One of the conundrums when it comes to Toto is that so much of their music is consistently strong, and thus it can’t have been easy to determine which songs were and weren’t released as singles. There were the obvious of course: “Rosanna” and “Africa” both come to mind. But there were a handful of other tracks that would also have made worthy singles.
“Afraid of Love” is perhaps not only one of the best deep cuts off of Toto IV; it’s one of Toto’s catchiest, most accessible album tracks ever. Had the song been recorded for Turn Back, for example, I think it would have been the lead single release for the album. The same could be said for Hydra.
Indeed the “misfortune” of “Afraid of Love” that likely kept it from being released as a single was that it was/is on one of Toto’s strongest studio efforts.
Between Steve Lukather’s driving guitar and the catchy melody, this song does seem to have “hit single” written all over it. In keeping, “Afraid of Love” was a live staple for several years — and thankfully reappeared on Toto’s setlist in 2015 after being absent for several years.
Every time I listen to it, I can’t help but believe that whomever made the choice to not release “Afraid of Love” missed an excellent opportunity to rack up yet another hit single for Toto. Then again, Toto already owned the Grammys that year. Another win or even nomination might have pushed them into “over-saturation” territory.
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