History Music / Toto

* TheManBehindTheMan: As prolific session musicians and songwriters, the band members were involved in some way or another with about half of all the records that came out of California during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and in their own way they defined what American pop music would be like at this time. Jeff Porcaro in particular is lauded for his influence as a drummer.

!!Tropes:

* TheManBehindTheMan: As prolific session musicians and songwriters, the band members were involved in some way or another with about half of all the records that came out of California during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and in their own way they defined what American pop music would be like at this time. Jeff Porcaro in particular is lauded for his influence as a percussionist.

* OneSteveLimit: Averted with Steve Lukather and Steve Porcaro.

** This was averted, naturally, with Mike Porcaro, who is very well-like within and outside of the band.

* ExecutiveMeddling: They were hit with it pretty hard after Joseph Williams quit. Based on the assumption that neither Williams nor Kimball had provided a suitable "Face" for the group (see below), the record company decided to force a new singer, Jean-Michel Byron (Lukather frustratedly complained, "the guy had never even heard ''Music/LedZeppelin IV''"), into the band.

* HeyItsThatGuy: The band members' names frequently show up in the credits for other successful albums of the era. Most notably, ''[[Music/MichaelJackson Thriller]]'' featured instrumental and arranging contributions by Lukather, Paich and Jeff and Steve Porcaro (the latter also co-wrote "Human Nature"). In addition, long before they found success on their own, they appeared on several albums recorded by Boz Scaggs.

While the group's music incorporates HardRock, ProgressiveRock, {{Soul}} and {{Jazz}}, they are most commonly associated with the SoftRock and [=AOR=] categories. Indeed, they are often noted as the TropeCodifier for the latter genre; their keyboard-driven music combined with Kimball's soaring vocal and Lukather's slashing guitar arguably bridged the gap between FleetwoodMac and {{Music/Foreigner}}.

!!Tropes:'

* BandofRelatives: The three Porcaro Brothers.

* BreakupSong: "I'll Be Over You," "Stop Loving You," "Hold The Line," "Without Your Love," and "Straight For The Heart" just to name a few.

* OneWomanSong: "Rosanna" is their most famous; Steve Porcaro had briefly dated actress RosannaArquette and he dedicated the song to her, although Paich insists that it's not really about anyone in particular and Arquette's forename just happened to fit the chorus. Curiously enough, they've got a song with a woman's name ending in 'a' for the title on most of their albums ("Angela", "Rosanna", "Holyanna", "Lea", "Pamela", "Anna"), with one exception being "Melanie" from their Mindfields album.

* PrettyBoy: David Hungate, Joseph Williams, and possibly Mike Porcaro. Steve Lukather during Toto's earlier years may count as well.

* NobodyLovesTheBassist: David Hungate. Despite playing on their most successful albums he's less well-known than Mike Porcaro, who was in fact originally intended to be a founding member, according to Steve Lukather, but was kept out by executives with the band's record label, Columbia Records, who wanted to retain the successful chemistry of the line-up from Boz Scaggs' critically acclaimed ''Silk Degrees'' album, as Hungate, Lukather and other members of Toto except for Kimball were Scaggs' backing band at the time.

The nucleus of the group consisted of school friends David Paich (keyboards, vocals) Steve Porcaro (keyboards, vocals), Jeff Porcaro (drums, percussion) and Steve Lukather (guitars, vocals), all experienced session musicians and aspiring songwriters who had played on hundreds of records between them. They were soon joined by the dynamic lead vocalist Bobby Kimball and bass guitarist David Hungate, who would leave after their fourth album and be replaced by the third Porcaro brother, Mike.

* AGoodNameForARockBand: They're officially named after the dog from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', but stories went around for a long time that Bobby Kimball was actually a Cajun whose real name was Robert Toteaux and the band was named after him.

!!Tropes:* AGoodNameForARockBand: They're officially named after the dog from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', but stories went around for a long time that Bobby Kimball was actually a Cajun whose real name was Robert Toteaux and the band was named after him.

* ExecutiveMeddling: They were hit with it pretty hard after Joseph Williams quit. Based on the assumption that neither Williams nor Kimball had provided a suitable "Face" for the group (see below), the record company decided to force a new singer, Jean-Michel Byron (Lukather frustratedly complained, "the guy had never even heard ''LedZeppelin IV''"), into the band.

* HeyItsThatGuy: The band members' names frequently show up in the credits for other successful albums of the era. Most notably, ''[[MichaelJackson Thriller]]'' featured instrumental and arranging contributions by Lukather, Paich and Jeff and Steve Porcaro (the latter also co-wrote "Human Nature"). In addition, long before they found success on their own, they appeared on several albums recorded by Boz Scaggs.

