David Gilmour was born in the mid-40s and was still a little kid when Rock and Roll music was presented to the world with artists that appeared in the United States. The first single he ever bought was Bill Haley’s classic song “Rock Around the Clock” in 1954. From then on his enthusiasm grew bigger, discovering artists like Elvis Presley and The Everly Brothers.
Later on when he was already 19, he was invited to join Pink Floyd and didn’ take long for him to help the group to transform their sound and make some of the best-selling albums of all time.
Although Gilmour was mainly focused on Progressive Rock throughout his whole career, he was always aware of what was happening in music. So many times he praised and talked about artists who the fans couldn’t imagine he liked to listen to. He even named an unexpected guitarist he admired in the 80s.
The guitarist that David Gilmour said was great in the 80s
After the original Pink Floyd guitarist and singer Syd Barrett was fired in the late 60s, David Gilmour officially became the band’s lead guitarist and shared the vocals with the bassist Roger Waters.
He was a fundamental part of the band’s sound and his guitar playing and solos are often the high point of many Pink Floyd classic songs. Pink Floyd was active with their classic line-up from the late 60s until the 80s when Richard Wright was fired from the group in 1981 and Roger Waters left the band for good in 1985. Wright returned to the band in 1987 and recorded two more albums alongside Gilmour and Nick Mason.
But that decade music changed a lot and there were many new bands around, especially in the United States. Gilmour always talked about other artists and praised who he liked. One of them was the Toto and session guitarist Steve Lukather, who Gilmour said he admired. The musician praised Lukather in an interview with Guitar World magazine in 1988. “Steve Lukather is great. I really love his playing. I love a lot of people’s playing, but I mostly tend to like some of the old guys, you know? Eric, Jeff Beck, people like that. They’re more to my taste,” David Gilmour said.
Lukather is also a huge David Gilmour fan
At the time Gilmour talked with Guitar World, Pink Floyd had recently released “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” (1987), their first album without Roger Waters. At the time, Toto was already a famous group and had eight albums on their discography. Although the band already was successful, Lukather continued to be a session guitarist often. In the 80s he recorded with bands and artists like America, Chicago, Joe Cocker, Alice Cooper, Peter Criss, Cher, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Kenny Loggins, Lionel Richie and many more. Curiously, he was part of the Roger Waters solo album “Amused to Death”, released in 1992.
The Toto guitarist is also a huge fan of David Gilmour’s playing and even had the chance to pay tribute to the band. He was part of the tribute album “Everlasting Songs” released in 2014, covering two tracks. He recorded “Hey You” alongside Tommy Shaw and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”.
and during a conversation with the guitarist Joe Bonamassa in 2022, he praised the British musician. “I got to see Roger Waters at the Coliseum (In Los Angeles) – 80,000 people, to see the biggest version of ‘The Wall’ that’s ever been done. I was honored to work with Roger on ‘Amused to Death (1992).’”
He continued:
“And I know a lot of the same crew and stuff like that. Because I know the legendary David Gilmour, one of my all-time favorite guys – he’s a buddy of mine too. I met him through Jeff Porcaro, we stayed pals. He’s still one of my favorite guitar players of all time. And everybody, all of a sudden, it comes on, it’s like, ‘Wow!’
“I’m sitting at the sound desk, I’m in the most ultimate spot. I took my daughter and her boyfriend – who’s now her husband. We sat there and watched this show. I turned around and looked, and I tripped the sound mixer, and he comes on, and it’s just amazing. I look up, and there’s 80,000 people watching this through their fucking phone,” Steve Lukather said.