TOTO "africa" classic or dud

i feel like it can be a useful and unexpected flourish if the lyrics actually work

can anyone think of some examples of where that type of tortured syntax actually works?

Yes at the end here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fxBZkC1vkw

the first one that came to my mind was xtc's "burning with optimism's flames," but since that comes at the end of the phrase during a musical rest, it's not the cleanest example.

the toiLET
starts flushING
Sets ME
Off aGAIN

"all the LONEly STARbuck's LOVers"

See pretty much any Stereolab song with English lyrics. Can be awkward, but I let it slide because ESL

The production on Jeff is like a blurry photograph. Still great

disagree, i love inappropriate syllabic emphasis on songs, makes them sound more musical

Guys don’t kid yourselves. Toto is in another league than journey. Though Steve Perry is all time in a way that no single personality in T is.

disagree, i love inappropriate syllabic emphasis on songs, makes them sound more musical

It gets your attention, which is why I think it's best used sparingly and not over and over like "unCONdiTIONalLY"

Eh weezer covered it

Did this get meme-ified? Because my 15 year old and his pals love it lately.

it's been a staple at classic hits radio for ages and probably gets played daily at most such stations now, some meme-y metal covers got a ton of views on youtube in the past year, it was the focal song of that 'playing in an empty shopping centre' video that inspired thinkpieces lol, + i guess the news about weezer fans demanding the band cover it eventually getting their wish?

i think i said this before but i strongly fear it's headed into "don't stop believin'" territory

(google trends seems to indicate steady increase in interest since summer of last year)

most pointless cover ever - note for note

it is kinda turning into a DSB tune but it doesn't get the white peeps turnt quite like DSB does

also Journey's own "Separate Ways" is turning into DSB almost

it definitely reached some sort of meme status last year, not really sure why, but the current wave of popularity is more comparable to smash mouth's all star than dsb

I will confirm that Weezer played this last night to a crowd of about 10,000 people (including me) and most of them fucking loved it and sang along with every word. I knew it was coming and knew pretty much how it would be, so I rolled my eyes and said "meh," but I will not begrudge the dumb fun pleasure felt by 9,999 drunk white middle-agers.

it definitely reached some sort of meme status last year, not really sure why, but the current wave of popularity is more comparable to smash mouth's all star than dsb

Well I do often credit the initial seeds of Africa's resurgence being that time 10 years ago, when I was in a car with Neil Cicierega during a midnight run to Walmart and we were all bobbing our heads to it on the radio.

if y'all haven't, you should read the past year or two of this thread. lots of good (imo) discussion re: why this song is either enduringly or newly popular, whether it's "good" or just a shitty meme, etc.

or at least i enjoyed the discussion. :)

most pointless cover ever - note for note

This would be a good thread in it's own right:
Defend the Indefensible: Note-for-Note Cover Versions

I often find myself liking these more than the original (Faith No More - Easy, for instance) even when I know I shouldn't.
So yeah, i'd probably be singing along with the 9,999 drink white middle-agers at the show when they played it.

Weezer's version of Rosanna was pretty fun too.

Cuomo also did an acoustic solo "Take on Me," which I don't think I enjoyed much but it seemed to serve as a nice communal moment.

I honest to god never used to mind this song - I'd never complain if I heard it on TV or radio. I'm fucking sick of hearing about it now, though.

total baconing

May fit into the meme-ification side of things, I guess... I did enjoy this though, it's impressively done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82nqsksBH7M

asshole millenial substitute DJ played this before my radio show yesterday, I wanted to kill him

Can someone summarize why this song is so popular/meme-ified at the moment? Much as I'd like to read the past year or two of this thread (as suggested above), I don't think I have the time...

The ways of the meme-ification gods are mysterious; no one quite knows what is going to be dredged up from near-obscurity next.

Most people can agree that "Don't Stop Believin'" owes its sudden resurgence to Glee, "Heat of the Moment" to 40-Year-Old Virgin, and "Overkil" to Scrubs.

In short, no one here agrees on why "Africa" is a Thing right now. Some claim it never left the culture because it has always been awesome. Others believe it resurfaced due to use in a meme or a commercial or something, but the jury is out on whether there is a precise single catalyst. Heck, maybe the stars just aligned correctly and people simultaneously / independently remembered it as a thing of excellence. Or of cheese!

please see

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/africa-by-toto?full=1

Thanks, that is helpful!

I thought "Don't Stop Believin'" had a lot to do w/The Sopranos finale(?). I didn't know "Heat of the Moment" had a resurgence (and I'm not sure I even know what "Overkil" is...)

