Before I start this article, please note that there are spoilers ahead. If you do not want to be exposed to these spoilers, please click away and read this article after you have watched the movie. Thank you.
"The Dirt", a movie inspired by the biography of the band Mötley Crüe, was initially released on March 22nd, 2019 by the notorious company Netflix. Being a fan of 80's rock myself, I was super excited to watch this movie. Although it does show the majority of honesty about the band, such as Vince Neil's daughter, Skylar, battling with cancer and Nikki Sixx's heroin addiction, it does not exactly represent what all is noted in the original biography.
Here are 5 scenes that "The Dirt" didn't exactly tell the truth on.
1. Recruiting Vince
GiphyIn the movie, the band members are all looking for a singer in order to set their band. Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, and Nikki Sixx all head to a party where Vince Neil (who was in a cover band) is performing. Instantly, Tommy explains that Vince is definitely the guy for their band, noting that they went to high school together. It takes a short encounter with the blonde to convince Vince to audition for the band and initially join.
However, this was not the case in real life. According to Loudwire, Vince Neil was actually very difficult to recruit into Mötley Crüe. He ended up being a no show to his first audition, which led the band to use a man named O'Dean as their lead singer. After an altercation with Nikki, O'Dean was kicked from the band. Tommy Lee then convinced Vince Neil into coming to the second audition.
2. The First Gig
GiphyEvery band has to start out somewhere, and that begins with their first performance in front of an audience. In the movie, Mötley Crüe performs in front of a small crowd at a bar. The gig starts out as clumsy and uninteresting until a man insults Vince Neil and spits on his expensive, beloved leather pants. This causes Vince Neil to attack the man, which leads Nikki and Tommy to start kicking ass as well. This gains respect from the audience and locks them in as the real deal.
In real life, the band's first gig was opening for a rock band called YNT. The crowd was estimated to be around 600 people and it was nothing short of amazing.
3. Nikki's Overdose
GiphySomething the movie that is almost completely honest is when Nikki Sixx overdosed on heroin and was pronounced dead temporarily in front of America. In the movie, it isn't really shown as to who Nikki is partying with before overdosing. We just see a guy with long hair giving Nikki a syringe, Nikki passing out, and an ambulance.
In real life, Nikki was actually partying with Steven Adler and Slash. Slash's presence at this party is quite important, seeing as it may have played a part in saving Nikki. Slash's girlfriend at the time was the one who gave Nikki mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while waiting on the ambulance to arrive.
4. Vince's Car Crash/The Death of Razzle
GiphyVince Neil will always be known for his drinking and driving accident which ultimately killed Razzle, the drummer for Hanoi Rocks, on December 8th, 1984. In the movie, Vince is seen leaving the party with a beer bottle in his hand. Besides this small detail, he is seemingly sober enough to walk and talk to his wife, Sherise. Him and Razzle get into his car and head to the liquor store. After leaving the store, Vince and Razzle are talking and the wreck seems to be caused by a small moment of distraction.
This is completely false. Whenever Vince wrecked the car, he was highly intoxicated with a BAL (blood alcohol level) of 0.17. Vince was then charged with vehicular manslaughter, which he plead guilty to. He was sentenced 30 days in jail, but was released after 18 due to good behavior.
5. Mick Mars's Surgery
GiphyFor most of Mick Mars's career as a guitarist, he has openly struggled with ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis. He was diagnosed at 17 years old. In the movie, it shows Mick leaving the hospital after a hip replacement and automatically walking, standing, and not even acknowledging the pain of the surgery. In real life, the pain of not only the hip replacement but his condition in general led him to being addicted to alcohol and pain killers.
The Dirt is nothing short of an amazing movie and is definitely making a lot of money from Netflix viewers. However, these five things that they glossed over are very important.