled after broadcast TV, where creators submitted five-minute “pilots” and the live audience would vote on whether they earned another episode.

Yacht Rock became a hit at the Channel 101 film screenings and, eventually, one of the first viral hits on the internet (the first episode has over one million hits on YouTube). And as the show’s profile grew, so did its base of guest stars: later episodes included Drew Carey, Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl) and Steve Agee (DC’s Peacemaker).

In a 2008 interview, the king of yacht rock himself, Michael McDonald, shared that while he’s never owned a yacht, he thought the series was hilarious: “Uncannily, you know, those things always have a little bit of truth to them. It’s kind of like when you get a letter from a stalker who’s never met you. They somehow hit on something, and you have to admit they’re pretty intuitive.”

Episode 1 of Yacht Rock, “What a Fool Believes,” gives a fictional backstory for that seminal yacht rock anthem, flashing viewers back to April 1987 and a cheesy boathouse in Marina del Rey, which is where the fun begins. Viewers meet Loggins, who is prompted to help a down-on-his-luck McDonald, who’s being threatened with getting kicked out of the Doobie Brothers unless he comes up with a hit song. Before their collaboration begins, they meet up with Loggins’ former bandmate Messina, who is living in an alley because Loggins kicked him out of the band. Cue Loggins’ “Whenever I Call You ‘Friend’” and a slew of cheesy lyric-based one-liners, and suddenly Loggins and McDonald are off writing “What a Fool Believes,” despite their nemesis — Hall & Oates — dissing on their soft-rock vibes.

Future episodes parodied Christopher Cross, Caddyshack’s Harold Ramis, Toto’s Steve Porcaro, Michael Jackson and more.

The creators of the parody are featured in HBO’s upcoming documentary Music Box: Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary, which gives the true tale of the origins of “yacht rock” and chronicles the emergence of the genre, thanks to yachty hitmakers like Cross, McDonald, Loggins, Steely Dan and Toto. While some of their songs were once mocked and dismissed by rock lovers, they are now beyond loved and celebrated on podcasts, websites and SiriusXM’s own Yacht Rock Radio (Channel 311) music station.