“Hold The Line” has the distinction of being the first single from the self-titled debut album from Toto, the band’s first Top 10 song and the song they’ve played the most in concert.
Released on October 2, 1978 with “Takin’ It Back” as the B–side, Toto’s “Hold the Line” would reach No. 5 on the Billboard Pop 100 chart. It would also chart in 13 other countries. Why is this David Paich composition so enduring? Like a number of other songs in Toto’s canon, it seems deceptively simple on initial listening.
The song kicks off with a rock piano riff by Paich, followed by a straight rock beat by Jeff Porcaro. Steve Lukather adds a heavy guitar riff, which supports the high tenor voice of Bobby Kimball. The groove provided by Jeff Porcaro and bassist David Hungate is infectious and, on deeper listening, reveals funk-influenced underpinnings. Steve Porcaro lends the song’s progressive rock elements, with synthesizer flourishes starting at the second verse.
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David Paich has said Toto’s “Hold the Line” came together quickly, yet one wouldn’t know it because the song has so many layers. Toto singer Bobby Kimball and guitarist Steve Lukather both deserve special mention.
“Hold the Line” finds Kimball singing with all the enthusiasm and gusto he can muster. No other Toto singer have elevated this song to the heights of the original Kimball-sung version — including Steve Lukather, who sang the song in the Ringo Starr and the All-Starr Band. Lukather was busy elsewhere on the initial studio take, anyway. He has, of course, many great moments as a guitarist on the Toto debut, but Lukather especially shines on “Hold the Line.” You hear him channeling David Gilmour and Jeff Beck, yet Lukather still puts his own now-very-identifiable stamp on the tune.
All of it combines to make one of Toto’s early classics.
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