For the 90th installment of the Ambient DJ wedding cocktail hour playlist series, Mike Bacon, aka DJ Iron Mike, shares thirty of his favorite “yacht rock” cuts. What is yacht rock? According to Wikipedia,
“In the musical sense, yacht rock refers to the highly polished brand of soft rock that emanated from Southern California between 1976 and 1984. The term is meant to suggest the kind of smooth, mellow music that early yuppies likely enjoyed while sipping champagne and snorting cocaine on their yachts. Significant “yacht rockers” include Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross, and Toto.”
In other words, yacht rock doesn’t necessarily involve nautical themes – although it can – it’s more a musical aesthetic. Disclaimer: for the playlist that follows, even though it is for a wedding, we’ve allowed a few songs with bittersweet themes. Our thinking is that having an authentically feeling yacht rock playlist is more important than maintaining an air of perfect romance.
For a signature drink, Mike has selected “Sex on the Beach” – a nod to the decadence of the yacht rock era. Learn how to mix one by clicking here.
Immediately after the playlist, listen to Mike’s selected songs on a special Spotify playlist.
The Yacht Rock Wedding Cocktail Hour – Compiled by DJ Iron Mike
- Ride Like the Wind – Christopher Cross
- What a Fool Believes – The Doobie Brothers
- He’s So Shy – The Pointer Sisters
- How Much I Feel – Ambrosia
- One on One – Hall & Oates
- Southern Cross – Crosby, Stills & Nash
- Back in the High Life Again – Steve Winwood
- Cool Change – Little River Band
- Vahevala – Loggins & Messina
- This is It – Kenny Loggins
- I.G.Y. – Donald Fagen
- Key Largo – Bertie Higgins
- Waiting for Your Love – Toto
- Chuck E’s in Love – Rickie Lee Jones
- JoJo – Boz Scaggs
- Love X Love – George Benson
- You are the Woman – Firefall
- Baby Come Back – Player
- Everywhere – Fleetwood Mac
- Tin Man – America
- Moonlight Feels Right – Starbuck
- Into the Night – Benny Mardones
- My Flame – Bobby Caldwell
- We’re In this Love Together – Al Jarreau
- The Girl is Mine – Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney
- You Can’t Change That – Ray Parker Jr.
- I Just Wanna Stop – Gino Vanelli
- Lotta Love – Nicolette Larson
- If I Saw You Again – Pages
- All Right – Christopher Cross
Listen on Spotify (Unmixed)
About Ambient DJ Service
Ambient DJ Service is an award-winning mobile DJ entertainment company specializing in weddings. To book DJ Iron Mike or one of our other DJ mixologists for your wedding or other celebration, connect with us online at www.ambientdj.com Ambient DJ is available for destination weddings.
To view our 2017 Wedding Music Master Class that contains links to our other 89 themed cocktail hour playlists, click here
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