TOTO "africa" classic or dud

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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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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

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

^^^ i agree with this racist too

xpost

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

I danced to this last summer. Great stuff.

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

Good song, maybe not quite classic.

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

i have mildly positive feelings about this song

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

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

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

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

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

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 (seventeen years ago) link

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 (seventeen years ago) link

"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 (seventeen years ago) link

Jeff Porcaro died in a bizarre gardening accident.

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

seven months pass...

One of the ten best songs ever.

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

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

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

(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 (sixteen years ago) link

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 (sixteen years ago) link

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE>

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

this song has done more for africa than bono ever will

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

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 (sixteen years ago) link

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 (sixteen years ago) link

(xpost)

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

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

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

I still like "Roseanna" better.

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

Georgie porgy is one of the 10 best songs ever

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

saying you like "Roseanna" better is indefensible

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

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

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

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 (sixteen years ago) link

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 (sixteen years ago) link

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 (sixteen years ago) link

songwriting - classic
productio - 80's dud

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

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 (sixteen years ago) link

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

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

This song is amazing.

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

I know nothing about this turkey gobble, andrew.

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

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 (sixteen years ago) link

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

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

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 (sixteen years ago) link

PATRICK SWAYZE!!

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

xp
that's it! just latched onto it as a kid i guess.

― andrew m., Thursday, 20 December 2007 22:51 (sixteen years ago) link

HURRY BOY SHE'S WAITING THERE FOR YOOOOOOOOOOOOO

― El Tomboto, Thursday, 20 December 2007 22:54 (sixteen years ago) link

Um, that's a bgd singer going, "Ooh, oooh!!!"

― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 20 December 2007 23:01 (sixteen years ago) link

or the guitarist rubbing the strings a bit--same tone

― sexyDancer, Thursday, 20 December 2007 23:18 (sixteen years ago) link

does anyone else mis-remember the lyrics as featuring the line

"I passed the rains down in Africa"

― The Real Dirty Vicar, Friday, 21 December 2007 00:16 (sixteen years ago) link

Wait a minute, you suspect that it's not really a TURKEY GOBBLING? Get out of here!

― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 21 December 2007 00:22 (sixteen years ago) link

So classic I paid a quarter for the cassette only to discover that it's unlistenable dreck past "Africa" and "Rosanna." I think the clunky insertion of the word "Serengeti" is part of this song's charm.

I feel like if you were going to suddenly surprise people by blurting out part of a pop song from this period "FRIGHTENED BY THIS THING THAT I'VE BECOME!" would be a top-notch choice.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 21 December 2007 01:39 (sixteen years ago) link

the key of dreams version w/ the vocoder is super-ace, too!!

― max, Friday, 21 December 2007 02:24 (sixteen years ago) link

Jeff Porcaro died in a bizarre gardening accident.

No he didn't. He dropped dead of a cocaine overdose while mowing his lawn.

― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 21 December 2007 04:05 (sixteen years ago) link

Explain the cover-up for us, Naive Teen Idol.

― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 21 December 2007 04:46 (sixteen years ago) link

Africa? classic.

Toto? Huge motherfucking dud.

― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Friday, 21 December 2007 05:18 (sixteen years ago) link

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

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

PINK FLOYD RULES

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

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 (five years ago) link

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 (five years ago) link

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 (five years ago) link

("once-ecstatic", duh)

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

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

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

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 (five years ago) link

five months pass...