The Hall & Oates legend fires back at the “joke” genre – but will smooth sailing fans abandon ship?
Hall & Oates legend Daryl Hall isn’t sailing on the yacht rock wave—in fact, he’s sinking the whole genre.
In a fiery chat on the Broken Record podcast, Hall dismissed the term as a meaningless label cooked up by “two jerk-offs in California,” referencing the creators of the parody web series Yacht Rock.
“It’s just R&B with maybe some jazz in there,” he scoffed.
“Since when does ‘mellow’ equal ‘boats’?” Despite the duo’s smooth sound, Hall insists they never fit the mold—and he’s not about to start now.
While Hall fumes, his partner John Oates once credited Yacht Rock for sparking a Hall & Oates revival back in 2007.
The mockumentary’s absurd premise—smooth ’70s/’80s hits as music for rich guys on boats—somehow became a real genre.
But Hall’s not buying it: “People misjudged us because they couldn’t label us,” he said.
Whether you call it soft rock, yacht rock, or just great music, one thing’s clear—Hall’s not hopping aboard.
