{"id":483739,"date":"2019-03-22T06:59:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T12:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=808838"},"modified":"2019-03-22T06:59:56","modified_gmt":"2019-03-22T12:59:56","slug":"fact-checking-motley-crues-netflix-movie-the-dirt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/fact-checking-motley-crues-netflix-movie-the-dirt\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact-Checking M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce\u2019s Netflix Movie \u2018The Dirt\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In many ways, fact-checking a movie about M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce is a ridiculous task, especially a film that says right off the bat it is merely \u201cbased\u201d on a true story. It\u2019s also a film that breaks the fourth wall and tells the audience that things didn\u2019t happen quite as they\u2019re being presented. The whole thing is also based on a book that bassist Nikki Sixx now claims has at least one story \u2013 in which he writes that he \u201cpretty much\u201d raped a woman \u2013 was \u201cpossibly greatly embellished or made up.\u201d<\/a> He also claimed he was on drugs during the interviews with writer Neil Strauss and doesn\u2019t remember much at that time.<\/p>\n

That begs the question: If the four members of M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce were drunk or on drugs throughout much of the Eighties, might their memories of that time period be a little hazy? Ozzy Osbourne has always claimed to have no memory of the famous story in The Dirt<\/em> movie and book where he sniffs a line of ants in front of the band. But he was also blackout drunk back then. Can any of these people be trusted to have legit stories or are some of these famous tales merely the product of hopelessly compromised memory banks?<\/p>\n

Pushing all those questions aside, The Dirt<\/em> (which hit Netflix on Friday) actually gets a lot of the band\u2019s history right. Tommy Lee and Sixx may have had pouffier hair than their onscreen counterparts, but the filmmakers went to great lengths to capture the look and vibe of the Eighties Sunset Strip scene. Much of the action onscreen sticks pretty close to the version of history presented in the book. There\u2019s nothing as egregious as the inaccuracies in Bohemian Rhapsody<\/em>,<\/a> which shows Queen writing \u201cWe Will Rock You\u201d in the Eighties and breaking up before Live Aid. But there are still many moments, big and small, where The Dirt<\/em> deviates from the known historical record. Here\u2019s a look at 14 of them.<\/p>\n

1. Tommy Lee\u2019s First Encounter With Nikki Sixx Is a Bit Off<\/strong>
The movie shows a teenage Tommy Lee going to see Sixx play a show with his band London at a Sunset Strip club and then bumping into him afterwards at a Denny\u2019s. Sixx tells him the band is over and he is looking to start a new one. He invites Tommy to try out as his drummer even though the only experience he mentions is playing in his high school marching band. In reality, he was the drummer in a group called Suite 19 that Sixx had seen in concert and found very impressive. They met at the Denny\u2019s specifically to talk about forming a new band. Nothing about it was random.<\/p>\n

2. It Erases Their Original Lead Singer From History<\/strong>
When M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce first went into the studio to record their earliest demos, Vince Neil wasn\u2019t yet their singer. It was a fellow named O\u2019Dean Peterson who, according to Tommy Lee, had a voice somewhere between Ian Astbury of the Cult and Klaus Meine of the Scorpions. But Nikki didn\u2019t like his attitude and Mick Mars thought he was a hippie, which was basically a death sentence for a member of M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce. They threw him out and history has basically forgotten that he ever existed. This movie does the same thing. (Though he still appears onstage occasionally in Los Angeles to cover the band<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

3. They Didn\u2019t Meet Vince Neil at a Backyard Party<\/strong>
When Neil first comes onscreen in The Dirt<\/em>, he\u2019s singing Billy Squier\u2019s \u201cMy Kind of Lover\u201d at a backyard party while the women up front go insane for him. (Let\u2019s overlook the fact that \u201cMy Kind of Lover\u201d wasn\u2019t even out at the time.) And while he was in a cover band back then, the first meeting took place at The Starwood in West Hollywood. Neil avoided the band for a lot longer than the movie suggests, as they had to basically stalk him for weeks before he even agreed to an initial jam session. And they didn\u2019t play \u201cLive Wire\u201d at their first jam because Nikki hadn\u2019t written the song yet.<\/p>\n