Toto enjoyed the big career blastoff in 1979 with a Top-10 self-titled debut album and a Top-5 lead single (“Hold the Line”). Then there was the massive Toto IV in 1982, which churned out big hits and made the band the subject of Grammy love.
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The music on the two albums in between those twin successes has largely been forgotten by all but the band’s most diehard fans. One exception: the 1980 single “99,” which found Toto couching a science-fiction conceit amidst their typically smooth jazz-rock textures.
The Sophomore Semi-Slump
You don’t have to be much of a musical scholar to know that second albums are a tricky bit of business. This is especially true when the first album is a hit, as Toto’s certainly was. Do you try to repeat the things that made your first album successful, or do you try to up the ante with musical advancements?
It’s fair to say “Toto” perhaps found themselves caught in between those two approaches on Hydra, released in 1980. On the one hand, their studio perfectionism and jazz-inflected songwriting remained a big part of the equation. But they were also branching out in terms of the subject matter. (It was originally supposed to be a concept album, and remnants of those original ideas can still be found here and there.)
Hydra did not do nearly as well as the first album from a commercial standpoint. (Comparing critical reaction to the first two records is pointless, because these guys never received their due from the hard rock-fixated scribes of the day.) “99,” chosen as the first single, contributed to the problem, in that it didn’t immediately grab your attention the way “Hold the Line” did. Intriguing and mysterious, it only hit No. 26, although it has certainly shown staying power in the annals of yacht rock.
You Know My Name, Look Up the Number
The main issue with “99” that confronted listeners: What was with the title? On first listen, it’s pretty clear the song seems to refer to a relationship between a man and a woman. Many fans scrambled to understand the significance of the girl in this scenario being referred to as a number. Some came up with their own wild conclusions, such as the idea the narrator had a crush on the Get Smart femme fatale played by Barbara Feldon.
In reality, David Paich, who wrote the song, was referencing the George Lucas film THX 1138. That film, set in a dystopian future, features characters that have numbers for names. Hence, it’s meant to be a kind of futuristic love story.
The problem is the song was released at a time when many people hadn’t even seen THX 1138. (To be truthful, that’s probably still true of a large segment of the population today.) As a result, “99” confused a lot of people who wanted to put a fine point on the meaning.
What is the Meaning of “99”?
Paich was also trying to suggest the romance between the narrator and the numerically dubbed heroine is forbidden in this futuristic society. The lyrics, however, barely touch on that at all. There’s a single line (They don’t know who I am) which hints at some kind of societal conspiracy, but that’s it.
But here’s the thing: If you ignore Paich’s intent and just hear the song as a tortured love song, it does just fine. The lyrics imply the guy is partly to blame for their estrangement: I keep breaking your heart. 99 remains loyal, however: You keep holding my hand.
Featuring Paich’s cushy keyboards and Steve Lukather’s mournful vocals, the song glides by with nary an off-kilter moment to spoil the groove. Amidst other songs like it on a yacht rock playlist, it’s right at home. On the charts in 1980, however, “99” was a bit of a wrong number.
Photo by Rob Verhorst/Redferns
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