Toto’s Steve Lukather recently opened up about how cocaine infiltrated and dominated the Los Angeles rock music scene during the 1970s.
“It was unbelievable how [cocaine] overtook the city,” Lukather shared in an interview with The Telegraph published on Friday, January 31. “I didn’t even realize what was going on. I didn’t understand why there were five guys in the bathroom stall.”
Throughout their nearly 50-year career, Toto has encountered its share of drug-related struggles. The band, known for their No. 1 hit Africa and three Grammy wins, has felt the impact of substance abuse firsthand.
Drummer and songwriter Jeff Porcaro tragically passed away in 1992 due to a heart attack linked to coronary disease associated with cocaine use. However, Lukather has long disputed the circumstances surrounding his bandmate’s death.
Cocaine’s Influence on the Rock Scene
At the time of Porcaro’s passing, Toto’s manager suggested that his death might have been caused by an allergic reaction to inhaling pesticides while gardening.
Reflecting on the drug culture of the time, Lukather admitted that he initially didn’t grasp the full extent of cocaine’s destructiveness within the rock music industry.
“I’d walk into the bathroom to take a leak, and there’s all these guys in the stall. ‘Hey, what the f— are you guys doing in there?’ ‘Nothing man, nothing kid,’” Lukather recalled before mimicking a snorting sound.
Although he initially steered clear of drugs while Toto was rising to fame, Lukather eventually succumbed to their influence.
“One night, at 2 in the morning, I was thinking, ‘I have a 10 a.m. [session], how am I f— going to get through this?’” he recounted. “Some guy goes, ‘Come here man, have some of this.’ And I thought, ‘Oh man, it’s drug s—’ … but they sold me the whole lot. They sold us all the lies: it’s not addictive, it’s better than coffee, it’s no problem. And all my heroes were doing it, so I said, ‘OK.’”
At first, Lukather found that cocaine seemed manageable, but it quickly spiraled into something far more sinister.
Toto Star Steve Lukather“It started out fine … but it got bad because it just turned into this weird, dark thing. It became cloak-and-dagger s—. [People said], ‘No, I don’t have anything.’ It was the addiction thing that people lied to us about.”
A New Perspective on Life
Now, Lukather views life very differently than he did during the height of rock’s drug-fueled excess.
“Even in your youth, you just don’t know how long you have left,” he reflected. “I mean, today could be my last day. I could go tonight. I’m at an age now where every day above ground is a bonus. I’m 67 years old, man. I haven’t had a drink or a smoke for going on 16 years, but I did it pretty good back in the day. I was hanging out wherever I went.”
He described how easy it was to fall into a lifestyle of constant partying.
“No matter where you are, people would say, ‘Oh, yeah, come on, we’ll meet you at the bar.’ It’s really easy to get to the point where that’s your everyday life. And it starts out harmless and nice, like it does when you’re young, and then suddenly you’re 50 and you’re going, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’”
Toto’s Lasting Legacy
Lukather has remained at the forefront of Toto for nearly five decades, helping to shape the band’s legacy as they’ve sold an estimated 50 million records worldwide.
Their classic hit Africa has surpassed 2 billion streams on Spotify, with the band boasting over 24 million monthly listeners on the platform.
Beyond his work with Toto, Lukather was one of the most in-demand session musicians of the 1980s, lending his guitar skills to Michael Jackson’s record-breaking Thriller album and working with legendary artists like Aretha Franklin, Olivia Newton-John, Lionel Richie, and Chicago.
Toto is set to embark on a summer tour, co-headlining with fellow ’80s rock icons Christopher Cross and Men at Work. The band last released a studio album, Old Is New, in 2018, continuing their storied career in rock music.
