The band Eddie Van Halen claimed had “the best musicians”
It would always take a little more than just a novice guitar player to impress Eddie Van Halen. Since this is the same guy who sounded like he had four hands every time he played the guitar, no one was going to squeak by his radar by just playing a couple of power chords and hoping for the best. Eddie was always into the subtle intricacies of music, and as far as he was concerned, Toto was everything a band could have asked for.
Then again, no member of Toto would get the call to be in a band by accident. They may not have been the most photogenic band in the world or even made the most radio-friendly songs half the time, but if you had an ear for production and the process of making a record, their records are practically god-level.
Outside of bandleader Steve Lukather, bringing in artists like Jeff Pocaro on the drums meant that no one ever had to worry about the timing of their records. Half of the band had been known for doing session work before they even started, and since some had already been known for laying down the mix on Steely Dan records, you can safely assume that they were used to being asked for perfection.
Eddie may have known Lukather as a buddy, but one of the only times they got to work together came when ‘The King of Pop’ needed a solo. While most know about Eddie laying down the classic solo on ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson, the backing band throughout the entire record was Toto, which probably explains why even the rhythm parts sound like a master class.
For Eddie, Toto was the band any musician would dream of being in, telling Lukather Guitar FTPM, “I’ve never seen a band play tighter than you guys. You, [David] Paich, the Porcaros. Rest in peace, Jeff – are probably the best musicians collectively in any band. You guys won like eight Grammys one year! Why did the press give you such shit?”.
Even though Toto had the instrumental capacity to leave nearly every other band in the dust, the glossy production wasn’t something everyone could get down with. Since most of the hair metal bands of the day were known for blown-out production and alternative was on the horizon to bring grittiness back into the fold, the idea of the same band that sang ‘Rosanna’ becoming the next big thing wasn’t really in the cards.
No amount of trends can take away from good playing, and it’s about time that people give Toto their flowers. They’re probably not the most inventive band lyrically, but listening through an album like Toto IV, their songs never lost an ounce of their sheen, with even their cheesier songs going so far into cheese that they’ve looped around to become endearing again.
It’s nice to see that the band have a sense of humour about their place in history as well, later covering Weezer’s ‘Hash Pipe’ after the nerd-rock icons covered ‘Africa’. It’s never easy getting your foot in the door as a pop star, but when talking about credentials in rock music, getting an endorsement from one of the greatest guitarists who ever lived doesn’t hurt.
