Steve Lukather was already one of Los Angeles’ hottest session guitarists when Quincy Jones brought him into Michael Jackson’s world.
But he was still only in his early twenties.
And according to Lukather, one Michael Jackson lyric caught him so off guard that he started laughing.
In a September 2026 interview with Guitar Player, Lukather remembered hearing Michael sing:
“Your butt is mine.”
Lukather described himself as a “smartass 20-something-year-old kid” and admitted the line made him laugh. Quincy Jones, however, apparently saw nothing funny about the bigger picture.
He believed Michael was making something enormous.
There is one fascinating wrinkle in Lukather’s memory.
“Your butt is mine” is not a lyric from Thriller.
It is the opening line of Michael’s 1987 song “Bad.”
Lukather’s own official credits list him playing guitar on three Thriller tracks: “The Girl Is Mine,” “Beat It” and “Human Nature.” He also played bass on “Beat It.”
So either Lukather was remembering another encounter with Michael, or decades of studio memories became blended together during the interview.
What is much clearer is what Lukather remembered about Michael as a musician.
Michael Jackson – “Beat It”
Lukather said Michael was extremely collaborative in the studio.
Michael did not simply hire elite musicians and dictate every note.
On “Human Nature,” Quincy asked Lukather to give the song more funk. Lukather created the distinctive muted guitar part on the spot, double-tracking it to produce the unusual texture heard on the finished record.
“Beat It” worked differently.
Lukather said the central riff came from Michael himself. Michael could communicate musical ideas vocally, then allow musicians to develop them into finished instrumental parts.
Lukather played the rhythm guitars and bass while Eddie Van Halen supplied the legendary solo. Quincy later asked Lukather to reduce the heavy guitar tone because he wanted the record to work on R&B radio as well as rock stations.
Lukather also remembered watching Michael’s body language while recording.
If Michael liked what he heard, he would begin moving and dancing.
If something needed changing, he would explain what bothered him and work through the idea with the musicians.
“He was very collaborative,” Lukather recalled.
That matches what Lukather said immediately after Michael’s death in 2009.
He remembered Michael as focused, specific about what he wanted and pleasant to work with, calling him a “total pro.”
So the funny lyric story may have become slightly scrambled after more than four decades.
But Lukather’s larger memory of those sessions has remained remarkably consistent.
Behind one of the biggest albums ever made was Michael Jackson sitting in a studio with world-class musicians, listening closely, changing ideas and sometimes giving a young Steve Lukather something to laugh about.
And when Michael liked what Lukather played, Lukather knew immediately — because Michael started dancing.