As contentious as new Weezer releases can be among long-time fans, there’s no denying that at the very least the band has kept a sense of humor about it, whether it’s the mock-serious opera of “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived” or the Hurley album cover or the entire, meme-filled “Pork And Beans” video. Now they have once again shown how willing they are to go along with a joke, buckling to pressure from a funny and tenacious Twitter account that is devoted entirely to getting the band to cover “Africa” by Toto.
We will not keep you waiting. Behold:
Noisey reported last year that the account is the joke of a 14-year-old named Mary who has, since last year, refused to give up her simple but bold dream. For example:
Through sheer tenacity and verve, she started getting some attention from drummer Patrick Wilson:
As she told Noisey, she got into Toto’s “Africa” because of Stranger Things, where it’s mentioned a few times as an emblem of ‘80s culture. Last week, Weezer recorded a cover of a Toto track, but it was “Rosanna,” not “Africa,” which is a pretty fucked-up move, to be honest. Today they rectified their mistake with the proper, long-awaited cover, and it’s … pretty good! Better than a lot of recent Weezer singles, to be honest, with big multi-tracked guitars on the hook, and Cuomo’s thin voice doing that valiant quaver it does when he shoots for the skies. It has been commemorated by “weezer cover africa by toto” accordingly:
The account is now attempting to get verified on Twitter, an honor it richly deserves.