The Carolina Disco Turkeys will trade their bell bottoms, polyester, and sparkly sequins for salmon polo shirts, ascots, and captain’s hats for one game this summer. The team announced this week that they’ll play as the Yacht Rockers, changing the vibe in the ballpark from Stayin’ Alive to Sailing.
Yacht Rock is what you would get if ’80s hair bands and elevator muzak got married and had a baby. It’s a musical genre epitomized by the likes of Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, and Hall and Oates—essentially soft rock from the 1970s and ’80s.
“Yacht rock is campy and classic,” said team owner and president Greg Sullivan. “It kind of slaps in a weird way…. Disco is that for some people too.”
The logo, which Sullivan said is “meant to stir conversation,” was designed by illustrator Brittain Peck, who also created the Disco Turkeys’ primary brand. Part of that conversation since the Thursday unveiling has been comparisons that the blond, sunglasses-wearing yacht dweller has drawn to Chief Wahoo.
While the Disco Turkeys’ hometown of Winston-Salem does not exactly play host to the bodies of water where you might find rock-worthy yachts, Carolina at large borders the Atlantic Ocean and is home to large lakes and rivers.
The team will wear Yacht Rockers uniforms and host a yacht rock concert featuring the David Grogan Band July 5 at Wake Forest University’s Couch Ballpark.
