If you’re into heavy metal music like thrash metal band Exodus, have at least heard of the
band Mötley Crüe, or just love watching beautiful things go up in flames, The Dirt might be
what’s missing from your weekly film night. It is a no-holds barred look at Mötley Crüe’s rise
and fall. Here’s the lowdown on why you need to see this new Netflix movie.

An Exercise in Musical Method Acting



“I feel like I'm watching Mötley Crüe in 1981. What is happening?' We were freaked out." In an interview with Thrillist, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee recalls his reaction to seeing and hearing the fictional, new Mötley Crüe play their songs live. The actors who played the band took their roles seriously and dedicated their time to mastering every Crüe song they played in the movie. They all went through a music boot camp and spent time with the real band to get everything right. "I have giant calluses in between my middle finger and my index finger just [from] spinning that damn stick. So I hope you enjoy the stick twirls,” said Colson Baker, also known as rapper Machine Gun Kelly who played Tommy Lee. For what it’s worth, The Dirt is an authentic 80s experience.

It’s an Introduction to Three Books

With help from journalist Neil Strauss, all four members of the band wrote The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band, the book that inspired the movie. Meanwhile, Tattoos & Tequila: To Hell and Back with One of Rock’s Most Notorious Frontmenwas penned by vocalist Vince Neil. And perhaps most notorious of all is Lee’s Tommyland. If you liked The Dirt, you might want to dive in deep with these books and learn even more secrets that will shock and awe you.

Witness the Root of Future Collaborations

The film has inspired a renewed interest in the band, and may even lead to future collaborations with other big names in rock. For instance, before and after the release of The Dirt, Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx had been quite active on Twitter, where he recently offered a writing prompt that read “A perfect band would be all bass players. You can only have 5 members. Ok. Put the band together.” And who had a pretty interesting reaction? Rage Against the Machine (RATM) and Audioslave bassist Tom Morello retweeted Sixx and answered with “Sid vicious, Roger Waters, Geddy Lee, Bootsy Collins, 70’s Gene Simmons.”

While this interaction may not seem like much, to the average rock fan, it’s a sign of potential future collaborations to come. RATM is one of the most important rock bands of all time. An infographic by Lottoland on The Top Ten Most Influential Rock Songs, details how RATM’s 1991 hit Killing in the Name Of is rightly counted alongside Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, and The Beatles’ I Wanna Hold Your Hand as one of the most iconic songs ever written. Despite being one of the biggest bands from the early 90s, there’s been no feature film about RATM, just a documentary called Revolution in the Head: Rage Against the Machine & The Art of Protest.

While they haven’t professionally interacted in the past, the renewed interest in
early 90s rock could finally spur some collabs between the members of RATM and Mötley
Crüe. Until that happens The Dirt should keep you busy until you need another hit of rock.