There are two major pop cultural questions that may be answered in Fort Wayne this week.

The first: Is yacht rock a legitimate musical genre?

The second: Whose music was better? Prince’s or Michael Jackson’s?

Presenting the evidence are Tommy Buoy of Yächtley Crëw and DJ Ken Redmon, aka Kenny Redd.

The jury may now review their arguments.

YÄCHTLEY CRËW

I was on a yacht once but I got thrown overboard after I asked the captain if he would like to check my hull for barnacles.

No, in truth, I have never been on a yacht. I have never even been near a yacht. I may not even be in the right tax bracket to be allowed to look at photos of yachts.

But I can enjoy Yächtley Crëw.

Yächtley Crëw, one of the nation’s top bands celebrating the music commonly grouped under the divisive label “yacht rock,” performs Thursday at the Clyde Theatre.

Yes, just as heavy metal bands have always employed gratuitous umlauts to let people know how menacing they are (or something), Yächtley Crëw employs them to let everyone know how mysteriously smooth they are (or something).

The perfect place for a yacht rock band to be born is aboard a yacht. The second most perfect place is where Yächtley Crëw was born: a hot tub.

The year was 2016. The band’s future drummer and bass player were having a soak with their wives and listening to a yacht rock station on Sirius XM.

They heard a niche waiting to be filled and decided to start recruiting bandmates to fill it.

This was never a fly-by-night enterprise, said Tommy Buoy, the stage name of singer and lead guitarist Thomas Gardner Jr.

“We rehearsed for seven months before we played our first gig,” he said.”These songs aren’t easy to play. These are really difficult songs.”

The difficulty level rose when the band decided it needed to add choreography and stage banter to performances.

All that hard work paid off, however.

Yächtley Crëw is in an enviable position for a cover band. It has cultivated a level of popularity that stands on its own, separate from the artists whose songs it covers.

The band has an active merch store on their home page that does a brisk trade in captain’s hats.

‘(Our fans) show up with their own captain’s hats,” Buoy said. “And if they don’t, we sell them at our merch booth. It’s probably our biggest seller, because people want to be part of the whole thing. It’s like Jimmy Buffet. He had his Parrotheads, and people would show up in their Hawaiian shirts or whatever. For us, it’s sailor outfits.”

And the band produced a CD called “Seas the Day” that featured a contribution from Diane Warren, a songwriter who has written many of the biggest songs for many of the biggest stars and has won many of the biggest awards.

“It was really cool to have someone of her stature who’s written so many hit songs, to have one of her songs on our album,” Buoy said. “That’s enormous.”

A popular tribute band is rarely a young musician’s ultimate dream for his career but Buoy said he is satisfied with how things have turned out.

“At the end of the day, I play guitar and I sing and I make people happy for a living,” he said.

For more information about the show, call 260.747.0989.

PURPLE THRILLER

Purple Thriller began with an argument that was common among funk fans in the 1980s and 1990s.

“Everybody had that argument when we were kids,” said DJ Kenny Redmon, the organizer and host of Purple Thriller. ‘Who’s better, Michael Jackson or Prince?'”

That long-running debate eventually inspired Redmon to put the question onstage.

“Yeah, so 10 years ago we rocked on the Landing in the old Flashback and sold it out,” Redmon, aka Kenny Redd, said. “It was a great time.”

Purple Thriller has returned every couple of years since then and will celebrate its tenth anniversary Friday at the Redwood Inn, 1432 W. Main St.

“It’s a showcase of local talent, belting out the work of these two great musicians,” Redmon said. “We’ve got some great musicians of our own from right here in the city. We’ve got great vocalists and we’ll have dance parties DJed by yours truly.”

The event isn’t just about showcasing the talent of local performers, Redmon said. It is about showcasing their love for Prince and Jackson.

“This is just local love from people in our community who support these artists,” Redmon said. “We’re all going up there and having a great time because we genuinely love these artists and love their music.”

Featured local players at this year’s Purple Thriller include Dan McCoy of Good Night Gracie and vocalist Prentice Moore.

The most important performers that night, however, won’t be on the stage, Redmon said. They will be in the audience.

“We need the crowd to give back and sing these songs and dance as loud as they can,” he said. “That’s what it’s there for: to bring these people together and for everybody to have a great time.”

Of course, what’s the point of singing and dancing to the music of Prince and Micheal Jackson if you don’t look the part? Accordingly, there will be a costume contest with a prize of $100 for the winner.

The full title of the show is Purple Thriller: Michael Jackson versus Prince so I asked Redmon whether one of these late geniuses would be crowned the winner at the end of the evening.

“Oh man,” he said. “No, we’ve never made that (determination). That’s a hot take. You aren’t holding back on the hard-hitting stuff. My guess is that that would be tough.”

For more information about the show, call 260.426.7543

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