Although the classic lineup consisted of Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth, and Michael Anthony, the legacy of Van Halen appeared to revolve around the electricity Eddie Van Halen brought to each performance. Throughout the band’s time in the spotlight, Van Halen sold over 80 million albums worldwide and is consistently considered one of the greatest hard rock bands of all time. With Eddie sadly passing away, Van Halen released their final album, A Different Kind of Truth, back in 2012. But recently, rumors circulated that Steve Lukather was working on a new Van Halen project, causing the famed guitarist to clear the air.
Thanks to a Dutch newspaper called De Telegraf, rumors hit the internet that Alex and Lukather were working on Van Halen material. At the time, the outlet noted Alex saying, “Ed and Steve Lukather were very good friends and they often worked together. There is no one who can do this process with me as well as he can.”
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Sharing a post on Instagram, Lukather didn’t want Van Halen fans to get too excited. He wrote, “Ever since Alex Van Halen dropped some we were gonna work together I think there is a huge misunderstanding. I will NOT EVER play a guitar note on a VH song ever!”
Steve Lukather Couldn’t Replace The “Greatest Of All F**king Time”
Explaining how the rumor started, Lukather noted how Alex asked for his help sifting through unreleased material. “Al asked me to help him go thru a ton of unfinished recordings of Al and Ed writing and recording that never saw the light of day. As of now thats all I got.”
With Lukather finding the rumor comical, he admitted he couldn’t mirror the legacy of Eddie. “The fact that ANYONE would think for even a second that I would play anything on this is ridiculous. I have too much love and respect for that and … I play nothing like Ed.. more as a co-producer or something.”
Much like Alex and the rest of Van Halen fans, Lukather continued to miss his late friend. At the time of Eddie’s passing, Lukather declared the guitarists as “one of the greatest of all f**king time.”
(Photo by Per Ole Hagen/Redferns)