TOTO "africa" classic or dud

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?"

Steve Porcaro wrote "Human Nature." The story is he recorded his demo on the other side of the cassette of demos the band gave Quincy Jones. He wouldn't have heard it at all had he not let the tape just flip over and continue playing.

Anyway, we are so not talking about session work featuring members of Toto, though that would only further underscore how much Toto sucks.

startrekman rivaled only by T✧✧@K✧✧.E✧✧ for title of greatest ilxor of all time

mods, how dare you censor

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

― starving street dogs of punk rock (Odysseus), Friday, 22 September 2017 15:00 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

???

Steve Porcaro wrote "Human Nature." The story is he recorded his demo on the other side of the cassette of demos the band gave Quincy Jones. He wouldn't have heard it at all had he not let the tape just flip over and continue playing.

Anyway, we are so not talking about session work featuring members of Toto, though that would only further underscore how much Toto sucks.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, September 22, 2017 1:15 PM (fifty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if there's one thing I know about Sund4r it is his incessant posting about Toto. just like how Dan Perry only posts about skeeball

Pretty sure "Jessie's Girl" is still a more popular song than "Africa" even as of 2017.

(Just to be clear, I like the Toto dudes as session dudes a lot, but no way will I say that Toto does not suck.)

Gary Wright's "Dream Weaver" is kind of a '70s version of cheesy song as punchline, isn't it?

stop

Again I need to recommend "Waiting For Your Love"

many xposts to ENBB -- because they are barely even talking about Toto but 'examining' the 'popularity' of 'similar' songs of the 'era' ...it's a fuckin snooze and a half lemme tell ya

okay veg, bring us back to the core, the heart music. toto's africa

I can think a band to death but at the end of the day Toto are kind of shit.

Luis Irastorza Valera
1 year ago
Back when Zach Galifianakis was a pop star.

HA!

230+ million views can't be wrong. I got a pretty big chuckle seeing the end of the video when the singer is lounging with his shirt top two unbuttoned on the AFRICA book at the end. Hadn't seen this video since the Night Tracks days.

Man alive do you even know who Jeff Porcaro was?

can you even fathom the power of jeff porcaro you beastly ruffian

Yes, and it's a shame he's probably best known for the "Rosanna shuffle" -- absolute garbage from a brilliant drummer.

the rosanna shuffle is the rhythm of my soul

they were a bunch of savants really, "good musicians" making terrible music

my friday night is ruined

http://images2.onionstatic.com/onion/2386/6/16x9/1200.jpg

this is #content