Back in the ’80s, Brat Pack member Rob Lowe was notorious for being one of the hardest partiers in Hollywood, but that apparently didn’t preclude him from thinking about his future after acting. For a brief moment, that included a foray into music.
On the latest episode of his podcast, Literally! With Rob Lowe, the actor hosted The Ringer creator Bill Simmons, who recently produced a yacht rock documentary for HBO. This made it an appropriate time to share the story of being so coked up one night that he wound up in the studio with Toto.
“I got one for ya. There was a minute in the ’80s where I was definitely doing too much Bolivian marching powder and just being a fucking lunatic,” Lowe told Simmons. “[It was] at the time in a young actor’s career where they’re too old to play the roles they’ve been playing, but they’re too young to play the roles that will last you for the rest of your life, which are really the great ones.”
He continued, “I love music so much, as evidenced by this talk and all of that. I got it into my head that maybe I should think more about music, and I cut a demo with Toto.”
Sadly, Lowe didn’t share any more details after Simmons reacted by calling him “the world’s most interesting man.” When asked if there was anyone who he wasn’t “involved with in LA in the ’80s,” Lowe answered, “Probably nobody, because I also took having fun very seriously.”
According to Lowe, that evening took place during the peak of his fame with 1983’s The Outsiders and 1985’s St. Elmo’s Fire. Meanwhile, Toto were riding a wave after releasing their signature hit, “Africa,” which they recently broke down on Consequence Podcast Network’s The Story Behind the Song.
Next month, Toto will head out on a European tour with Christopher Cross, after which the two acts will link up with Men at Work for a summer 2025 US run. Get your tickets here.
As for Lowe, he recently reunited with the Brat Pack in Andrew McCarthy’s Brats documentary and could revisit St. Elmo’s Fire in a sequel being explored at Sony.