TOTO "africa" classic or dud

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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."

i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 25 July 2018 23:41 (five years ago) link

...and in "Rock of Ages."

nonsensei (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 25 July 2018 23:45 (five years ago) link

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.

fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 25 July 2018 23:50 (five years ago) link

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

i’m still stanning (morrisp), Wednesday, 25 July 2018 23:58 (five years ago) link

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’m still stanning (morrisp), Thursday, 26 July 2018 00:01 (five years ago) link

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.

It's like an Christian pop (thewufs), Thursday, 26 July 2018 00:29 (five years ago) link

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

brimstead, Thursday, 26 July 2018 00:33 (five years ago) link

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

i’m still stanning (morrisp), Thursday, 26 July 2018 00:39 (five years ago) link

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.

sleeve, Thursday, 26 July 2018 00:44 (five years ago) link

iow DUD

sleeve, Thursday, 26 July 2018 00:45 (five years ago) link

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

Number None, Thursday, 26 July 2018 00:47 (five years ago) link

deservedly so!

sleeve, Thursday, 26 July 2018 00:51 (five years ago) link

I literally don’t understand the fascination with this song

calstars, Thursday, 26 July 2018 00:51 (five years ago) link

it's "ironic"

sleeve, Thursday, 26 July 2018 00:52 (five years ago) link

thewufs is right though

The song has been a rallying cry for a multitude of sports teams, first by the Chicago White Sox in their successful run to the 2005 World Series, when catcher A. J. Pierzynski and teammates heard the song being sung in a bar in Baltimore. The White Sox invited former Journey lead singer Steve Perry to the team's celebration rally, where he sang the song along with several members of the team.

Number None, Thursday, 26 July 2018 00:53 (five years ago) link

going back to whiney's tweet, i think the south park reference was a reflexive thing commenting on the resurgent popularity of africa."we've grown fond of this song cause we remember it and it reminds us of a simpler time," etc.

ant banks and wasp (voodoo chili), Thursday, 26 July 2018 01:23 (five years ago) link

Dear Millennial Meme Influencers -
Please do "Eye In The Sky" next.

enochroot, Thursday, 26 July 2018 01:57 (five years ago) link

Aw, don't ruin that one for me.

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, 26 July 2018 02:27 (five years ago) link

don't think sorry's easily said

fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Thursday, 26 July 2018 02:28 (five years ago) link

Sopranos finale was June of 2007.

Scrubs did an entire episode ("My Journey") built around "Don't Stop Believin'" in 2003. It's a song I always heard on CR radio, tbh, though.

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, 26 July 2018 02:29 (five years ago) link

"Africa" reference in Community was 2011 btw.

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, 26 July 2018 02:34 (five years ago) link

wonder if in 25 years there's gonna be a revival of "Gangnam Style"

fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Thursday, 26 July 2018 02:34 (five years ago) link

Oh, Neanderthal pointed that out last year. xp

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, 26 July 2018 02:35 (five years ago) link

Sleeve lmao

stillHera, Thursday, 26 July 2018 03:49 (five years ago) link

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.

― It's like an Christian pop (thewufs), Wednesday, July 25, 2018 8:29 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i was living in boston at this time as well, i'm about your age, and this is basically otm

call all destroyer, Thursday, 26 July 2018 04:00 (five years ago) link

Unlike "Don't Stop Believin'," "Africa" was a song I heard plenty as a kid - the big Journey hits on A/C stations were "Open Arms," "Who's Crying Now," and "Faithfully," but "Africa" and "Rosanna" appeared pretty frequently alongside the other soft rock hits on the stations my mom used to play on car rides in the late 80s/early 90s. And I remember I liked it enough that I taped it off the radio sometime between 1991 and 1993. I rediscovered it like a decade later and I still liked it, and it's been a frequent comfort-listen ever since. Has there been a big uptick in radio play for "Africa" like there was for "Don't Stop Believin'" in the early to mid aughts? Because that song wore the fuck out on me, and the same thing hasn't happened for me with "Africa" yet.

It's like an Christian pop (thewufs), Thursday, 26 July 2018 06:04 (five years ago) link

I don't think it was one big meme with Africa, just a lot of small ones until it sort of snowballed?

ufo, Thursday, 26 July 2018 06:16 (five years ago) link

I first came across Don't Stop Believin' in a Family Guy episode from 2005 where there's a big piece built around it, but then again it sounded instantly familiar so either 1) I had heard it somewhere before 2) those are magic chords or 3) collective unconscious

niels, Thursday, 26 July 2018 06:39 (five years ago) link

"DSB" was a pretty big Classic Rock Staple in the late '90s.

Making Plans For Sturgill (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 26 July 2018 06:50 (five years ago) link

I don't think anyone likes Toto "ironically" in 2018.

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

The implications of your murder would be far reaching indeed - no Thriller as we know it, for one!

