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EXPLAINED: Jeff porcaro | Vintage Vibes

"It's the silliest, most oddball song in our entire catalogue, but it truly hit a nerve." How Toto used a synthesised flute riff and a drum loop to concoct a classic and a cultural phenomenon

Written to get their label off their back, Toto's Africa – written by a man who'd never been there – has become inescapable

Louder

“I’m going, ’We’re from North Hollywood! What do we have to sing about Africa?’“: How Toto crafted their deathless classic

Song has streamed over a billion times

MusicRadar

“I think it’s too dumb for anybody to insult their own intelligence by mounting a serious critique of it”: How Toto crafted their deathless classic, Africa

Song has streamed over a billion times

MusicRadar

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“All of these guys were behind the glass looking at me like, ‘You better bring it, kid’: Steve Lukather remembers his high pressure first solo for Toto

He nailed Hold The Line in one take

MusicRadar

“Jeff Beck would pick up my fretless and play the craziest licks. I was in awe”: Pino Palladino’s adventures with The Who, John Mayer, Eric Clapton and his Music Man fretless bass

One of the most identifiable bass players on the planet on why he shifted back to fretted, embracing flatwounds even though they were unfashionable, and how he’s still topping the charts with the likes of Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé and Ed Sheeran

Guitar World

“Everybody knew Jeff was a great drummer. It was the same when I joined The Who to replace Kenney Jones – and when I was with Mick Jagger, playing the Stones tunes that Charlie played”: How Simon Phillips succeeded in replacing Jeff Porcaro in Toto

"They didn't want somebody to come in and try to imitate Jeff"

MusicRadar

“Porcaro makes the whole process look effortless and easy. We can bet that this didn't happen by accident, or overnight!”: Exploring the genius of Jeff Porcaro's Rosanna Shuffle

Having a groove named after you is possibly the highest accolade a drummer could ask for, so join us as we dissect the Porcaro Shuffle

MusicRadar

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"Grohl's randomised fills and relentless single strokes at the end of the song makes this one of his greatest drum performances on record": Listen to 11 isolated drum tracks from rock's drumming legends

Led Zeppelin, Rush, The Beatles, Slipknot, The Police, and more

MusicRadar

“Even the seemingly straight-ahead rockers feature those clever fills and time changes that make the band so unique": Hydra may not be Toto’s best selling album, but it remains their proggiest

The seasoned American session stars changed tack after the success of their self-titled debut, inserting splashes of musical colour that became part of their unique style

Louder

“I don’t worry about labels and I’ve ended up in the premier prog band of all time. If I’d listened to haters I’d have stopped after my first record”: Billy Sherwood’s journey to Yes started with the wayward World Trade

By the time he reunited his 80s group for third album Unify, he’d replaced Chris Squire and started fronting Asia. None of it would have happened without Toto and Gentle Giant

Louder

“It threw me off completely. Here I am in front of 16,000 people, on the stage where Jeff Beck stood, where The Beatles stood, and where Jimi Hendrix stood”: Steve Lukather on wielding Beck’s Strat, jams with George Harrison –and his best solo slip-up

Luke sets the record straight on recent fake interview about modern players, explains how he knew when Michael Jackson liked his playing, and hints at what to expect from his new Music Man signature

Guitar World

“He turned out to be the nicest, funniest guy I'd ever hung out with": Steve Lukather on meeting his hero, George Harrison

Toto man shared stage with both Harrison and Eddie Van Halen

MusicRadar

“I gave him my Les Paul to use, which, just by him holding it, increased its value by like a million dollars”: In 1992, Steve Lukather was still getting over meeting his Beatles icon – then there was a knock on the stage door

For one night, the Toto icon wound up onstage with Eddie Van Halen –and his guitar hero

Guitar World

“We’d all heard the myth of Miles Davis – the scary Miles Davis. But he liked us skinny little white boys!”: How the jazz legend ended up on a Toto record

And instead of payment, he grabbed a painting off the band’s drummer

MusicRadar

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The Guardian - UK

‘Leave your ego at the door’: from Thriller to Sinatra, Quincy Jones collaborators tell the stories behind his songs

Whether hashing out Beat It over the phone or jamming with Snoop Dogg, artists who worked alongside Jones recall his skill, kindness and lust for life

MusicRadar

“He’d be like, ‘Let’s throw Lukather in there.’ The next thing I knew, I’m in a room with Stevie Wonder and all these guys. It was like a childhood dream come true”: Steve Lukather on Quincy Jones’ ability to create “magic” in the studio

"Everyone played their best around Quincy. He commanded the room. Everyone was their extra best for every take”

MusicRadar

How to recreate classic recorded drum sounds from The Beatles, Metallica, Nirvana and more

ArtOfDrumming shows you how to make your drum recordings sound like the greats

Louder

"A perfect blend of epic songwriting and virtuoso musicianship”: Can you hear the influence of Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd in Toto’s proggiest moments?

Operating on the cusp of the genre, they’ve provided plenty of evidence over the years that their roots lay in prog

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Louder

“It was a no-brainer to get Jeff Porcaro from Toto to produce. He’d played on more hit records than anybody I knew”: how cult melodic rockers The Strand made the greatest AOR debut album you’ve never heard

What links Toto and Steve Irwin: Crocodile Hunter? Cult US rockers The Strand

MusicRadar

Bee Gees producer Albhy Galuten on creating the first ever drum loop: "We found two bars in Night Fever that felt really good, copied it to tape, spliced it together and ran a huge loop over the mic stands and across the studio"

With 18 number one singles and 100,000,000 copies sold, Grammy-winning producer Albhy Galuten continues to operate at the cutting edge of music today

Louder

”They called me about a week after Jeff Porcaro passed… they’d grown up together, they’d lost a blood brother, and suddenly the all-American West Coast band has a tea bag in it!” How Simon Phillips joined and left Toto

The multi-genre drummer spent over two decades with the band – but insists it was surprisingly easy to leave when the time came

Louder

"She went on several talk shows and said it was about her. But I can tell you that it wasn't": the real story behind Toto's Rosanna

Inspired by upcoming actress Rosanna Arquette - and John Bonham! - Toto knew Rosanna would be a hit the moment David Paich first played it on a piano

MusicRadar

10 famous father/son drumming duos

The dads who raised successful sticksmen

Guitar World

Steve Lukather: "The bassline was easy. It wasn't like I had to be Jaco Pastorius"

How the legendary guitarist ended up playing bass on Michael Jackson’s Beat It

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