Michael Jackson's "Thriller" - It was Toto Album...

I'm seriously surprised that a new Toto album charted at all.

 

It doesn't take much. I'd be interested to find out how many copies the average #98 album sold in 2015. Would that chart position even require 10,000 copies?

 

They were at the height of their popularity for one album. That's as far as it got here in the States. After "Toto IV", they vanished. No one cared anymore. They pretty much couldn't get arrested here after that. Losing Bobby might have done it and, as @zebop said, "Isolation" was not a good follow up. I own "Isolation" and I'm not a huge fan. You've got "Stranger in Town" and everything else. Nothing else sticks out and the tunes just weren't there. "Toto IV" is incredible. "Isolation" is substandard at best. I didn't say anything about the YouTube era. I'm not on that trip at all.

Agreed. Problem is that he, too, could do it all. He could Rock if need be and he could be incredibly soulful. He has got to be one of the most underrated vocalists I've ever heard. He absolutely laid waste to "Hold the Line" - not just the lead but also the ridiculously high backgrounds he did on it. He had it. Apparently, he also had a nasty drug problem that ended his stay with the band (correct me if I'm wrong). He also did some good work with a band called S.S. Fools. Again, though, because of how they were marketed, no one knew his name. They, did, however, know that sound. Could have been a good thing but when they did the follow-up and that voice wasn't there anymore, we noticed. No matter who they replaced Kimball with, it never worked. Luke himself managed to get them back into the Top 20 once more and that's it.

Ed

 

See? This is why people are coming for you. They have not had "a ton of success since day 1" - certainly not in the U.S. Save the first record, they were modestly successful. "Fahrenheit" didn't go gold until 1994 (thank you, Wiki). The others went gold or platinum in other countries, not here. The numbers needed for certification in other countries is notably lower. Moving through 4 lead singers likely didn't help things as that further confused people as to who they were hearing.

Ed

 

Toto really were "2-album wonders" in the US. The debut sold/charted well, as did "IV".

None of their other albums charted higher than #37 in the US, and "XIV" was their first album to chart at all since 1988!

I blame the lack of chart success on ear buds. It has to be the ear buds, dammit!

 

But Colin, they're just like The Beatles!

 

Their debut through Farenheit, apart from the third album, all went gold or platinum. "Africa" has 70 million hits on YouTube. Total record sales amount to over 25 million, according to flako. That is a ton of success, especially when you consider their Grammys, gold singles, and that Toto IV is triple platinum. Michael Jackson's Invincible isn't even certified triple platinum yet.

 

Invincible is a terrible album (the worst of his entire career, IMO) released at the lowest point of his career and personal life. Word got out quickly that it sucked so of course it hasn't sold very well.

Why on earth did you bring that album up of all things?

 

Nice try comparing a band with multiple lead vocalists to solo artists, who have to have a dominant solo identity. Bands like Toto are free to cultivate their own ensemble identity while allowing lead vocalists like Steve Lukather, David Paich, and Bobby Kimball to stand out as the song calls for. Toto's identity is an ensemble vocal act like The Beatles. Also, you keep ignoring that Toto's popularity declined when Kimball left the band, not before that.

The band isn't anonymous when MTV or YouTube plays their videos in 2015. The people who sing on the recording are the same cats who sing on the video. You're confusing an act like Milli Vanilli with Toto for some strange reason. I like Milli Vanilli too, but you don't have to try to downplay Toto's success to make Milli Vanilli look better.

 

Hint: it's a word that rhymes with "troll"...

 

And such a poor way to end his career. Even so, we still would expect him to outsell Toto at the height of the recording industry's sales in 2000-2001. But he hasn't yet.

 

Where are you seeing those figures? "Turn Back" almost got them dropped and "Hydra" didn't do anything either. As has been said "Invincible" is MJ's worst album by far. "Africa" is a great tune and they know it's called "Africa". Ask them who sang on it and you won't get a single name. Ask them what they look like and they won't know. You said we weren't talking about YouTube fame though. so...

Ed

 

Total truth. Rodney Jerkins was well past his relevance by then. Working with him did nothing for anyone.

Ed

 

Of course YouTube is pertinent. That's where people go to listen to music rather than buying albums nowadays.

 

You said:

So are we going there or aren't we? If we are, again, "Africa" is known; Toto isn't. No one knows what they look like or what their names are.

Ed

 

If you put a gun to my head, and forced me to name the names of two members of Toto off the top of my head I couldn't do it.

If you gave me a list of their names and told me I had to match the name up to the photos of each band member I couldn't do that, either.

 

Why would 70 million people click on the video if they're all blind? And none of them are interested in learning more about the band? I doubt it.

 

Most people don't particularly care about the musicians who make the music they like beyond maybe learning their name(s).

They just like the song or the album and that's it.

 

Michael Jackson's Invincible: It Was Less Than Toto Album For Fourteen Years

 

Of course many won't investigate, but many will.

 

Sure, they do. There's "Fat Guy With Beard" and "Fat Guy With Mustache" and "Nerdy Guy With Bad Glasses". Household names, each and every one!

 

Say wha?

 

Toto was the name of the dog in The Wizard Of Oz.

Michael Jackson was in The Wiz, which was a musical remake of The Wizard Of Oz.

Now if I can only figure out how to fit Kennedy and Lincoln into this...

 

Phil Collins is one of rock's greatest drummers, possibly the best, agree. However, the man had his demons:

http://www.avclub.com/article/phil-collins-was-just-your-average-everyday-kind-o-81128

Like his contemporary Huey Lewis, Collins is a guy who could’ve only become a pop star in the ’80s, the golden age of thirtysomething white-guy hipness, when tasty horn licks and receding hairlines could still signify music enjoyed by young people.

 

Actually, they've sold over 40 million albums.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6436289/toto-new-album-xiv-march-release

Don't quote me when I'm wrong!