Last week, Weezer shocked pretty much everyone by giving into a fan campaign which aimed to get the alt-rockers to cover a classic track by Toto. However, after intentionally covering the wrong song, the band have made good by releasing their cover of the ’80s hit, ‘Africa’.
We recently noted how back in December, a 14-year-old Twitter user named Mary began a viral campaign with the intention of getting Weezer to cover Toto’s ‘Africa’.
“It was just a goofy joke,” explained Mary in an interview with Vice. “It was from Weezer was talking about they were inspired for their new album [Pacific] Daydream, what inspired them. So I jokingly said, “Oh I bet they were inspired by ‘Africa’ by Toto for their new album.”
“It was just an absurd joke. And then I was like, ‘I wonder if I can get them to cover the song.'”
However, after fans began to pile onto the #WeezerCoverAfrica, the group finally responded by releasing their cover of Toto’s… ‘Rosanna’.
“#WeezerCoverAfrica turned into #WeezerCoveringRosanna ???” Tweeted Mary after the band dropped the cover, indicating that she, like many other of the campaigns supporters, had been well and truly played.
However, it appears that this was just all part of one big long con, with Weezer today releasing their cover of Toto’s ‘Africa’, complete with album artwork that features Mary’s original Tweet.
Of course, there might be something to be said about how ‘Rosanna’ is the opening track Toto’s 1981 album, IV, but it’s ‘Africa’ that closes the record. Y’know, coming full circle and all that.
Toto guitarist Steve Lukather took to Twitter earlier to express his approval for the cover, while also offering a brief bit of history about the track.
“Very flattered and thanks Weezer,” Lukather wrote. “We recorded this -2nd take NO rehearsal in 1981. Not that anyone cares.. hahaha.”
“We were kids. Lived in the studio working on our stuff and every session in LA. Best times ever,” he continued, before sharing a desire to meet Rivers Cuomo and the rest of the band.
https://twitter.com/stevelukather/status/1001425138187952128
Of course, Weezer fans might be wondering if this new campaign is actually leading up to something far bigger than Internet approval. After all, you might recall that back in February, Rivers Cuomo revealed that the group’s twelfth studio album (and fifth self-titled album), known as The Black Album, was set to be released… last Friday.
Rather than a new album, do you know what we got? Their cover of ‘Rosanna’, that’s what. Maybe this is all part of a big publicity campaign to get us on board before they drop the new record soon? Well, we can only hope.
Check out Toto’s ‘Africa’:
