TOTO "africa" classic or dud

xpost I would enjoy that song more if 20 seconds in the music gave way to the sounds of a shotgun pump, a loud blast, screams, and then nothing but stunned silence and sobbing

That's a good song. He was kind of a proto-Elliott Smith with less self-loathing

xp

the lyrics for "no myth" are sufficiently verbose, i think this one has a chance

I mentioned it because I hear it these days at CVS

"No Myth" helped me win back an ex-girlfriend. (Reader, I married her.)

i just watched the video and 1) it's terrible 2) seeing michael penn again reminded me how cuuuuute he was and 3) all the lyrics about romeo and heathcliff and who knows what else are balanced by the repeated universally understood message that "she's just looking for someone to dance with" which let's face it, resonates in a universally understood way like "it's gonna take a lot to take me away from you"

sometime from now you'll bow to pressure!

"No Myth" is a perfect single and he was adorable. March was the first album on CD I ever bought.

No Myth > Barely Breathing > Breakfast at Tiffany's > Friends Theme.

You're welcome.

i just checked and he is still very easy on the eyes

No Myth is awesome.

Wasn't there some indie cover of Heart's "Alone" not long ago?

Robert Forster covered it about twenty years ago.

there's this piece of shit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uep94GnfiOI

oh lord pac

Fingerless gloves are the new Linda Perry hat-goggles.

No Myth > Barely Breathing > Breakfast at Tiffany's > Friends Theme.

You're welcome.

― Each of us faces a clear moral choice. (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, September 21, 2017 8:31 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

What about the theme tune from Baywatch?

I see I already mentioned the 2007 Rune Lindbæk edit upthread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQOU7Nz2xuE

So this was 2013, a good example of the song as lazy punchline:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9F86cAoi3o

"these dreams" is an example of a song I thought was insufferable at the time, and which is indisputably corny as hell, yet which in my early middle age has become totally poignant and beautiful to me; i matured into it

THERE'S SOMETHIN' OUT THERE

"alone" on the other hand is just fire. Ann Wilson's singing on the choruses is like a silver sword.

I like those Heart AOR power ballads pretty well, but I think it's because I was the bullseye age. Like, These Dreams was ... 1985? Which means I was 10, didn't have MTV, no CDs, iirc no walkman, even (the first friend of mine who got one was playing "Back in the Highlife"), so that was peak '80s radio listening for me.

also black tiger in video

iirc

It was pretty common practice to sneak large cats into many videos back then, as little easter eggs for those willing to rewatch and spot them.

https://i2.wp.com/thegrio.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/tumblr_m9iuxlru2g1rrywaao1_500.jpg?fit=500%2C500

The synth parts in "These Dreams" are gorgeous, and Wilson is up to them.

Written originally for Stevie Nicks, by the way, who might've made something poignant out of it too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH-rPt1ftSo

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2Fl41lOT9oq7T0FfExa%2Fgiphy.gif&f=1

this discussion is so weird to me! Toto is in a completely separate league from literally all the bands y'all're naming here. Like, I love Heart. They were my first favorite band. Saw them twice, on the Dog & Butterfly tour and again on the Bebe le Strange tour. Life-changing shows for me. But musically? They are not in Toto's league. Neither are any of the bands y'all're roping into "sort of like Toto with 'Africa'" territory. Toto are the guys who, when they were teenagers, make Silk Degrees what it is. The weird story of their commercial arc is as much a story of marketing & personalities as it is a musical story, but if we're focusing on music, Toto stands hiiiiiiigh above all this stuff. They occupy a different neighborhood.

rockist!

this whole thread revive has been kinda weird imo

one of those ilx thought exercises where i'm like ok have fun guys, let me know when we're talking abt toto again

you know what's a jam tho? "I'll Supply The Love"

xpost No one is impugning the chops and musicality of Toto, I don't think. But per marketing and whatnot, I find it really interesting how erratic their success was. 1978 debut has a few big hits. 1979 follow-up, no hits. 1981 album, flop. 1982 Toto IV, huge hits. 1984 follow-up, supposedly had a modest hit in "Stranger In Town" but I've never heard it before and listening now it sucks. Follow-up had a couple of modest schlock hits. And then ... that's it, right? If anything, the marketing and personalities shows that no amount of the former could make up for lack of the latter, right? Even in the heyday of payola and AOR product these dudes were wildly, er, hit or miss. Compared to, like, Journey, or Heart or whomever. Or Chicago or Doobie Brothers.

success rose and fell w/ public perception of Lukather's foofy hair

They may wildly differing levels of quality and/or musicianship but all these things were on the radio at the same time, in the same Casey Kasem jumble, along with "Come on Eileen" and "Down Under" or whatever. Plus, some of us were like 10 years old and not exactly cognizant of chops, or of the seminal early work, or whatever.

If I lump "Africa" in with "Sail Away" or "Keep on Lovin' You," it's not necessarily because they're all at the same level of quality, but because they have sound similar sound/vibe/images as presented to my consciousness in and around 1983.

Plus, some of us were like 10 years old and not exactly cognizant of chops

I can kinda picture Dan listening to Whitney Houston at that age and shouting "FLAT!" at the radio

one of those ilx thought exercises where i'm like ok have fun guys, let me know when we're talking abt toto again
otm

https://i.imgur.com/wO4Q6fD.png

toto af

neat little memory of Toto from the latest issue of Tape Op, interview with Steve Addabbo, most famous for discovering and producing Suzanne Vega, worked w/tons of ppl including Shawn Colvin, Eric Anderson....anyway this is a memory from his days as an assistant mastering engineer

https://s26.postimg.org/e6aqadyh5/totomastering.jpg

xpost No one is impugning the chops and musicality of Toto, I don't think. But per marketing and whatnot, I find it really interesting how erratic their success was. 1978 debut has a few big hits. 1979 follow-up, no hits. 1981 album, flop. 1982 Toto IV, huge hits. 1984 follow-up, supposedly had a modest hit in "Stranger In Town" but I've never heard it before and listening now it sucks. Follow-up had a couple of modest schlock hits. And then ... that's it, right? If anything, the marketing and personalities shows that no amount of the former could make up for lack of the latter, right? Even in the heyday of payola and AOR product these dudes were wildly, er, hit or miss. Compared to, like, Journey, or Heart or whomever. Or Chicago or Doobie Brothers.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, September 21, 2017 6:50 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you can't mention toto without mentioning all the classic works of other artists that they played on imo

can too

this is a thread about toto's 'africa', not a thread about toto or toto members' session work. also i am going to ask my co-workers about africa and *not* mention silk degrees and you can't stop me

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

can too

this is a thread about toto's 'africa', not a thread about toto or toto members' session work. also i am going to ask my co-workers about africa and *not* mention silk degrees and you can't stop me

― mookieproof, Friday, September 22, 2017 2:21 PM (fifty-six seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is reckless behavior how dare u?

can too

this is a thread about toto's 'africa', not a thread about toto or toto members' session work. also i am going to ask my co-workers about africa and *not* mention silk degrees and you can't stop me

― mookieproof, Friday, September 22, 2017 12:21 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm going to do the lido shuffle ... on your grave

guess i better head for the border line

Jeff Porcaro wrote Michael Jackson's "Human Nature," right? I love that song so hard.

this boz on porcaro violence has to stop

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

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

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?"