TOTO: An Appreciation

If you could be part of any band in history, what would you pick? Let’s assume that you can play whatever instrument you want at an expert level. A lot of people might say The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. Maybe something newer like Nirvana or Green Day. OK, so those aren’t new, considering they’re from like 30 years ago. Maroon 5? Foo Fighters? Might I suggest you consider the band TOTO?

Sure, they aren’t nearly as famous as those other bands. In fact, a lot of people under the age of 40 have probably never heard of them and if they have, I doubt they think about them much. This might have changed recently since Weezer had a bit of a hit covering their song “Africa” a few years ago. But let’s be real. That has a lot more to do with Weezer than TOTO.

So why would I suggest them? Because of all the work they’ve done that you might not know about. TOTO formed in 1977 when a group of LA session musicians decided to strike out on their own. Several of the members had played on and contributed writing to a number of albums by the likes of Sonny & Cher, Steely Dan, and Boz Scaggs. Here they are backing up Boz on a few of his biggest songs, “Lido Shuffle” and “Lowdown”.

TOTO released their first album in 1978. Their debut single, “Hold The Line”, was a top ten hit and solidified the band’s already growing reputation. The video is freaking hilarious. It’s a perfect relic from the late-70s. Mustaches, white boy afros, and people wearing shades for no reason.

There would be a number of other hits to follow on later albums. “Rosanna” and “Africa” in 1982, with the former being named for Rosanna Arquette. “I Won’t Hold You Back” in 1983. “I’ll Be Over You” in 1986. They won a bunch of Grammys over the years as well.

In the mid-80s TOTO released a particularly cool song if you’re a fan of jazz legend Miles Davis. He played on a track from their Fahrenheit album, “Don’t Stop Me Now”. The story goes that the band had completed the backing track and left sparse places in the arrangement for Miles to do his thing. And that’s just what he did.

But that’s not why I’m writing this. I want to showcase some of the studio work that members of the band contributed to. We already went over Boz Scaggs. But there are so many others. To be clear, TOTO as a whole didn’t play on all of these. Usually, it was 2 or 3 of the members. TOTO is a nebulous kind of band. They’re studio musicians, after all, so they had many guest players on their albums as well. But the driving force behind a band, the drummer, the bassist, the guitar, the keys, etc. have popped up on a TON of other tracks you probably know and love.

Let’s start where I got started on this musical appreciation journey for TOTO. And that’s with the king of blue-eyed soul himself, Michael McDonald. He’s had quite a career in his own right, playing with Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, and having a pretty darn good solo career. On his first album, If That’s What It Takes, McDonald relied on a number of TOTO members to round out his studio sound. Here’s my favorite song from that album:

God, what a video! Look at that chick’s hair! I’m telling you the ‘80s were a WILD time. If the instrumental track sounds familiar to you, it’s because it was heavily sampled on Nate Dogg and Warren G’s mid-90s hit “Regulate”. This wasn’t the only successful album from 1982 that the TOTO crew played on. Have you heard of a little record called Thriller?

That’s the TOTO crew providing much of the backing instrumentals. Eddie Van Halen played the solo but the drums, synths, bass, and the killer guitar lick is all TOTO. Another track from this massive album that’s a TOTO-centric track? “Human Nature,” which was also co-written by founding member Steve Porcaro.

Pretty good! The band members are so prolific and played on so many albums, it’s believed that collectively they’ve appeared on more than FIVE THOUSAND ALBUMS and sold more than half a BILLION albums. Seems too incredible to believe but it’s true.

I’ll close out this post with a song from Jackson Browne. There’s only one member of TOTO on this track, the drummer Jeff Porcaro, but the TOTO vibes are all there. If you find yourself listening to a song from the mid-70s to the late-80s there’s a good chance there’s a member of TOTO playing somewhere in the mix.

Oh, and you might be wondering about the name TOTO. While you might assume it has to do with the dog from The Wizard of Oz, it has nothing to do with that. It’s short for the Latin phrase “in toto” which means all-encompassing. Since the members had played with so many different artists across a number of genres they felt it appropriate.

I’d have to agree.