mrontemp: Toto v Journey - Who Would Win?

Today's question - if a battle of the bands were to be held between Tot and Journey, who would win? Please share your answers in the comments. If you are embarrassed to answer this question, you may comment anonymously.

Now, if you read my tweets, you would know my position on this critical matter.

But for those who don't follow me on Twitter, here's part of the conversation about Toto's "Africa" yesterday. Let me set this in context, exploring my last.fm addiction:

oemperor writing process progress stuff while listening to last.fm. yellow magic orchestra. u.t. (1981). this is a good thing.

oemperor i bless the rains down in africa. (yup, i'm a sucker for pop pop. of course, i consider the sex pistols a pop band.)

(More about "bless" and "pop" later. But for now, I kept on listening.)

oemperor now i'm transported back to the 1970s, when gc murphy's singles list mislabeled the elo song as "strange music" (s/b magic). i was offended.

(G.C. Murphy was a variety store in Alexandria, Virginia at the Bradlee Shopping Center. It's gone now. You can see why; lack of quality. But now one of my earlier tweets was starting to get some attention from the tweeple.)

jesatiu @oemperor dude, i just found that cassette in the closet at my parents house...toto rules. lol

(For my younger readers, a "cassette" was kind of like a VHS tape...never mind! Let's get back to "bless.")

oemperor @jesatiu just learned correct words. i always thought it was "i guess it rains." when listening, sounded like "i guess the rains." looked up

(I then moved on to another topic.)

oemperor dang, i have to leave the bongo bong. the meeting will not be as exciting as the bongo bong. this monkey go bye bye.

(Incidentally, the meeting was more exciting than I thought. The visiting sales rep kicked the meeting off by showing pictures of his house, surrounded by snow. But as I was looking at snow pictures, @jesatiu was discussing web accuracy.)

jesatiu @oemperor i have found lyrics lookups are not "that" reliable, and i recall it going the way you do...so still unsure if we have truth. hmm

(I never got around to mentioning that I confirmed the "bless" lyric from several sources. So anyways, while this was going on, a third person entered the conversation - although I didn't know it at the time.)

TeriLussier @jesatiu Toto rules?!!! You did not just say that outloud, did you? funny. Aren't they responsible for 'Africa' and 'Roseanna'

jesatiu @TeriLussier "responsible for" like owning the red-headed stepchild...sigh...alas, that's the group...c'mon...man...hehe ;)

TeriLussier @jesatiu yeah, I'll leave you alone to enjoy your cassette. Happy knowing I'm not there to share it with you! :-D

jesatiu @TeriLussier "hold the LINE...love isn't always on time...it's not in the way that you say that you love me..." haha...

jesatiu @TeriLussier just curious (btw toto is Not a fav group-in my more refined years-lol) but what's on your top playlist? non-pop i take it?

(Now bear in mind that I had no idea that this entire conversation was going on. In fact, I was still doing the Bongo Bong in my mind mentally at this stage. But @jesatiu informed me that I had caused a bit of controversy on Twitter - OK, not Mark Zuckerberg/Sarah Lacy level controversy, but close.)

jesatiu @oemperor they are talking about us...cause we like the song "africa" pfft...we're being labeled...cornholed, pidgeon...ok ok you get it...

(So I researched, and ended up contacting Ms. Lussier myself.)

oemperor @terilussier so i guess you're not going to start a local chapter of the toto "africa" fan club? :)

(While awaiting Teri's response, I forgot about the Bongo Bong.)

oemperor yup, i found toto's "africa" on youtube. http://tinyurl.com/28d9zc

(In case you're curious, here's the Toto "Africa" video. Bear in mind that this was made in the early 1980s, so it's actually a pretty good video for its time.)

oemperor in my younger years, i used to get toto and poco mixed up. at least toto (relatively) rocked.

(Teri then got in touch with me.)

TeriLussier @oemperor Howdy! No toto fan club for me. Are you a card carrying member?

oemperor @terilussier maybe not a card carrying member for all toto, but "africa" grabs me for some reason.

(I didn't want to trouble the tweeple with Toto any longer, so I tweeted a message to myself, minimizing the damage - sort of.)

oemperor @oemperor and here's what songfacts says http://tinyurl.com/2osc5g

Incidentally, songfacts.com is my preferred source for song information, primarily because (a) they don't put up all the irritating ads, and (b) there's actually some good value-added content. Here's a sample of songfacts' comments on Toto's "Africa":

This song just takes you away for 4 minutes to a wonderful place of comfort and relaxation. The lyrics are wonderful but the tone of the song makes it. Top 5 for 1 of my favorite all timne songs. And to think when i was young when it came out i hated it....

This is one of those songs I get totally absorbed in. I just close my eyes and get lost in it when I play it. It's not so much the lyrics--although, I do like them a lot--that sucks me in but the feel of the song; very impassioned and cerebral....

I ignore all songs until and unless something like the stunning vocal harmony in Africa makes me notice....

The background music in the song is sooo amaing. It really gives the song 100% more mood and attitude, along with their amazing vocals....

...the lyrics are not "i guess it rains down in Africa" it says "I Bless the rains down in Africa"....

Got this album mailed to me from Columbia House cuz I forgot to send the card back. Never listened to it for a year - but when I did it became one of my favorite albums.

And even the haters liked it:

Must admit, can't stand this song, but respect to anyone who can get Kilimanjaro and Serengeti into the same line!!!!!

I realize that I have filled this post with Toto stuff, and haven't breathed a word about Journey. I can't necessarily give equal time, but at least I can post a Journey video. There, that's kinda fair and balanced. And it isn't my fault that Sony didn't allow embedding.