That could be a good thing to you too afaik, of course. It's just Toto are a really fun band to play this sci-fi game with because the entire Pop scene of the era would be different in lots of small ways, in a form that you can't say of many other bands.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 26 July 2018 10:58 (five years ago) link

sleeve otm

there are entire genres of music that seem to be huge in america that are known in the civilised world through ironic shout outs in american tv/sitcoms

most of them are bad, very bad.

dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Thursday, 26 July 2018 11:35 (five years ago) link

I don’t recall being specifically aware of “DSB” in the ‘90s )or it having any special place in “the culture”).

I do remember being aware of the Toto song, but not sure how. Was a snippet of it maybe played & identified in a TV ad for one of those mail-order compilation albums?

i’m still stanning (morrisp), Thursday, 26 July 2018 13:48 (five years ago) link

I remember being in a hipster diner in Philly after closing time in like 2001 and when DSB came on the radio everyone started singing along and playing air guitar--so it had some kind of ironicred pre-Sopranos

President Keyes, Thursday, 26 July 2018 13:55 (five years ago) link

hey did you guys know there’s not even really a “south Detroit”

i’m still stanning (morrisp), Thursday, 26 July 2018 14:12 (five years ago) link

there was a rollerskating scene in Monster (w Christina Ricci & Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos) in 2003 that used DSB that recontextualized it for me. Before that it was just a corny Journey song but it seemed a little more poignant after that. I didn't see the Sopranos finale until much later, but that didn't happen until 2007.

Africa remains a mystery but I have always liked it, ever since it came out and i was a dumb little kid. It's got a big chorus & a cool beat. What more do you want.

weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 26 July 2018 14:19 (five years ago) link

I was a huge DSB fan as a kid so it never really left my consciousness

fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Thursday, 26 July 2018 14:22 (five years ago) link

Dave Q was citing it as a quintessential AOR song in 2002: Top 10 AOR Songs

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, 26 July 2018 14:26 (five years ago) link

I do remember being aware of the Toto song, but not sure how. Was a snippet of it maybe played & identified in a TV ad for one of those mail-order compilation albums?


Just answered my own question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmSKqTwEW2A

i’m still stanning (morrisp), Thursday, 26 July 2018 14:28 (five years ago) link

DSB has always been a huge song, its popularity with Golden Age Of TV viewers is what’s new. America was there before Columbus discovered it. Etc.

omar little, Thursday, 26 July 2018 15:02 (five years ago) link

omar otm

Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Thursday, 26 July 2018 15:22 (five years ago) link

It was never unfamiliar to me but tbf I don't remember it being THIS huge before the millennial revival: it has more than twice as many Spotify plays as "More Than a Feeling" or "Dream On", over 10 times as many as The Cars' "Just What I Needed". I would have pegged it as less big than at least the first two of those songs in the 90s. I probably heard "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" nearly as often.

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, 26 July 2018 15:48 (five years ago) link

i'm sure i heard it before this, but the first time i ever heard the song knowing it was "africa" by toto was in an episode of Chuck

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

ant banks and wasp (voodoo chili), Thursday, 26 July 2018 15:54 (five years ago) link

The implications of your murder would be far reaching indeed - no Thriller as we know it, for one!

nor any silk degrees which would be a huge absence for me personally

princess of hell (BradNelson), Thursday, 26 July 2018 15:56 (five years ago) link

imo you can't fuck with the band that played "lowdown"

princess of hell (BradNelson), Thursday, 26 July 2018 15:56 (five years ago) link

well technically, we still could've had the even numbered thriller tracks, plus wanna be startin' somethin'

ant banks and wasp (voodoo chili), Thursday, 26 July 2018 15:57 (five years ago) link

i think that's why "as we know it" was in there

princess of hell (BradNelson), Thursday, 26 July 2018 15:57 (five years ago) link

right. anyway, sleeve please don't murder porcaro before he has the chance to play on Katy Lied

ant banks and wasp (voodoo chili), Thursday, 26 July 2018 15:58 (five years ago) link

even that Chuck performance is passable because this song is unimpeachably perfect.

alpine static, Thursday, 26 July 2018 20:16 (five years ago) link

Can someone summarize why this song is so popular/meme-ified at the moment?

A. random churn of pop nostalgia
B. Weezer cover
C. incessant news cycle thrives on memes
D. all of the above

i remember the song being on a fast food commercial. towards the end of me regularly watching on air TV there were all these retro 80s commercials where they would play a one hit wonder like this and that would be the gag.

honestly it is just a well recorded song. the synth is my favorite part, the were futuristic robotic waterfall arpeggio after the 7 main notes doooo-dooo-dooo-do-do-d-dooooooo
dingdingindingdillidindingdingdiddlingdingdingdingding

Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 26 July 2018 23:21 (five years ago) link

weezer cover is the end result of it being memeified, it happened due to someone on twitter campaigning for them to cover it as a joke

ufo, Thursday, 26 July 2018 23:31 (five years ago) link


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