Weezer‘s cover of Toto‘s perennial favorite “Africa” undoubtedly became one of the band’s biggest successes, but Toto guitarist Steve Lukather isn’t sure the reasons behind the cover were genuine.
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The cover first arrived in May 2018 following a months-long campaign in which a then-14-year-old social media user urged Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo to cover the song. As a result, Weezer released their own rendition of Toto’s “Rosanna” as a way to troll the campaign, ultimately unveiling their version of “Africa” just days later.
Reaction to the cover was overwhelmingly-positive, with the cover becoming their first to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 since 2009, and their first to top the Alternative Songs chart since “Pork and Beans” in 2008.
The viral quality of the song continued in the following months, too. Not only was the track accompanied by a “Weird Al” Yankovic-featuring music video, but it was included on their self-titled covers album (also known as the Teal Album), and inspired Toto to respond in kind with a cover of Weezer’s 2001 single “Hash Pipe”.
However, while much of the attention seemed to tie in with the track’s good-natured origins and desire to lean into an online joke, Lukather recently took part in an interview with Matt Pinfield’s New & Approved program, telling the host he’s not sure if the cover’s origins were as affectionate as they seemed.
“I don’t know about him loving the song, man,” Lukather said of Pinfield’s claim that Cuomo was fond of “Africa”. “I don’t think that’s the case at all. I think he did it to take the piss out of it and it blew up in his face and now he’s got to play it every night.
“I tried to reach out to this guy and be friendly and then it just got weird,” Lukather added. “I don’t want to get into it, but peace and love. It was good for them, it was good for us.”
Lukather’s comments echo earlier statements he made in a 2020 interview with Rolling Stone, where he explained he was left with “hurt feelings” following his attempts to speak to Cuomo.
“I tried to reach out to Rivers,” he explained. “I said, ‘Hey, man, isn’t this funny? Whether you like us or not, it’s working out good for both of us.’ Silence! The cat refused to talk to me! I’m friends with the biggest rock & roll stars in the world, and this is the only cat that refuses to talk to me! I’m sorry, Rivers. You made a lot of fuckin’ money off this. You should be a little bit more thankful. But I got nothing bad to say about them. Some of them were cool, but Rivers really hurt my feelings.”
Toto keyboardist Steve Porcaro – who departed the band in 2019 – echoed Lukather’s opinions, telling the publication that when he performed “Africa” with Weezer on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he was backstage when Weezer’s manager informed them it was gaining traction on the airwaves.
“I saw Rivers wince,” Porcaro explained. “They initially did it as a goof, but now they realized they’d have to play the song for a lot longer than they thought they would. This whole business runs on hit records. If you get one, you better be prepared to play it for the rest of your life.”
Indeed, Weezer’s cover of “Africa” became a staple of their live sets from 2018 onwards, though fell out of favor following the launch of their Voyage to the Blue Planet tour in 2024 which saw them performing their 1994 debut album in full for its 30th anniversary.
