Guys like Satriana, Vai, Malmsteen, etc. are "huge" and iconic, IMO. But not EVH huge, of course. I guess I am splitting hairs here, as most of the "huge" guitar players among the laymen have some sort of band-level connection for them. We all know about Page, Gilmour, Rhodes, Slash, Gibbons, Schon, etc. because of their band affiliation first and not their virtuosity.
Of course, there's Hendrix, Beck, Clapton, SRV, etc. who were solo guys, which may be an exception, but Beck and Clapton got their starts in bands. SRV was not really nationally recognized until 10+ years after he moved to Austin. Heck most folks did not even know that he played guitar on most of Bowie's Let's Dance.
Not sure what my point is here, but that Van Halen - and its evolution after adding DLR - helped EVH become a huge sensation almost immediately upon the release of their first record.
Slight thread derail: Similarly, we probably are not as aware of Neal Schon w/o Steve Perry. Before Perry, Journey was a "self-indulgent" (using Schon's words) jam band. Schon joined Santana at age 17 and formed Journey at age 19 in 1973. Perry joined in 1978 and they printed money through around 1986.