There are few who rock softer than Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Hall & Oates, the Carpenters, Captain & Tennille, or Lionel Richie. A new three-part docu-series, titled Sometimes When We Touch: The Reign, Ruin and Resurrection of Soft Rock, will explore the impact those acts and more had on the life, death, and rebirth of the genre.
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Titled after the melodramatic Dan Hill classic of the same name, Sometimes When We Touch will detail “one of the most unlikely comebacks in music history,” painting soft-rock’s rehabilitation in recent years, and why it fell out of favor in the first place.
“You can trash, bash and malign soft rock as much as you want, but I bet you know every song in the Hall & Oates catalog,” Gunpowder & Sky CEO Van Toffler said in a statement via Variety. “Personally, I’m happy that the kids are finally learning about the virtues of the Carpenters and Michael McDonald via their sampling in current hip-hop.”
Through archival interviews, concert footage, and contemporary commentary, the series “embraces the impact of soft rock while acknowledging the cringey excesses that sometimes led it astray.” Those interviewed for the series include non-softies like Sheryl Crow, Stewart Copeland of the Police, Run DMC’s Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, record executive L.A. Reid, and Richard Marx. While soft rock veterans, including Loggins, Hill, Toni Tennille, and Rupert Holmes will add their take, as well.
Sometimes When We Touch comes after the aforementioned Richie was inducted into the 2022 class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for his enduring soft rock hits. Richie joined fellow softies McDonald and Hall & Oates in the coveted hall.
A product of MTV Entertainment Studios in partnership with Gunpowder & Sky, the series will premiere on Paramount+ on January 3.
Watch the official trailer for Sometimes When We Touch, below.
Photo by Michael Putland / Getty Images
