What a Fool Believes, Part 2

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia

Slate Podcasts

Music, Music History, Music Commentary

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2021

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In part 2 of this episode of Hit Parade, Chris Molanphy continues his deep dive on Yacht Rock, the retroactive genre label for the sleek, jazzy, R&B-flavored sound that cropped up in the late '70s and early '80s amongst polished, perfectionist West Coast studio musicians. Whatever you call it, this music really did command the charts at the turn of the ’80s: from Steely Dan to George Benson, Michael McDonald to Kenny Loggins, Toto to…Michael Jackson?! Believe it: even Thriller is partially a Yacht Rock album. This month, Hit Parade breaks down what Yacht Rock was and how it took over the charts four decades ago—from the perfectionism of “Peg,” to the bounce of “What a Fool Believes,” to the epic smoothness of “Africa.” This episode was released in August 2020 exclusively for Slate Plus listeners. Sign up for Slate Plus now to get episodes in one installment as soon as they're out. You'll also get The Bridge, our trivia show and bonus deep dive. Click here for more info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to Hit Parade, a podcast of Pop Chart History from Slate magazine about
0:11.6	the hits from Coast to Coast.
0:13.5	I'm Chris Malanfi, Chart Analyst, Pop Critic, and Writer of Slates Why is this song number
0:19.1	one series on our last episode.
0:22.7	We explained the history and parameters of Yacht Rock, a term invented in the Aughts
0:29.8	to define smooth, California-based music from the late 70s and early 80s, and, as 1978
0:38.5	turned to 79, the Dubie Brothers, led by vocalist keyboardist Michael McDonald, were about
0:46.1	to score their biggest hit ever with their bounciest, yachtiest song.
1:02.0	What a fool believes was a song about romantic regret and the impossibility of rekindling
1:09.8	adormant romance.
1:12.1	It established a lyrical theme the Yacht Rock coiners would later identify as core to
1:18.3	the genre.
1:19.6	It was about a romantic fool.
1:22.8	But Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald buried their ruminative lyrics in a jaunty package.
1:30.4	After Loggins had his turn with it on his 1978 Night Watch album, McDonald cut it with
1:37.6	the Dubies, and it became even jaunty.
1:51.9	The Dubies what a fool believes get number one in April 1979.
1:57.9	That same month, their minute-by-minute LP topped the Billboard album chart.
2:04.0	But on top of its bespoke lyrics about romantic imprudence, fool also established a Yacht Rock
2:11.5	archetype, the Dubie Bounce.
2:27.1	This sprightly-syncopated chord progression, typically played on piano or synthesizer,
2:34.0	proved a remarkably sturdy pop song template.
	...

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