Toto’s Steve Lukather hits out at Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo’s “weird” ‘Africa’ cover: “I think he did it to take the piss… and it blew up in his face”

nme.com:

Toto‘s Steve Lukather has criticised Weezer for their ‘Africa’ cover, calling the circumstances surrounding it “weird”.Weezer’s take on the karaoke classic came in 2018, following a fan-driven campaign beginning in December 2017, urging them to cover the track.

After briefly trolling fans with a version of Toto’s ‘Roseanna’ instead, they eventually shared their cover – even releasing it on vinyl.Returning the favour the same year, Toto then shared their take on Weezer’s ‘Hash Pipe’ – first performing it at a gig in Vancouver and then releasing a studio version.The band also let their thoughts be known about Weezer’s cover of ‘Africa’, giving it a “B++” and saying Rivers Cuomo and co “kicked ass on it.”Lukather added: “Our music has such little nuance.

We spent so much meticulous time. These guys stood this shit up in an afternoon.”Now, though, it seems that things aren’t so friendly between the two bands.

Speaking to the New & Approved podcast, Lukather provided some new insight into their relationship, after host Matt Pinfield mentioned Cuomo “loving” ‘Africa’.The Toto frontman quickly interjected, saying: “I don’t know about him loving the song, man.