“It was the loudest thing I’ve ever done onstage, and it caused me a lifetime of tinnitus.” Steve Lukather picks the seven blues songs that changed his life

Steve Lukather says the blues shaped his guitar playing and musical outlook, tracing his introduction to the genre through British Invasion guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. He argues that blues remains central to his improvisation and to Toto’s grooves, and that its feel cannot be recreated by programming music to a grid.

He recalls learning Clapton’s “Crossroads” solo by ear and being struck by Led Zeppelin’s blues-based debut and Jimi Hendrix’s experimental sound. Lukather also praises Stevie Ray Vaughan’s playing and describes Clapton’s solo in Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love” as so influential that he repeated it when performing the song with Jack Bruce. The article presents seven songs as milestones in his musical life, though the supplied text ends before all seven are identified.