Saturday, July 11, 2009

Toto too?

Toto. Do you remember "Hold The Line"? Dumb lyric, but great music. Have you listened to them since "Africa" or "Rosanna"? If not, shame on you! This is the greatest single group of musicians playing pop/rock music ever. (Unless you want to throw the Funk Brothers into the mix, the guys who played on all the classic Motown tunes of the '60's and early '70's.) But I'm talking about pop/rock, not R&B/Soul. The musicality of these guys is rivaled by no other band. They were able to write songs that made it onto mainstream radio, while playing parts and solos that most musicians only dream of coming up with. Listen to "Pamela", "Stop Loving You", or "King Of The World". There is a level of commitment to what these guys played and sang that is unequaled by another band. Unless you include Steely Dan, and they weren't (aren't) really an actual band. And now Toto does not exist. Why? Because the pinhead ticket buyers in these United States of America would rather shell out hard earned cash to see no-talent folks like Taylor Swift and the Jonas Bros. Toto cannot sell enough tickets to make touring feasible, except in Europe and Southeast Asia. So one of the best groups of musicians to record and play music is now a memory. Buy a couple DVD's and see what you missed. Flawless playing, incredible writing, beautiful music my friends. Is this starting to sound like a tirade? I'm sorry, it is! I am just sick of seeing the music industry swirl down the toilet bowl. The best music and musicians ignored for whatever/whoever the record companies are choosing to ram down our collective throats this month. Great music not listened too, while Pro Tooled blasphemies flood the airwaves. Where are the great new bands? Musicians? Songs? Where is pop music going - to the grave? That's what it feels like. I'm sad. And I'm pissed.

1 comment:

Shawn Nanto said...

Well said, Toto is amazing. It was a sad, sad day when I saw the Jonas brothers with Stevie Wonder doing Superstition. They messed up the words (like forgot some of them). It's like eating a plate of your favorite food then washing it down with rotten curdled milk.