The King of Pop was no stranger to the God of Thunder.

Monstrously tongued KISS bassist Gene Simmons and Michael Jackson might not seem like guys who would move in the same circle.

But back in the early '80s, they got to know each other through a mutual acquaintance: Diana Ross, a former paramour of Simmons and lifelong friend of Jackson.

"I knew him reasonably well," Simmons told Sun Media on Thursday, a week after Jackson died of heart failure.

"Diana Ross and I used to live together. This was maybe 26, 27 years ago. And through Diana I met Michael a few times. We saw each other through the years."

But the Jackson that Simmons knew back then was not the Jackson he later read about in the media, he said.

"The Michael that I knew was polite, charming, very shy, very self-effacing -- you know, no big deal."

While the always-outspoken rocker said there's no denying Jackson had a "sad" life, he also pulled no punches when discussing the child molestation accusations that dogged the singer for years.

After Jackson's death, "I was asked immediately by media, 'What do you think? What do you know? You met Michael,' " Simmons explained.

"I said, 'No comment.' But enough time has gone by. My comment is, I'm interested in the people who say they've been molested. People means young boys. Never girls. Not one girl has ever made a sexual claim against Michael."

But there were "not one, not two, but certainly over 10 different young boys making accusations," Simmons claimed.

"And what we do know, as reported in the media and as Michael has admitted, is that he settled for about $20 million with one case and many millions in another so it wouldn't go to trial."

Had he wanted to fight those accusations, Jackson -- who was acquitted of child-molestation charges at a 2005 trial -- could have spent $500,000 a year on legal fees for 40 years, Simmons noted.

"Methinks he doth protest too much," he suggested, adding it's not how he would have handled things.

"If you say anything vile about me, I will spend any amount of money to defend myself. I'm not going to pay you to go away."

The 59-year-old Simmons said he'd "like to hook (Jackson's accusers) up to a lie-detector test and put them in front of a camera, if people are interested in anything."

In his will, Jackson reportedly gave custody of his three children to his mother, with Ross named as a successor guardian in the event of Katherine Jackson's death.

But Simmons -- referring to recent reports questioning whether Jackson actually fathered the children -- felt the singer's bizarre family life was "a fantasy."

"This is always very awkward to talk about -- about anybody's sexual preferences. They're a private issue. But (it's possible) he's not the biological father, nor was he interested in girls. Or grownup relationships.

"But I don't care about that. I only care about victims ... I care about young children."