Eddie Van Halen’s opinion on Toto and Steve Lukather

Eddie Van Halen revolutionized guitar playing and showed musicians that there were new horizons to be explored. He was a crucial part of the band’s sound and often became the main attraction, as many fans were more drawn to Van Halen because of Eddie than because of David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar.

Throughout his career, the guitarist spoke about many other bands, including Toto and their guitarist Steve Lukather.

What was Eddie Van Halen’s opinion on Toto and Steve Lukather

Eddie Van Halen was a big fan of Toto and guitarist Steve Lukather, who was also a close friend. They first met in 1978, when Van Halen and Toto played at the same festival. A few years later, they had the chance to perform live together and even record in the studio. The Dutch guitarist loved the album “Kingdom of Desire” released in 1992. In Guitar FTPM magazine one year later, Lukather and Eddie interviewed each other and the musician said their music was light years beyond anything that was was being done at the moment.

“It’s a brilliant record. I think if (radio plays) it people will like it. For five years you haven’t had a record out here. The music you’re making, to me, is light years beyond the shit you hear on the radio. (…) If people only knew you guys were the real shit. Everyone else is faking it,” Eddie Van Halen said.

The band’s eight studio album “Kingdom of Desire” was the final one with the late drummer Jeff Porcaro, who tragically died in 1992 at the age of 38. In the same year the band did a tribute concert in Jeff’s memory and Eddie was part of it. During the press conference of that show, Eddie talked about the drummer saying: (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) “To me, he was definitely one of the best drummers in the world, definitely the groove master. Come on, you gotta do a tribute to a cat like that, he was just too heavy, you know. That’s why I’m here and he was a buddy.”

Eddie Van Halen was amazed by Lukather’s versatility

Eddie was really amazed on how much Lukather could be versatile, because besides playing with Toto he was also a session musician. “He’s a studio guy. He started out playing on so many people’s records that he could play any style you wanted. He just amazes me at what a chameleon he can be. (Steve) can throw himself in any situation and shine.”

“It’s almost hard to tell who’s really him. I guess it’s probably all of them, everything he’s ever been exposed to is who he is. He’s kind of a player’s player, a musician’s musician. I’m more of a straightforward rock & roll guitarist, blessed to be in a kick-ass rock band,” Eddie Van Halen told Rolling Stone in 2011.

Like all his friends and fans, Lukather was also devastated when Eddie sadly passed away in 2020 at the age of 65. Talking with EON music in 2024 he recalled how close they were. (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) “We were friends for 40 years, we weren’t just guitar buddies but in life, you know. Marriage, divorce, kids, all the things, addiction. We went through all together. I f*cking loved him, it broke my heart. We knew he was sick but he also beat it a hundred times, you know. (He was) a strong motherf*cker. Only when finally (the news arrived that) it spread all over (his) body and (there was no control), it happens real fast. Fighting, fighting, fighting and finally just took him all.

Steve and Eddie recorded together

Although Lukather and Van Halen didn’t play at the same time, both of them were part of the Michael Jackson hit song “Beat It”. The Toto member played the lead guitar and bass in the track while Eddie did the legendary guitar solo. But a few years later, in 1994, Lukather recorded backing vocals for Van Halen in the song “Top of The World”.

“I was on the (For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge – 1991). I (drove) up to the studio and I knew they were working. S0 I just walk in with my kids. The kids were playing with Wolf (Eddie’s son) or something, they used to be running around the studio and I would be hanging out with Ed and the guys. (They said) ‘We need a third voice, hey Lukather! Get in there, we need a third voice’. I go ‘Ok, I’ll do it’. Then we double it and I left. I was just because I was there,” Steve Lukather told EON music.

David Lee Roth didn’t like Lukather that much

Although Steve Lukather was a good friend of the members of Van Halen, he was more welcome in the studio when Sammy Hagar the vocalist. As he told Sunset Sound Recorders, Roth once showed he didn’t like to see him around. (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) “I walked in the studio looking for Ed once and Roth was sitting there with Donn Landee (Producer and engineer). I walked in like the ever jovial self: (saying) ‘Hey man, what’s up. Where’s Ed?’ And Roth looked at me like I just killed his parents or something. The look on his face was like ‘What are you doing here?’ Like, ‘How dare you share the same air?’”

“I got the vibe right away and said ‘I’m just looking for Ed, man’. Donn was like ‘No, no, he’s over there’, and I got out of there quick. I’m a friend of all those guys. I just never knew David,” Steve Lukather said.

Toto is a quite successful band with an estimated amount of more than 40 million records sold worldwide. Recently they reached an incredible number of 1 billion streams on Spotify with their hit “Africa”.