While Eddie Van Halen's performance on Michael Jackson's 70 million-selling Thriller album (specifically on its third single Beat It) is well known, Toto guitarist Steve Lukather's contributions to the album have been less celebrated: Lukather actually played guitar and bass guitar on Beat it, and also played on the album's fifth single, Human Nature (co-written by his bandmate Steve Porcaro), and on its first single, The Girl is Mine, featuring Paul McCartney. But if Lukather has never truly been given the recognition he deserves for his sterling work on one of the biggest albums of all time, the experience did at least lead to him fulfilling a boyhood dream, namely playing a Beatles song with Paul McCartney.
Lukather was involved with Thriller from the first recording sessions, at which The Girl Is Mine was written.
"I was so thrilled to be there," Lukather told Vulture in 2024. "Being in that room and then watching Paul and Linda McCartney come in was magical. The song's a bit silly, but the hang was unbelievable."
As Lukather remembers, McCartney "took a shine" to him and Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro at the sessions, and invited both musicians to contribute to his next project, his 1984 film Give My Regards To Broad Street.
"We were like, Wow, pinch us, we get to be in the movie with Paul McCartney," Lukather recalled. "He flew us overseas and we were set up on the soundstage."
I thought, Fuck it, and I started playing Please Please Me. He jumped right in
Steve Lukather
McCartney's 'people' did lay down condition to the Toto duo: under no circumstances were they to mention The Beatles to McCartney. As a lifelong Beatles fan, Lukather was understandably gutted by this order.
"I happened to be standing next to Linda," the guitarist recalled to Vulture. "I adored her. Anybody that says anything shitty about her, fuck them. We were palling around and I finally said, They told us we couldn’t say anything to Paul about the Beatles. We were bummed out because that’s the reason why we all play. And she goes, 'Who told you that?' Well, the manager guy. And she said, 'That’s ridiculous. Paul loves to talk about the Beatles. Go ask him about the Beatles!'"
"The Mellotron was plugged in," Lukather continued. "So I leaned over and I played the intro to Strawberry Fields Forever. Paul turned around, and I thank God I didn't fuck it up. He was like, 'Hey, that's pretty good.' And I go, Yeah, man, it's because it’s the greatest thing ever.
"We got to talking and then I thought, Fuck it, and I started playing Please Please Me. He jumped right in. Then the whole band and the soundstage jumped in. There must’ve been about 50 people in the room jamming. I started singing the Lennon part. At the end of it, the place erupted in this massive applause. He had a big smile on his face. I thought, Man, this is a moment."
Lukather has spoken previously about how The Beatles changed his life.
“It was With The Beatles (released in the US as Meet The Beatles)," he told Classic Rock magazine in 2014. "That album was the ‘on’ switch for me.
“The music on that record touches me deeply inside, more than everything else that came after it. And the song that really did it for me as a kid was I Saw Her Standing There. When I heard the guitar solo, George’s solo, I wanted to be that guy. Whatever makes that sound, that’s what I want to do.
“When I saw The Beatles on TV that was it," he added. "It was all sewn up. For so many people of my age, that was a game changer. There was something that resonated within me."
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