TOTO "africa" classic or dud

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Green Day should cover it.

― Ian in brooklyn, Monday, 28 March 2005 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Certainly a great song. Toto were actually quite good in the 70s/80s, it is afterwards that they have really started sucking.

Sure you could always criticize a band that consists of studio musicians that prefer to demonstrate how well and faultless they play rather than writing good songs.
But, they did write good songs back then.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 28 March 2005 22:50 (twenty-one years ago)

classicckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

my band covers this song

― billstevejim, Tuesday, 29 March 2005 01:53 (twenty-one years ago)

UNironically, I might add

― billstevejim, Tuesday, 29 March 2005 01:53 (twenty-one years ago)

So long as your band isn't some tribute act called the Line Holders, that's cool.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 02:15 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a really funny male a capella choir version of this on a compilation record called Killed by Absurdity.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 02:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Toto Cover Band: Auntie Em!

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahah. I like me the VegemiteGrrl.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Hell even I liked this song on the radio but hey: what synthesizers were used on it?

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 02:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Hell even I liked this song on the radio but hey: what synthesizers were used on it?
-- m coleman (lovebugstarsk...), March 29th, 2005.

i think an OB-Xa was used for the main saw wave page and a ARP synth for the bell.

― startrekman, Tuesday, 29 March 2005 02:51 (twenty-one years ago)

What Tim fails to mention is that the a capella version is an absolute CLASSIC in our household. It is at once the most hilarious and one of the BEST things that had ever arrived in our mailbox. The guy doing the drum part is my fave.

― Jeanne (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 04:12 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

I like this a lot, mainly the verses rather than the chorus

"shes coming in, 12:30 flight"..really like this line

― frankie driscoll, Sunday, 22 April 2007 12:54 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I've always liked the verses more than chorus on this song; the chorus is catchy but kinda generic, and the effecting of the voice is bland. Whereas on the verses the singing has a nice, soft quality. My favourite line is the one that starts "wild dogs cry out in the night..."

I really like the Ja Rule song too, it's one of the cases where oh-so-obvious sampling works. Especially on the verse where he talks about his childhood the sample really gives the tune some emotional weight.

― Tuomas, Sunday, 22 April 2007 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

Also sampled by Xzibit, on "Heart Of Man" off of 2002's "Man Vs Machine"

― Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 22 April 2007 16:27 (nineteen years ago)

^^^ i agree with this racist too

xpost

― 600, Sunday, 22 April 2007 17:50 (nineteen years ago)

I danced to this last summer. Great stuff.

― The Real Dirty Vicar, Sunday, 22 April 2007 17:55 (nineteen years ago)

Good song, maybe not quite classic.

― Mark Rich@rdson, Sunday, 22 April 2007 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

i have mildly positive feelings about this song

― deej, Sunday, 22 April 2007 19:28 (nineteen years ago)

it's a good song, but the band is mostly terrible. sort of tarnishes it

― Charlie Howard, Monday, 23 April 2007 09:06 (nineteen years ago)

THIS IS WHY AFRICA IS HOT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVpE0cXaS9g

― blueski, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:08 (nineteen years ago)

Apparently Toto were the backing band on "Thriller". My friend who is obsessed with Toto talks of being the kind of awful band you get when super-talented session musos decide to start making their own records.

― The Real Dirty Vicar, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:17 (nineteen years ago)

Funny thing about the Thriller connection--when I first heard JoJo's "Anything," which samples "Africa" (to answer someone's question above) (and which I like much better than "Africa" because it's JoJo singing), I thought it was a sample of MJ's "Human Nature."

― sw00ds, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:44 (nineteen years ago)

"Thriller" was backed by what was called the "LA Studio Mafia" at the time, which featured part of Toto, but also several other musicians. Greg Phillicanes, Michael Boddicker and Gary Grant were never members of Toto, and for instance "Billie Jean" didn't feature one single Toto member in its lineup.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:50 (nineteen years ago)

Jeff Porcaro died in a bizarre gardening accident.

― sw00ds, Monday, 23 April 2007 12:53 (nineteen years ago)

seven months pass...

One of the ten best songs ever.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 20 December 2007 10:38 (eighteen years ago)

It's true -- it's all about that chorus.

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 20 December 2007 14:00 (eighteen years ago)

(although saying it's one of the ten best songs ever is a bit over the top).

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 20 December 2007 14:01 (eighteen years ago)

It's not even the best song on the new Singstar Rock Ballads. And singing along to it really does hammer home just how ridiculous the lyrics in the verses are.

― ledge, Thursday, 20 December 2007 15:14 (eighteen years ago)

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE>

― artdamages, Thursday, 20 December 2007 16:59 (eighteen years ago)

this song has done more for africa than bono ever will

― artdamages, Thursday, 20 December 2007 17:00 (eighteen years ago)

I almost said classic, then I realized that the song in my head was Phil Collins' "Take Me Home". This is somewhere in between c and d.

― The Reverend, Thursday, 20 December 2007 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

ok, ill just go ahead and retract that. this thread shouldn't have to be tainted by bono.

― artdamages, Thursday, 20 December 2007 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

(xpost)

― artdamages, Thursday, 20 December 2007 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

wait, toto did the soundtrack to dune????

― artdamages, Thursday, 20 December 2007 17:03 (eighteen years ago)

I still like "Roseanna" better.

― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, 20 December 2007 17:11 (eighteen years ago)

Georgie porgy is one of the 10 best songs ever

― jaxon, Thursday, 20 December 2007 17:52 (eighteen years ago)

saying you like "Roseanna" better is indefensible

― artdamages, Thursday, 20 December 2007 18:09 (eighteen years ago)

nuh uh, it's got that sick jeff porcaro beat!

