Toto - Rosanna

We don’t feature many bands named after fictional dogs here on Rock Song of the Week. Granted, the pool to select from isn’t exactly rife with juicy fish – barring Dutch disco duo Snoopy, Google-fu isn’t exactly turning up enough results to trouble the bed situation at the RSPCA. Definitely a gap in the market that leaves more room for the potential introduction of “Clifford the Big Red Prog” to the masses! 

With that said, a name is a name; Toto could have called themselves “Crap Steve and the Terrible Musicians” and they’d still be a powerhouse of the classic rock world. Made up of a roster of players so talented that the Devil himself hopes none of them show up for a fiddle competition, Toto hit the stage in 1977 off the back of individual appearances in many popular 70s bands. They didn’t hit the ground running so much as sprinting, Toto becoming a best-seller thanks to all-timers like Hold The Line and I’ll Supply The Love. All of which makes it all the more surprising that their next two efforts, 1979s Hydra and 81s Turn Back, didn’t do nearly as well chart-wise despite good sales. 

Then, Toto IV happened, and what an album it was. 80s nights at your local karaoke bar would never be the same again. A smorgasbord of genres, tastes, and styles that eschewed the more formulaic look of the last two albums to experiment and be itself and boy did it work, making a household name out of the band all over again and cementing their place at every wedding disco this side of the Earth. The album smashed more records than a bull in a vinyl shop, carried on the wave of their most famous hit Africa… which we haven’t selected this week. Gotcha! 

No, we are never a fan of the obvious pick, so we’ve decided to instead grace your earholes with the lead track Rosanna this week, an earworm so filling that a family of birds would have to freeze the leftovers. It’s got a little bit of everything, from big guitars to anthemic, Billy Joel-esque chanting that you’re going to have to amputate your hands for to stop yourself from clicking your fingers along to it. It’s a top, top track that needs all the attention you have – so put down your usual Friday work for four minutes and jam out as best you can!