Mötley Crüe have unveiled their metal rendition of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” an unlikely cover choice and one of a handful of new recordings the reunited hair metal band made for the Netflix biopic The Dirt.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Nikki Sixx explained how the Madonna cover went from “bad idea but pretty funny” to genuine realization. Sixx first demoed his minor-key version before bringing “Like a Virgin” to band mates
“I went over to Tommy [Lee]’s house, and [producer] Bob Rock was over there,” Sixx told Rolling Stone. “I said, ‘I’m gonna play you something and go in the other room so in case you don’t like it, you won’t punch me in the face.’ And Tommy started laughing. I started playing it and all of a sudden, you just saw Tommy’s face light up.”
“I heard the demo and it was like, ‘This is fucking genius,’” Lee added. “When it drops down into half-time, it gets so heavy. This is right up our alley and sort of ironic that Vince [Neil] is singing ‘Like a Virgin,’ which is not even close. Or for that matter of fact, all of us.”
The Dirt premieres on Netflix on March 22nd. The corresponding soundtrack features Mötley Crüe’s first new songs together since the band’s farewell concerts, including the Machine Gun Kelly-featuring “The Dirt (Est. 1981).”