TOTO "africa" classic or dud

yes. there was a podcast somewhere where he demonstrated one of his formulas for writing a song, it was this spreadsheet with chord progressions and shit. just crapping out songs on auto-pilot.

C'mon, guys... if Devo did this, they'd be hailed as geniuses!

dyl, no question the dawn song is better yeah

I honestly can't remember a time when I didn't think Weezer were phoning it in and yes that includes their first album

I heard GG Allin crapped out some masterpieces in his day.

Ask a chef though, if your masterpiece goes right into someone's mouth you don't get proper recognition

Touché

speaking of resurgences in popularity, found this quote at the top of the wiki article on "My Baby Just Cares for Me":

A stylized version of the song by Nina Simone,[2] recorded in 1958, was a top 10 hit in the United Kingdom after it was used in a 1987 perfume commercial and resulted in a renaissance for Simone.[3]

there should be a list of artists that were for a long time criminally overlooked but who are now so canonized that it's hard to imagine they were ever missing from the canon

I was first aware of Nina Simone due to this track appearing on Now 10.

Can def confirm Nina Simone's hit in 1987, Niels. The video had a lot to do with it's new success iirc:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYSbUOoq4Vg

Xmas #1 in the Netherlands!

their first ever hit, "Buddy Holly"

I thought it was The Sweater Song

cool thanks!

I guess Nina didn't like the video...

xpost Sweater Song didn't crack the US top 40--peaked at 57. Buddy Holly made it to #18.

I had no idea this had happened until I finally decided to click through and find out why tf this thread kept floating to the top.

Kill me. Kill me now.

xp it made it to #6 on modern rock. that's gotta count for something.

God, ever since this thread got revived it just won't get out of my head.

are you frightened of this thing that you've become?

I’m just not sure how Africa as a metaphor fits into the general lyrical theme of dedication and devotion to a relationship (““gonna take a lot to drag me away from you, etc)

seems more like the general lyrical theme is about some journey of self-discovery and spiritual revival and the relationship stuff is shoehorned in to make it sound like a love song

My half-baked reading: dude went to Africa to get away (probably from whatever relationship issues they were going through) and think things through. However, the transformative experience helped him realize that actually his woman is the real thing and nothing can come between them so now he's having her fly down to meet him on the 12:30 flight so they can take the time to experience Africa together (and do the things they never had?).

he knows he must do what's right. just as sure as...

only one way to finish out that simile

it's about DRUGS you MORONS

I feel the drugs entering my blood

My half-baked reading is the opposite of Sund4r's.

Africa's a metaphor. Drums, wild dogs, Kilimanjaro - all are just window-dressing escapist exoticism.

The speaker is a normal pudgy aging wite guy, possibly having a run-of-the-mill romantic escapade. Perhaps not even that. Maybe just wishing he was with a woman compelling enough to justify the song's emotional level.

The straining, strident vocal of the chorus, dramatically layered music (finger cymbals? Come ON) and the exotic imagery are Walter Mitty elements. To me.

I look at a picture of Toto and I just think that without musical talent these shlubs would be working at Radio Shack. That's part of why I see it this way.

^ otm

ye def otm

totally. The thing he's frightened of having becoming is a supervisor who has to tell his buddies to stop taking 45 minute smoke breaks.

It's about lovebugs

Paitch strikes me more as a pet store employee than an electronics geek

Either way.

"Keith, Brett, knock it off."

BIG DRUM FILL

"Seriously, c'mon, guys."

SYNTH FLUTE SOLO

I would totally have watched an 80s sitcom about a band of down on their luck '70s prog-poppers working at an electronics store at the mall

the echo of the drums is a haunting reminder of the life they could've had.

lol came to rep the shittyflute versh but josh did that two years ago (take on me is still peak shittyflute tho).

This song is about men on Mars, which the author believes to number at least 100

xp I first heard "Sweater Song" on a Top40/pop/MariahCarey station fwiw

I look at a picture of Toto and I just think that without musical talent these shlubs would be working at Radio Shack.

like Rosanna Arquette is gonna date some Radio Shack dude, come on

Steve Lukather had a porn career lined up

i love it when people say something like "without _______ these guys would be _______"

is this supposed to be an own?

without world-class musical ability, they would be working a regular job. yes! that's how it works.

without world-class basketball skills, LeBron James would be a 7th grade teacher.

without mediocre writing skills, I would be working at McDonald's.

what is the point of this analysis, exactly?

Context matters, alpine static. It was not supposed to be an own of the Toto guys. The record will show that I love that band and that tune inordinately, and have loved it since its release. Unironically.

What I said - and meant - was merely that my reading of the song "Africa" (a reading I arrived at independently) was somewhat informed by my perception of their personas. Do they look like suave/debonair international travelers inna James Bond stylee?

The Ice Pirates were explorers too you know

xpost fair enuff, Y.M. Puff

Toto's legacy expands when you add under their name all the big tunes those guys did together as studio musicians even if nothing just MJ's Thriller. They were like the AOR Wrecking Crew of their day.

All I wanna do when I wake up in the morning is compromise

I live in hell

TOTO ANSWERS WEEZER COVERS OF “AFRICA” AND “ROSANNA”

WITH A SMOKING RENDITION OF “HASH PIPE”

Lol!!!

They should have covered Teenage Dirtbag

not a weezer song

exactly

I smell a POLL of what songs 2018 Toto should cover. "Le Freak," "Dude Looks Like a Lady," "Head Luke a Hole," and Barbour's Adagio are my picks.

Make those old-ass marionettes DANCE, motherfuckers.