TOTO "africa" classic or dud

I've always been "jealous" (in a way) of ppl who are fans of bands that do "fan-pleasing" things like constantly tour, issue a zillion official tour recordings, etc.

Life would be easy if I were a Steel Panther fan and lived proximate to a House of Blues location

some people want 47 minute free jazz exploration from the upcoming album

kinda started hating Rivers ever since I heard that story about him hanging out with a bunch of Japanese girls and booting out the ones who didn't want to suck him off

xp More people want fan service. YMP is otm

Like, I actually prefer that shtick to "here's a forty-seven minute free-jazz exploration from our soon-to-be-released new album." Or "I hate you and I'm not going to look at you or play what you want to hear because fuck you, that's why."

I'm not sure if either of these options are on the table for a band that writes songs in Microsoft Excel

No one,s harmed by the banality and good for whoever is enjoying the homage but it’s just not art. And I know it doesn’t have to be, but it’s pantomime, it’s kitsch, and it’s in opposition to the rockist perspective that I and a few others probably still hang on to.

niels and calstars - surely there are other artists who provide what you are looking for yes?

Ditto me.

In that respect it's really hard for me to fault the relationship of Weezer to a Weezerhead (or whatever they're called, don't tell me because I don't care)

god, weird al getting brought on stage for this. could it get any worse

I find the characterization of what they do as mere crowd pleasing to be condescending and the idea that it's not art to be absurd and not what I originally came to ILM for fourteen years ago.

nothing "mere" about crowd-pleasing! Speaking as an occasionally performing musician I think crowd-pleasing is really hard.

god, weird al getting brought on stage for this. could it get any worse

IMO, it's the only good thing they've ever done. Weird Al totally eclipses Weezer in terms of sheer star power and charisma.

Make those old-ass marionettes DANCE, motherfuckers.

― Pirate's booty call (Ye Mad Puffin)

well, sure, it killed Prince

weird al still one of my favorite live concert experiences

I find the characterization of what they do as mere crowd pleasing to be condescending and the idea that it's not art to be absurd and not what I originally came to ILM for fourteen years ago.

Let me ask, then, what the criticism of the song is because I'm not sure that's been established in this thread.

xp i hate weird al tho i understand few on ilm agree

I see a couple from YMP:

"The straining, strident vocal of the chorus, dramatically layered music (finger cymbals? Come ON)"

I really love the chorus. It's where they lock in to a dynamic chord sequence after the more amorphous harmonies in the verse shifting between the two key centers. My favorite part is the melisma on "rains," not in the lead vocal on top but in the harmony vocal just underneath. That's one of the big hooks of the song, I think, but you have to dig in to find what it really is.

Nothing wrong with crowd pleasing, I mean when I saw Andrew WK he played nearly all of I Get Wet and the crowd loved it. I agree that it’s a tough thing to do and for a band that I personally find shitty and boring I still think its cool that a rock band like Weezer can generate a response like that. They’re probably kicking themselves for not doing a sloggy power pop version of “Never Gonna Give You Up”

tim, I love the song unironically and have said as much a half-dozen times. At this point itt we're getting into the gentle teasing that longtime lovers do.

THAT SAID, in my estimation the new topic is whether Weezer's cover is an act of love or an act of pandering. And, further, whether a surprise Weird Al cameo is inspired genius, or an even more egregious act of pandering.

The consideration that it could be pandering would seem to be predicated on a negative view of the song, though.

Imagine if BACON flew out of his guitar lmao epic

I don't wish to argue this incessantly, tim, but I respectfully disagree.

The panderosity of the cover is predicated on the Weezerian forethought "I know they'll love THIS." Which is actually predicated on a positive view of the song.

also I misspoke; love and pandering are not exclusive. Embrace the power of Both.

Never liked this song as more than cheese, but ... whatevs. I had no idea this existed, though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8jr-p0lQZo

Are they just going to do a whole album of Toto covers? Hold The Line is really even better suited to Weezer than this and Africa.

My roommate in Buffalo years ago insisted on referring to that song as "Toe the Line" no matter how many times I tried to explain otherwise. His favourite Smiths song was "I Am Human".

ugh i misread that as

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cf1bnEb5Rs

^ A great song

Let me ask, then, what the criticism of the song is because I'm not sure that's been established in this thread.

― timellison, Thursday, August 9, 2018 4:47 PM (yesterday)

what

When I was little, I used to think the line "There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do" (which is a shitty line) was "There's nothing that a hundred men on Mars could ever do."

the lyrics of this song are real dopey and the twinkling synth figure is perfect imo. I'm a sticking-with-them-even-through-their-shittiest-records weezer fan and if I can avoid hearing this cover for the rest of my life I will

Keyboard Editor:
What else is going on in "Africa"?

