Steve Lukather Didn’t Care for Weezer’s ‘Africa’ Cover
Weezer covered Toto’s “Africa” in 2018, and the cover was a significant success for the band. It peaked at No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100. (The only other song of theirs to chart higher was “Beverly Hills” at No. 10 back in October 2005.) However, Toto leader Steve Lukather didn’t seem too impressed.
The Weezer cover was brought up to Lukather during a recent interview with Matt Pinfield. Lukather questioned whether River Cuomo and Co. actually enjoyed the track and said he thought they covered “Africa” in order to “take the piss out of it.” Lukather said the effort “blew up” in the face of Cuomo, who now has to regularly perform the song.
“I tried to reach out to this guy and be friendly and then it just got weird,” said Lukather. “I don’t want to get into it, but — peace and love. It was good for them, it was good for us.”
Despite Lukather’s feelings on all of this, Toto did go on to cover Weezer’s “Hash Pipe” shortly after they released their cover of “Africa.” As of publishing, no one from Weezer has responded to Lukather’s comments.
