The strange story of Brian May, Eddie Van Halen, a kids’ TV theme and the most unlikely collaboration of the 1980s: “It was like going down a really challenging ski run. I was very much conscious of his talent and his incredible aura”
Sir Brian May of Queen has recounted his unlikely 1983 studio collaboration with Eddie Van Halen, a partnership that produced the mini-album Star Fleet Project rather than a high-profile supergroup. The two guitarists first met backstage in Munich in 1978, when Van Halen supported Black Sabbath and May was left awestruck by his playing, comparing the experience to seeing Jimi Hendrix for the first time. Despite an immediate friendship, it took five years and repeated informal promises before they finally worked together, making the eventual session a notable footnote in rock history.
The pair recorded together at a Los Angeles studio in April 1983, with the resulting three-track release taking its name, Star Fleet, from its lead song, a cover of the closing theme to a children's television puppet show. May described the project as "a step into the unknown", undertaken purely for enjoyment and the chance to finally play alongside a guitarist whose talent and presence he found intimidating, likening the experience to skiing a challenging run. The article draws on May's own recollections to trace how the friendship formed and eventually turned into this unusual musical pairing.
- Brian May and Eddie Van Halen recorded together in LA in 1983.
- Collaboration produced Star Fleet Project, based on a kids' TV theme.
- They met in 1978 but waited five years to finally jam.
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Sir Brian May, Queen's guitarist, has been talking about a little-known episode from his career: a 1983 studio session with Eddie Van Halen, the American guitarist best known as the driving force behind the rock band Van Halen. The two men, both regarded as among the finest guitarists of their generation, first met backstage in Munich in 1978 and struck up a friendship, but it took five years before they actually played together.
That collaboration eventually produced a short release called Star Fleet Project, named after its lead track, a cover of the theme tune to a children's television puppet show. It was a low-key, one-off project rather than the start of a lasting partnership or band, made purely because the two guitarists wanted the chance to play together.
The story matters as a curious footnote in rock history, showing how two major figures from very different bands, Queen's melodic stadium rock and Van Halen's flashy hard rock, ended up briefly working side by side on something as unassuming as a TV theme tune.
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