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* The song was featured in the first episode of the first season of ''[[Stranger Things]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.what-song.com/Tvshow/173/Stranger-Things/e/7382|title=Stranger Things - S1E1 "The Vanishing Will Byers" List of Songs|website=What-song|language=en-US|access-date=February 25, 2017|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225211423/http://www.what-song.com/Tvshow/173/Stranger-Things/e/7382|archivedate=February 25, 2017|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
* The song was featured in the first episode of the first season of ''[[Stranger Things]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.what-song.com/Tvshow/173/Stranger-Things/e/7382|title=Stranger Things - S1E1 "The Vanishing Will Byers" List of Songs|website=What-song|language=en-US|access-date=February 25, 2017|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225211423/http://www.what-song.com/Tvshow/173/Stranger-Things/e/7382|archivedate=February 25, 2017|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
* On January 27, 2016, [[Dax Shepard]] uploaded on his [[YouTube]] channel a video of his African safari vacation with wife [[Kristen Bell]], with them lip-syncing and dancing to the song.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ew.com/article/2016/01/29/kristen-bell-dax-shepard-africa-music-video/ |title=Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard: Couple sing Toto's Africa in homemade music video |author=Kickham, Dylan |publisher=''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' |date=January 29, 2016 |accessdate=June 8, 2017}}</ref>
* On January 27, 2016, [[Dax Shepard]] uploaded on his [[YouTube]] channel a video of his African safari vacation with wife [[Kristen Bell]], with them lip-syncing and dancing to the song.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ew.com/article/2016/01/29/kristen-bell-dax-shepard-africa-music-video/ |title=Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard: Couple sing Toto's Africa in homemade music video |author=Kickham, Dylan |publisher=''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' |date=January 29, 2016 |accessdate=June 8, 2017}}</ref>
* The song was featured on the last episode of season ten of [[Family Guy]]. Bonnie and Joe are about to divorce when Peter learns that the song was playing in the strip club where they first met; he and Lois conspire to get them together in the same club with the song playing, which succeeds in rekindling their love.


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 08:18, 19 July 2017

"Africa"
Song
B-side"Good for You" (The Americas)[1]
"We Made It" (international)[1]

"Africa" is a 1982 song by the American rock band Toto. It was included on their 1982 album Toto IV, and released as a single on September 30, 1982. It reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 5, 1983 (the band's only number one there), and number three on the UK Singles Chart the same month. The song was written by the band's keyboardist/vocalist David Paich and drummer Jeff Porcaro.

Background

The initial idea and words for the song came from David Paich. Jeff Porcaro explains the idea behind the song: "a white boy is trying to write a song on Africa, but since he's never been there, he can only tell what he's seen on TV or remembers in the past."[3]

Songwriter David Paich said:

At the beginning of the '80s I watched a late night documentary on TV about all the terrible death and suffering of the people in Africa. It both moved and appalled me, and the pictures just wouldn't leave my head. I tried to imagine how I'd feel about if I was there and what I'd do.[4]

In 2015 Paich explained the song is about a man's love of a continent: Africa, rather than just a personal romance.[5]

Musically, the song took quite some time to assemble, as Paich and Porcaro explain:

On "Africa" you hear a combination of marimba with GS 1. The kalimba is all done with the GS 1; it's six tracks of GS 1 playing different rhythms. I wrote the song on CS-80, so that plays the main part of the entire tune.[6] So when we were doing "Africa" I set up a bass drum, snare drum and a hi-hat, and Lenny Castro set up right in front of me with a conga. We looked at each other and just started playing the basic groove. ...The backbeat is on 3, so it's a half-time feel, and it's 16th notes on the hi-hat. Lenny started playing a conga pattern. We played for five minutes on tape, no click, no nothing. We just played. And I was singing the bass line for 'Africa' in my mind, so we had a relative tempo. Lenny and I went into the booth and listened back to the five minutes of that same boring pattern. We picked out the best two bars that we thought were grooving, and we marked those two bars on tape...Maybe it would have taken two minutes to program that in the Linn, and it took about half an hour to do this. But a Linn machine doesn't feel like that!

Porcaro also acknowledged that he was influenced by the sounds created by fellow Los Angeles session musicians Milt Holland and Emil Richards in addition to the New York World's Fair and a National Geographic Special.[7]

Music video

The music video was directed by Steve Barron.[8] In the video, a researcher in a library (portrayed by band member David Paich) tries to match a scrap of a picture of a shield to the book from which it was torn out. As he continues his search, a librarian (Jenny Douglas-McRae) working at a desk takes occasional notice of him, while natives in the surrounding jungle begin to close in on the library. When the researcher finds a book entitled Africa, the native throws a spear (the shield the native carries is the same as the one in the picture), toppling stacks of books. Africa falls open to the page from which the scrap was torn, but a lantern lands on it and sets it on fire, after which the librarian's eyeglasses are shown falling to the floor. The scenes are intercut with shots of a spinning globe and the band performing atop a stack of giant hardcover books, in which Africa is the topmost.