Most people can agree that "Don't Stop Believin'" owes its sudden resurgence to Glee

https://media1.tenor.com/images/6f143685439118732d299b5ed9bfd831/tenor.gif

POLL: Most important cultural artifact to forecast our total Toto "Africa" revival

Part 1: TV version

— Christopher R. Weingarten (@1000TimesYes) June 18, 2018

POLL: Most important cultural artifact to forecast our total Toto "Africa" revival

Part 2: Non-TV version

— Christopher R. Weingarten (@1000TimesYes) June 18, 2018

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City made "Africa" cool and that was 2002

— Daniel Kreps (@danielkreps) July 23, 2016

not TV but it was definitely this pic.twitter.com/L09Xdd4sno

— nicktopath traveler (@JucheMane) June 18, 2018

Most people can agree that "Don't Stop Believin'" owes its sudden resurgence to Glee...

― nonsensei (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Gave it some mileage with the youngs but nah sopranos

lmao everyone jumped on that at once

lmao everyone jumped on that at once

Okay so I clearly do not know what I am talking about so feel free to ignore me. a previous flippant and reductive summary is here:

wtf why are there nearly 300 new answers on this thread - tldr please tell me - TIA

― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Friday, September 22, 2017 3:58 PM (ten months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I wondered the same but I saw sund4r posting and he never shuts up about toto..

― starving street dogs of punk rock (Odysseus), Friday, September 22, 2017 4:00 PM (ten months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

IIRC, a dood was like "wtf, Africa has always been popular, and it's popular because it's fucking great" and other doodz were like "yabbut it was brought to a new level of prominence due to its presence in the memeosphere" and other doodz were like "what does it mean to be a meme anyways" and other doodz were like "can't it be both a great song and one that was rescued from relative obscurity by a video game" and other doodz were like "does that diminishes its greatness? nope."

At the same time somebody was all like, "why are all these rescued tunes so dude-o-centric?" And then ppl were all like, "dude, are there songs by female artists that are this corny anyways?" And there was discussion of that. Then some other dude was all like, "dude, when are we going to start talking about the awesomeness of the 1982 song 'Africa' by the band Toto again?"

― stop the mandolinsanity (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, September 22, 2017 4:11 PM (ten months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And by Overkil (gah, sorry) I meant the Colin Hay appearance on Scrubs where he plays the Men at Work song "Overkill" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzYjqQezxoQ

Thx for all this... I forgot about the role played by "GFA" in popularizing older songs in the 2000s. Often I'll check out comments on a song's YouTube page, and it's full of "(XXX) brought me here!" (XXX being a new game, or other stuff I'm not even aware of now).

I see "Africa" has 373mm+ streams on Spotify, which seems pretty hot. "Don't Stop Believin'" has 466mm+. Clicking around on some other bands in the "Fans Also Like..." sidebar (i.e., comparable '80s acts), I don't see many other top tracks that come close to these two.

Like, for a comparison - "Sister Christian" has a paltry 20mm+, and that song got another era's equivalent of a (pre-social media) meme-ifying boost, via its appearance in "Boogie Nights."

...and in "Rock of Ages."

speaking only personally, I was a kid when it was popular and I was hella into songs w/ dreamy sounding synths, and then I went without hearing it for years (lol at pre-streaming/dling days) so the lack of exposure to it inflated it in my mind.

Wow - even artists like Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen don't have tracks that hit 373mm+ plays

xp Those synths and the percussion in the intro sound a lot like Peter Gabriel songs that came a bit later. I'll assume this has been noted...

I swear, and I've said this before, the "Don't Stop Believin'" revival started heating up well before the Sopranos finale. I never heard it on the radio as a kid, then I started hearing it more and more during my undergrad years, which ended in 2005. By the time I was living in the Fenway area in Boston a year after that, I got my first case of "DSB" fatigue when a whole subway car started singing it after a Sox game. Again, this was 2006. Sopranos finale was June of 2007.

"sister christian" is like "desperado" but even worse

I think Sister Xian is my favorite of these 3 songs... it's not really my genre, tho.

to any defenders itt: if you are a college radio DJ on the air today, all that you prove by playing this song is:

1. you have active contempt for your audience, most of whom hate this song

2. you have zero creativity or imagination as a DJ

3. you can't even be bothered to look up what "deep cut" means

if I could travel back in time to murder any one band, Toto would be it. suck it, poptimists.

iow DUD

I had literally never heard Don't Stop Believin' before the Sopranos finale

I don't think it was a hit at all in Europe first time around

deservedly so!

I literally don’t understand the fascination with this song