One if by land, two if by sea—MAGNET’s Mitch Myers says let’s blow yacht rock out of the water!
That’s it. I’m hereby calling for mutiny and urge that we band collectively to push again towards the rising yacht-rock phenomenon. I objected once I first heard the time period and have grown much more against the idea since then. My actual remorse is that I waited so lengthy to talk out, and now it simply could also be too late. There’s been a yacht-rock channel on SiriusXM for practically a decade, however the brand new HBO “dockumentary” has made this contrived fake-genre all too actual.
Newer and older yacht-rock performers have turn into emboldened and at the moment are plowing full steam forward, reserving summer time excursions and different inevitable live performance revivals. My conclusion is that in case you’re being informed that it’s yacht rock, then it’s in all probability not rock, and it has to cease. This can be a unhappy looming image of yet one more cultural divide, and we should endeavor to show again the tide. After all, you’ll be able to’t count on to cancel something with out leaving a void within the nice American psyche. What we actually have to do is change it with one thing just a little extra all the way down to earth.
So, folks: Are you prepared to affix within the Birkenstock-rock revolution? We’ve bought extra toes on the bottom than yacht rockers have arms on deck, and we’ll in the end outnumber them. No worries about confrontation—Birkenstock rockers aren’t uptight like these captain’s cap/ascot-wearing sorts demanding precision within the recording studio or no matter it’s. We simply dangle free and are nonetheless extra grounded than our yacht-rock rivals, who’re principally all moist.
This previous yr really noticed the 250th anniversary of the Birkenstock shoe model, and with that type of momentum, we must always have the ability to supplant a manufactured music state of affairs that peaked someplace between 1978 and 1982. Hear, I like Skunk Baxter as a lot as the following man, however it’s time we let our toes take us again to the place we as soon as belonged and head towards dry land.
After all, Birkenstock rock is extra than simply music—it’s a life-style—and company re-branding is most definitely within the offing. I perceive a couple of business insiders have already been calling it Birkenrock, and that will change into a superb factor, as a result of we don’t need any lawsuits relating to copyright infringement. We’re not being proprietary about it, but when we do get a Birkenrock channel on SiriusXM, we wish to receives a commission.
Sure, yacht rock’s crunchy counterculture cousin has come marching dwelling, and we’re able to take a stand. If we are able to simply settle this branding difficulty, we must always have the ability to make Birkenstock rock a factor very quickly. We’re extra inclusive than our yacht-rock counterparts, and meaning we are able to get behind every kind of music from the final six or seven many years and nonetheless keep a robust sense of id and tribal belonging.
In effort to stay totally knowledgeable, MAGNET solicited greater than 50 civilians to report what their high Birkenstock-rock tunes is likely to be. A few of the folks we requested didn’t “get it” and wanted extra data or have been utterly unable to wrap their heads across the concept. We suspect that these rigid people establish as yacht-rock sympathizers, however irrespective of.
Those that did reply to our ballot have been apparently hippies at coronary heart. We’re not moving into the small print, however relaxation assured, solutions included artists like Phish, the Grateful Useless, Neil Younger, James Taylor, Janis Joplin, Struggle, Nick Cave, the Yardbirds, the Allman Brothers Band, Bob Dylan, Buddy Miles, Lou Reed, Jefferson Airplane, Blackberry Smoke, the Doorways, Massive Star, Blues Traveler, Spirit, the Conflict, Joni Mitchell, Site visitors, Todd Snider, Van Morrison, the Lovin’ Spoonful, NRBQ, Tom Petty, Crosby Stills Nash & Younger, Sly & The Household Stone, Bonnie Raitt, the Band, Bob Marley, Warren Zevon, Little Feat … You get the thought.
Removed from being mutually unique, Birkenstock rock is so inclusive that it subsumes yacht rock, which permits for some Doobie Brothers (and others) to pop up in your prolonged Birkenstock-rock playlist. No hurt, no foul, however not will these yacht-rock warlords be manning the helm. We’ve given them large berth lengthy sufficient, and their entire idea is lifeless within the water.
So then, Birkenstock rock is a mind-set for the lots—are you prepared? Bear in mind, in case you don’t stand for one thing, you’ll fall for something. Even this.
