Toto

Toto (stylized as TOTO) was formed in 1977 in Los Angeles.  Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard rock, R&B, blues and jazz. Having released 14 studio albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide. The group has received several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009. 

Toto by W. W. Denslow
from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

In the early 1980s, band members told the press that the band was named after the dog in The Wizard of Oz. The other origin story is that Jeff Porcaro had written TOTO on one of their demos just to be a marker on the tapes. Bassist David Hungate saw it and said that “in toto” was Latin for “in all, totally, entirely, or all-encompassing.” That might have been a secondary reason to stick with it. It was also easy to remember.

Toto from the Falling in Between Tour (Milan, 2006)

David Paich and Jeff Porcaro were session musicians on several albums and decided to form a band. They put together the group produced the band's eponymous debut album in 1978. It had a Top 5 single "Hold the Line." But their more global fame came with Toto IV (1982) with hits "Africa" and "Rosanna" which reached number 2. Band members played on many other bands' albums as session players throughout the 80s.

 

Soft Machine

 

Soft Machine in a 1970 promo photo

Soft Machine is an English rock band formed in 1966 in Canterbury. they were one of the first British psychedelic acts. They moved into a more progressive rock and jazz fusion sound. According to bassist Hugh Hopper, "We weren't consciously playing jazz-rock. It was more a case of not wanting to sound like other bands. We certainly didn't want a guitarist." Though there were several guitarists in the band's numerous incarnations including Andy Summers, Kevin Ayers, and John Etheridge, but an organ, saxophone, flute, and various keyboards have always been part of their sound.

The band's name comes from the novel The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. His "soft machine" is another name for the human body. Burroughs has said that he was interested in how control mechanisms invade the body.

The main plot appears in chapter VII, "The Mayan Caper." It concerns a secret agent who has the ability to change bodies or metamorphose his own body using "U.T." (undifferentiated tissue). He makes a time travel machine and takes on a gang of Mayan priests. 

It is a strange novel and influenced by Burroughs' own drug experimentation. Perhaps the band was intrigued by his composing method known as the cut-up technique. Burroughs had written about a thousand pages earlier which he cut and pasted to create this novel and others.

They never achieved much commercial success, but the band is considered by critics to have been an influential rock band, if only as an "underground" band with a kind of cult following.

In the 1970s, there were several alternative offshoots of the band formed including the Soft Heap, Soft Head and Soft Ware.

 

Bad Company

The original Bad Company lineup in 1976

 (L to R) Boz Burrell, Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke, Mick Ralphs

"Bad Company" is a song by the hard rock band also called Bad Company that was released as the third single from their debut album, the eponymous Bad Company in 1974.

This English hard rock band was formed in London in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers and guitarist Mick Ralphs, later adding drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell.

Throughout the 1970s, they were very successful with their first three albums, Bad Company (1974), Straight Shooter (1975), and Run with the Pack (1976).

Their best-known singles were "Bad Company", "Can't Get Enough", "Good Lovin' Gone Bad", "Feel Like Makin' Love", "Ready for Love", "Shooting Star", and "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy." all of which still get "classic rock" radio airplay.

I had always heard that the inspiration for the band's name was the 1972 modern Western film, Bad Company, starring Jeff Bridges. The film is about a group of young men who flee the draft during the American Civil War to seek their fortune and freedom on the Western American frontier.

The song "Bad Company" certainly suggests that film:

A company always on the run
A destiny, oh it's the rising sun
I was born, a shotgun in my hands
Behind the gun
I'll make my final stand, yeah
That's why they call me
Bad company...
Rebel souls
Deserters we've been called
Chose a gun
And threw away the song...

As far as the name of the band itself, Paul Rodgers stated in an interview with Spinner.com, that the idea came from a book of Victorian morals that showed a picture of an innocent kid looking up at an unsavory character leaning against a lamp post with a caption that read "beware of bad company."

Bad Company was considered to be a "supergroup" since it was made up of two former members of Free (Rodgers and Kirke), former Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs; and ex-King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. 

Since 2011, the band has toured with various combinations of original and temporary members.

DISCOGRAPHY
Bad Company (1974)
Straight Shooter (1975)
Run with the Pack (1976)
Burnin' Sky (1977)
Desolation Angels (1979)
Rough Diamonds (1982)
Fame and Fortune (1986)
Dangerous Age (1988)
Holy Water (1990)
Here Comes Trouble (1992)
Company of Strangers (1995)
Stories Told & Untold (1996)