Every band gets trolled on the internet. But it takes some sort of band to troll them all back even harder. To wit: Weezer.
At some point last year, a 14-year-old fan from the Cleveland-area identified only as “Mary,” set up a Twitter account with one express purpose: Hounding Weezer with Tweets until they covered Toto‘s seminal 1982 hit ‘Africa‘.
The efforts put forth by the account were admirable, pointed, and above all else, hilarious:
what’s even more magical is my heart being touched by the sound of weezer covering africa by toto
— weezer cover africa by toto (@weezerafrica) December 6, 2017
last night patrick wilson made my dreams come true pic.twitter.com/Kxpi8kgHEC
— weezer cover africa by toto (@weezerafrica) December 6, 2017
@patrick_wilson you know what the fans really want,,,,,, an africa by toto cover
— weezer cover africa by toto (@weezerafrica) December 6, 2017
@RiversCuomo it’s about time you bless the rains down in africa
— weezer cover africa by toto (@weezerafrica) December 6, 2017
Good morning. I hope your day is filled with the sounds of weezer covering africa by toto
— weezer cover africa by toto (@weezerafrica) December 8, 2017
And so on, and so forth.
Eventually, the campaign began gathering momentum. In December, founding Toto member David Paich noticed it, and got fully on board via Facebook.
Then in February, the campaign gathered further steam after Noisey gave it air time and brought the whole shebang to the attention of Weezer themselves.
Fast forward to today, and Weezer finally heeded the call of the great internet wild by releasing an actual, no-fooling, very, legitimately real Toto cover.
Just… y’know… not of ‘Africa.’
That’s right, the group managed to pull one over on the Weezer Cover Africa By Toto movement by instead covering Toto’s other great hit ‘Rosanna‘. The superior Toto song, if you ask this guy.
What’s more, the song kinda, sorta, totally rules? It rules in a way that it has absolutely no right to.
Seriously, good luck getting this out of your head for the rest of the day.
Fucken christ that’s a jam. And a hell of a play too.
The deftness of the returned serve hasn’t been lost on anyone, least of all the OG instigator.
it’s not every day that you get trolled by @Weezer … #WeezerCoverAfrica#WeezerCoveredRosanna pic.twitter.com/fA95RDKHME
— weezer cover africa by toto (@weezerafrica) May 24, 2018
It might not be Africa just yet, but hachie machie is it a good day for a hot jam regardless.