The guitarist Eddie Van Halen called a “chameleon”
Many guitarists can only hope to find one great sound and stick with it throughout their careers. Whether that’s being able to play one style really well or dialling in the perfect tone whenever it comes time to take a solo, the highest compliment any guitarist can get is that their sound is instantly recognisable whenever they perform. Eddie Van Halen had his own sound, whether he was on the piano or playing guitar, but he knew that Steve Lukather had something that no one else had.
Because when talking about the greatest guitarists of all time, it usually comes down to versatility. Sure, it’s nice that someone can play one style of lick incredibly well, but what happens when you put them in a situation where they have to work with a pop act or hang back in a jazz band for a few hours?
It’s not an easy thing to be that well-rounded, but seasoned veterans usually know how to leave their stamp on whatever genre they’re working in. Eddie, for example, had no problem dialling in his tone for the solo to ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson, but he was also more than capable of turning in some strange sounds like a pipe organ on ‘Cathedral’ or the dreamy cascading rhythms on the beginning of ‘Hear About It Later’.
Whereas Eddie was just doing that for fun, Lukather had made versatility his full-time job. While he was best known for making those immortal anthems with Toto, Lukather could work just as well on the session circuit, adding his signature spice to Steely Dan records and actually working with Eddie on ‘Beat It’ when laying down the rhythm track.
Compared to what he could do in the context of Van Halen, Eddie thought that Lukather had his own brand of genius going for him, telling Rolling Stone, “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. He can throw himself in any situation and shine. It’s almost hard to tell who’s really him.”
The perfect example of Lukather’s genre switches is no better exemplified than when he’s working with Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band. The whole appeal of singing the former Beatle live is hearing Beatles songs, but he also throws in songs from his bandmates, and having to switch from ‘Africa’ to Todd Rundgren’s ‘Hello It’s Me’ to ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ and make it sound seamless takes a master’s touch.
It’s not like Lukather couldn’t match Eddie when he was playing, either. He probably wasn’t going to bust out the massive tapping licks or anything, but when working on albums like For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, the Toto guitarist visited the studio a few times and even managed to sing some backing vocals on songs like ‘Top of the World’.
Whereas Eddie usually sculpted a lot of his tunes by making the thickest riffs that he could possibly make, Lukather seemed to be working for whatever genre the song called for. In an industry where most musicians are put into one box, Lukather is one of the few artists whose trademark genre could be multiple-choice.