David Paich:
The kalimba is all done with the GS1. It's six tracks of GS1 playing different rhythms. There's a high organ sound that's GS1, and I wrote the song on CS-80, so that plays the main part of the entire tune.

Looking it up:

The GS-1 was a non-programmable FM synth that came out a couple of years before the DX7. It had a magnetic strip reader for loading pre-programmed sounds. It came in big wooden case, and could be confused with a piano. It, along with the GS-2, introduced the FM bells, brass, and EPs that we take for granted today.

Although the GS-1 had a new sound, it was extremely expensive ($16,000 if I remember right), and didn't sell well.

THAT SAID, in my estimation the new topic is whether Weezer's cover is an act of love or an act of pandering. And, further, whether a surprise Weird Al cameo is inspired genius, or an even more egregious act of pandering.

It's weird we're having this discussion. I mentally put Weezer in the same camp as Weird Al--you know, long running acts with a loyal fan base who can only achieve relevance through stunts, viral videos or wacky cameos/covers. I guess people are holding on to an idea of Weezer as a ROCK band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GRn_kZYFOA

the lyrics of this song are real dopey

I don't know, I guess I have a "Why not?" attitude to the mythologizing of the stars, the old man, the mountain, etc. And then when the song locks in with focus in the chorus, the lyrics lock in as well - he's gonna get there, he's gonna make it.

It's the clunky cadence and syntax of whole thing that gets me. I mean, what do I know, it's a huge hit that people still listen to and like, but it's so weird they couldn't just give those lyrics another pass rather than awkwardly try to squeeze them in. I think of wordy singers like Paul Simon or Elvis Costello, and they pull it off, and not to put them and Toto on the same tier, but some of the clunkiness in "Africa" just seems avoidable. It's like he had some sort of safari satori, wrote a poem, then found his experience so profound he refused to change a word.

the whole thing that is a bit suspect is not the song itself (which i actually think is good, maybe great in its production and performance), but the sort of arbitrary randomness of "let's elevate this chosen good thing to godhead status and let's just go crazy for it and theatrically enthusiastic" and it all comes off as kind of false. it's like the cover song version of "Bill Murray just crashed this wedding photo shoot and it gives us life" type shit. the quality of what's being elevated is separate from the showy enthusiasm.

omar, do you mean the original song, the weezerizing of it, or both?

xpost Like it or not, it's just peak cheese on so many levels: the words, the production, the performance. It's also peak smooth/yacht, and perhaps importantly, related to those things, peak '80s, in a way, and the cheesiness of the '80s (ironic or no) has imo translated really well down to subsequent generations. "Don't Stop Believing" is also cheesy, for example, but I don't necessarily identify it with the '80s the same way I do "Africa."

YMO I guess I mean everything in the present surrounding the newfound appreciation for the song, and I haven’t tracked it but it does seem to have started with this Weezer thing maybe? Like DSB it’s always been around and hugely popular but I guess its rediscovery and the present reaction to it.

YMP sorry

"Don't Stop Believing" is also cheesy, for example, but I don't necessarily identify it with the '80s the same way I do "Africa."

For me this is so true that my immediate reaction is "that's because it was released in the 70s" but nope, I checked, and it's '81. Still, there's no question in my mind that DSB is much closer in spirit to a big 70s Styx number than it is to "Africa" or "Safety Dance" or whatever we call 80s now.

the whole thing that is a bit suspect is not the song itself (which i actually think is good, maybe great in its production and performance), but the sort of arbitrary randomness of "let's elevate this chosen good thing to godhead status and let's just go crazy for it and theatrically enthusiastic" and it all comes off as kind of false. it's like the cover song version of "Bill Murray just crashed this wedding photo shoot and it gives us life" type shit. the quality of what's being elevated is separate from the showy enthusiasm.

quoted in full because this feels extremely otm and articulates feelings I was unable to

yes

otm

I haven’t tracked it but it does seem to have started with this Weezer thing maybe?

nah it's been going on for like a year before Weezer

At least. The Weezer cover was a response to the memeification and revived popularity, with a social media campaign clamouring for them to cover it.

I guess also there’s this sense of “now this song is cool bc this particular demographic is into it” which feels even more suspect, as if the millions of people who quite sincerely loved this song beforehand didn’t matter as much as the much smaller group who’s all “so much this” over the disingenuous revival. Like all “let’s play-act some eyes closed iPhones in the air emotion for this hilarious ‘80s ballad.”

I'm honestly not even sure how to gauge the level of sincerity vs disingenuosness wrt the revival or even its original popularity, nor whether its younger, newer fans even constitute a much smaller group than the first-time fans! I think someone (crut?) suggested that the popularity of tropical house might have something to do with it, which makes as much sense as anything.

Sorry, that again feels like assuming, possibly strawmanning. I don't think my happy reaction to seeing the Weezer cover was disingenuous and I haven't assumed that when I've seen a friend post about it on Facebook either.

xp