* NewSoundAlbum: All of their albums were characterised by an [=AOR=] sheen, but ''Hydra'' saw the band attempting ProgressiveRock and ''Turn Back'' was strongly influenced by English HardRock groups like {{Music/Queen}} and Music/LedZeppelin.

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!!Tropes:
* AGoodNameForARockBand: They're officially named after the dog from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', but stories went around for a long time that Bobby Kimball was actually a Cajun whose real name was Robert Toteaux and the band was named after him.

* NobodyLovesTheBassist: David Hungate. Despite playing on their most successful albums he's less well-known than Mike Porcaro, who was in fact originally intended to be a founding member, according to Steve Lukather, but was kept out by executives with the band's record label, Columbia Records, who wanted to retain the successful chemistry of the line-up from Boz Scaggs' critically acclaimed ''Silk Degrees'' album, as Hungate, Lukather and other members of Toto except for Kimball, were Scaggs' backing band at the time.

----

* NobodyLovesTheBassist: David Hungate. Despite playing on their most successful albums he's less well-known than Mike Porcaro, who was in fact originally intended to be a founding member, according to Steve Lukather, but was kept out by executives with the band's record label, Columbia Records, who wanted to retain the successful chemistry of the line-up from Boz Scaggs' critically acclaimed ''Silk Degrees'' album, as Hungate, Lukather and other members of Toto, except for Bobby Kimball, were Scaggs' backing band at the time.

* TropeCodifier: For Adult-Oriented Rock ([=AOR=]). Only ''{{Music/Boston}}'' and ''[[Music/{{Journey}} Infinity]]'' beat them to being the TropeMaker.

* NobodyLovesTheBassist: David Hungate. Despite playing on their most successful albums he's less well-known than Mike Porcaro, who was in fact originally intended to be a founding member, according to Steve Lukather, but was kept out by executives with the band's record label, Columbia Records, who wanted to retain the successful chemistry of the line-up from Boz Scaggs' critically acclaimed ''Silk Degrees'' album as Hungate, Lukather and other members of Toto, except for Bobby Kimball, were Scaggs' backing band at the time.

* HeyItsThatGuy: The band members' names frequently show up in the credits for other successful albums of the era. Most notably, ''[[MichaelJackson Thriller]]'' featured instrumental and arranging contributions by Lukather, Paich and Jeff and Steve Porcaro (the latter also co-wrote "Human Nature").

* NobodyLovesTheBassist: David Hungate. Despite playing on their most successful albums he's less well-known than Mike Porcaro, who was originally intended to be a founding member, but was kept out by record executives who wanted the same group that played on Boz Scaggs' ''Silk Degrees'' album.

* TropeCodifier: For Adult-Oriented Rock ([=AOR=]). Only ''{{Music/Boston}}'' and ''[[{{Journey}} Infinity]]'' beat them to being the TropeMaker.

Their greatest success was 1982's ''Toto IV'', which included the number one hit "Africa" and the number two hit "Rosanna" and won six Grammy awards for the band. Kimball left shortly after and the band's fortunes declined somewhat, but they found a semi-permanent replacement in the form of another school friend named Joseph Williams, son of the prolific film composer JohnWilliams. In spite of Jeff Porcaro's death as a result of a freak gardening accident in 1992, the band continues to perform today (with Jeff's drumming role taken over by Simon Philips), sometimes with Kimball and sometimes with Williams.

* {{Bishounen}}: David Hungate, Joseph Williams, and possibly Mike Porcaro. Steve Lukather during Toto's earlier years may count as well.

* OneWomanSong: "Rosanna" is their most famous; Steve Porcaro had briefly dated actress RosannaArquette and he dedicated the song to her, although Paich insists that it's not really about anyone in particular and Arquette's forename just happened to fit the chorus. Curiously enough, they've got a song with a woman's name ending in 'a' for the title on most of their albums ("Angela", "Rosanna", "Holyanna", "Lea", "Pamela", "Anna").

* Bishounen: David Hungate, Joseph Williams, and possibly Mike Porcaro. Steve Lukather during Toto's earlier years may count as well.

* EpicRiff: The triplet piano motif and guitar riff in "Hold the Line" are probably the best known.

Their greatest success was 1982's ''Toto IV'', which included the number one hit "Africa" and the number two hit "Rosanna" and won six Grammy awards for the band. Kimball left shortly after and the band's fortunes declined somewhat, but they found a semi-permanent replacement in the form of another school friend named Joseph Williams, son of the prolific film composer JohnWilliams. In spite of Jeff Porcaro's death as a result of a freak gardening accident in 1992, the band continues to perform today, sometimes with Kimball and sometimes with Williams.

{{Music/Boston}} and {{Music/Journey}} may have arrived on the scene first, but there was no band that defined the [[ArenaRock AOR]] boom of the [[TheSeventies late seventies]] and [[TheEighties early eighties]] quite like Toto.