How Jeff Porcaro came to regret his signature shuffle: “That hurts my feelings”

Jeff Porcaro, Toto’s acclaimed drummer, felt frustrated that listeners so often identified him with the half-time shuffle he played on “Rosanna”. In a 1991 interview, he said the association hurt his feelings, reflecting his discomfort at being defined by one celebrated style.

The article links that frustration to Porcaro’s perfectionism and the physical effort required to play the shuffle. He had studied influences including Bernard Purdie, John Bonham and Bo Diddley, and judged his own playing against theirs. The piece also recounts how dissatisfaction with his work on Steely Dan’s “Black Friday” session nearly led him to walk away.