― Jordan, Thursday, 20 December 2007 18:11 (eighteen years ago)

wait, toto did the soundtrack to dune????

Yeah, that is a bit of a mind-blower. Fuck was David Lynch thinking?

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 20 December 2007 19:11 (eighteen years ago)

can't believe such serious discourse over the band that proclaimed "you supply the night, I'll supply the love"...the cover of the Hydra LP pretty much says it all...bleh...

― henry s, Thursday, 20 December 2007 19:51 (eighteen years ago)

I actually got temporarily excited when I recently found out Toto did the Dune score -- anticipating an extended Yamaha CS-80 workout. Sadly, it's entirely orchestrated but for a few demos they tacked on to a recent reissue of the record.

― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 20 December 2007 20:03 (eighteen years ago)

songwriting - classic
productio - 80's dud

― Zeno, Thursday, 20 December 2007 20:22 (eighteen years ago)

i agree, pleasant plains, that that is indefensible. but tell me, are you familiar with the stray "turkey gobble" in "roseanna"? anyone know what i'm talking about? it fascinated me as a kid.

that rune lindbaek africa edit/rework thing is pretty hot.

― andrew m., Thursday, 20 December 2007 21:11 (eighteen years ago)

that "africa" beat was wasted on jojo, jadakiss would've been perfect over that.

― pc user, Thursday, 20 December 2007 21:17 (eighteen years ago)

This song is amazing.

― HI DERE, Thursday, 20 December 2007 21:18 (eighteen years ago)

I know nothing about this turkey gobble, andrew.

― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, 20 December 2007 21:19 (eighteen years ago)

turkey gobble: listen close during the quiet part before they bust out the big finale "meet you all the way!" bit. i think it appears after he quietly sings "now she's gone..."

― andrew m., Thursday, 20 December 2007 21:35 (eighteen years ago)

i'm sure you have it handy. get back with us on that quicklike.

― andrew m., Thursday, 20 December 2007 21:36 (eighteen years ago)

What the hell? Are you talking about the 3:34 mark? How did you even catch that?

― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, 20 December 2007 21:49 (eighteen years ago)

PATRICK SWAYZE!!

― jaxon, Thursday, 20 December 2007 21:55 (eighteen years ago)

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Luke slays on beat it

― calstars, Saturday, 22 September 2018 21:44 (seven years ago)

Are you guys familiar with his guitar teacher?

― Harper Valley CTA-102 (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 22 September 2018 22:24 (seven years ago)

Luke is a bit of a rockist crybaby

― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Sunday, 23 September 2018 00:05 (seven years ago)

I was at a high school football game today. dJ playing exclusively hip hop until the game started, then switched to Weezer’s Rosanna and Africa

― President Keyes, Sunday, 23 September 2018 00:13 (seven years ago)

He met you all the way

― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Sunday, 23 September 2018 00:20 (seven years ago)

There was no reason for a cover of this song.

― Trϵϵship, Sunday, 23 September 2018 00:24 (seven years ago)

Yeah it should be like those public radio "save a day" campaigns where they fundraise less if they meet their (totally arbitrary) goal.

"We're almost up to the amount where we can stop playing this fucking song!"

And I say that as someone generally well disposed toward the song. It's just that there is, in fact, a limit.

I hope the djs do what's right. Sure as taramasalata rises like a Memphis among the sarin Geddy Lee.

― I've moped on a moped and cooed with a coed (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 23 September 2018 00:40 (seven years ago)

https://pitchfork.com/news/weezers-new-africa-video-stars-weird-al-watch/

― growing up in publix (morrisp), Monday, 24 September 2018 17:25 (seven years ago)

two months pass...

Pitbull has released his own version of the song "Africa" by Toto from the #Aquaman soundtrack. pic.twitter.com/QeHaNwNhAv
— Lights, Camera, Pod (@LightsCameraPod) December 13, 2018

― Number None, Thursday, 13 December 2018 23:20 (seven years ago)

I would have never thought that Karl Wolf would have been ahead of the curve 10 years ago, but here we are.

― MarkoP, Thursday, 13 December 2018 23:28 (seven years ago)

I can't believe we're still not at peak Africa

― Vinnie, Friday, 14 December 2018 04:28 (seven years ago)

PINK FLOYD RULES

― No Smockin' (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 14 December 2018 04:35 (seven years ago)

two weeks pass...

Watching Weezer perform this on Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, as cheezy 20-somethings exhuberantly sing along.

― underqualified backing vocalist (morrisp), Tuesday, 1 January 2019 05:23 (seven years ago)

I am literally standing in the middle of the Serengeti right now and I don't see Kilimanjaro anywhere. I call bs.

Definitely no snow either, but they did know it was Christmas.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 1 January 2019 05:45 (seven years ago)

We've passed peak Africa, with Pitbull as the shark-jump point. I played the LNTG remix out numerous times in 2018, and the one-ecstatic reaction to it is now on the wane. I'm probably going to retire it in 2019.

― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 1 January 2019 10:52 (seven years ago)

("once-ecstatic", duh)

― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 1 January 2019 10:53 (seven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRLfGwQ7Nsw

― Plinka Trinka Banga Tink (Eliza D.), Monday, 7 January 2019 20:07 (seven years ago)

Africa by Toto to play on eternal loop down in the coastal Namib Desert

"Mr Siedentopf tells the BBC it is set to play forever, with solar batteries "to keep Toto going for all eternity"."

― Portsmouth Bubblejet, Tuesday, 15 January 2019 08:24 (seven years ago)

five months pass...