This video also features Mike Porcaro on bass, replacing David Hungate, who had already left the band before the video was made.

Reception

In 2012, "Africa" was listed by music magazine NME in 32nd place on its list of "50 Most Explosive Choruses".[9]

Personnel

Guest musicians

Charts and certifications

In addition to the above, the song also reached number 1 on the New Zealand iTunes chart on May 15, 2013.[21]

Samples

Covers

  • The song was used in an advertisement for Castle Lager in South Africa in the late 1990s.[24]
  • The song was used in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the fictional radio station Emotion 98.3.[25]
  • A Foster Farms commercial in the United States features a choir of animatronic chickens singing the song as part of the poultry producer's "Amazing Chicken" campaign.[26]
  • "Africa" was featured in multiple episodes of the 20th season of South Park.[27]
  • The song was featured at the beginning of the Scrubs episode "My Way Home". The song was being played through J.D.'s iPod and the band's name was the first of many references to The Wizard of Oz in the episode.[28]
  • The song was featured in the first episode of the first season of Stranger Things.[29]
  • On January 27, 2016, Dax Shepard uploaded on his YouTube channel a video of his African safari vacation with wife Kristen Bell, with them lip-syncing and dancing to the song.[30]
  • The song was featured on the last episode of season ten of Family Guy. Bonnie and Joe are about to divorce when Peter learns that the song was playing in the strip club where they first met; he and Lois conspire to get them together in the same club with the song playing, which succeeds in rekindling their love.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Toto - Africa at Discogs. [ONLINE]". Archived from the original on October 27, 2016. Retrieved May 1, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "Explore: Soft Rock | Top Songs". AllMusic. Archived from the original on November 12, 2011. Retrieved September 8, 2014.
  3. ^ "Official TOTO Website - Encyclopedia". www.toto99.com. April 18, 2007. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Official TOTO Website - Releases". www.toto99.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved November 3, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Melissa Locker (May 5, 2015). "Q&'80s: Toto's Dave Paich on Writing and Recording 'Africa'". Grantland.com. (end paragraph 2 and 8). Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved June 4, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Keyboard, 09/1995
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 1, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ "Toto - "Africa"". mvdbase.com. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved November 3, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "50 Most Explosive Choruses - #32 Toto - Africa - NME.COM". NME. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  11. ^ a b c d Steffen Hung. "Toto - Africa". swedishcharts.com. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved November 3, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "NZ Top 40 Singles Chart | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. November 14, 1982. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "UK Top 40 Chart Archive, British Singles & Album Charts". Everyhit.com. March 16, 2000. Retrieved November 3, 2011.
  14. ^ "NZ Top 40 Singles Chart | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. May 20, 2013. Archived from the original on May 7, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "Talent Almanac 1984" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 95, no. 52. Billboard Publications, Inc. December 24, 1983. p. TA-18. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  16. ^ "Canadian single certifications – Toto – Africa". Music Canada.
  17. ^ "Italian single certifications – Toto – Africa" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Select "1983" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Type "Africa" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli" under "Sezione".
  18. ^ "New Zealand single certifications – Toto – Africa". Recorded Music NZ.
  19. ^ "British single certifications – Toto – Africa". British Phonographic Industry. Select singles in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Africa in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  20. ^ "American single certifications – Toto – Africa". Recording Industry Association of America.
  21. ^ "Toto thanks NZ for No. 1 single - 30 years later - Entertainment - NZ Herald News". Nzherald.co.nz. May 16, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  22. ^ "Spotify".
  23. ^ "Song Premiere: Affiance Cover Toto's "Africa"". Newnoisemagazine.com. August 19, 2016. Archived from the original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ "Top Ten South African adverts from our younger days". The South African. Archived from the original on September 8, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ "The 25 Best Songs From The Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Soundtrack". Complex. Archived from the original on February 28, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ "Foster Farms' Harmonic Choir of 'Amazing Chickens'". Little Black Book. Archived from the original on January 28, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  27. ^ Caffrey, Dan. "In the dawn of the Trump era, the satire on South Park writes itself". A.V. Club. Archived from the original on November 18, 2016. Retrieved November 19, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  28. ^ Savorelli, Antonio. Beyond Sitcom: New Directions in American Television Comedy. McFarland. p. 39. ISBN 9780786458431. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  29. ^ "Stranger Things - S1E1 "The Vanishing Will Byers" List of Songs". What-song. Archived from the original on February 25, 2017. Retrieved February 25, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  30. ^ Kickham, Dylan (January 29, 2016). "Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard: Couple sing Toto's Africa in homemade music video". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 8, 2017. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

Further reading

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