Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen slammed ‘Yacht Rock’ documentary directors.
A user on X recently shared the conversation between them from News Central with the caption, “Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen telling the directors of the ‘Yacht Rock’ documentary exactly what he thinks of that name and Steely Dan being lumped into that genre. I don’t think he was on the doco..”
“Hello, Mr. Fagen…” Garret Price said. “Yeah, this is he,” the musician replied. “Hi, this is Garret. I’m the one making this ‘Yacht Rock’ documentary,” the director explained.
Garret added, “So, I’ve been talking to a lot of people that have played with you and Steely Dan over the years, and I was wondering if you’d sit down with me and talk about your music and this genre?”
Fagen responded, “And what genre is that?” Garret said, “‘Yacht Rock.'” The rocker shared, “Oh, ‘Yacht Rock.’ Well, I tell you what. Why don’t you go f*ck yourself?” The director laughed and said, “I think Donald Fagen hung up on me.”
HBO Films documentary ‘Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary’ premiered on November 13 at the DOC NYC festival. This conversation between Fagen and Garret also appears in the documentary, as reported by People.
Price told People the call and hang-up were ‘100% real.’ Despite this, Fagen’s manager called back and allowed six Steely Dan songs to be used in the documentary. The director stated, “I think it’s a wink. It’s like, ‘I get it. I understand how important this name [‘yacht rock’] is to our music. But I’m gonna let you know how I feel about that.’ It’s him being him.”
The documentary explores ‘yacht rock,’ a soft rock style blending jazz and R&B, popular in the late ’70s and early ’80s. The term came from a 2005–2010 web series. Steely Dan were its godfathers, Toto its architects, and Michael McDonald its voice. Other stars included Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross, Boz Scaggs, and Black artists like George Benson and Michael Jackson.
Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen telling the directors of the ‘Yacht Rock’ documentary exactly what he thinks of that name and Steely Dan being lumped into that genre. I don’t think he was on the doco..🤣 pic.twitter.com/Pqvnujbq5E
— Punt Road (@punt_rd) December 29, 2024
