The True(r) Tale of Mötley Crüe: What Netflix’s The Dirt Got Wrong

As Sixx peruses the newspaper looking for bandmembers, he notices Lee skillfully spinning his drumstick. A smirk overtakes his face and the film cuts to band practice where Tommy Lee sits gleefully behind a drum kit. 

How it really went down: Impressed after seeing Tommy Lee play drums in his band Suite 19, Nikki Sixx pursued the young musician. The two intentionally met at a Denny’s to formulate the beginnings of a new band that would eventually become Mötley Crüe. Later, their hedonistic antics and dangerously severe addictions would earn the two original members of the band the nickname "The Terror Twins."

After some drug-induced deliberation, Neil shows up to a jam session with his girlfriend in tow. The initial run-through is rocky as Neil's girlfriend rebuff's the band's too-fast, too-loud sound, but the group eventually catches their stride, and the first version of Mötley Crüe is seemingly formed ("Xmass" was the initial band-name choice). 

The Dirt: When Tommy Lee tells Vince Neil he's in a band that he'd like Neil to join, Neil shoots the idea down, dubbing the group too “sketchy.” Instead, Neil narrates the real reason he enjoys fronting a rock ensemble: girls, girls, girls. The film cuts to Neil and his girlfriend snorting coke off a mirror and talking about their dreams, the idea of joining the band seemingly dismissed. 

How it really went down: The trio didn’t meet Vince Neil at a backyard party while he sang “My Kind of Lover" to a swarm of swooning ladies. In fact, according to the timeline, that song wasn’t even out yet. Instead, they met him at The Starwood in West Hollywood. What’s more, Neil was incredibly reluctant to join the band. They had to beg the vocalist to attend a practice, essentially stalking him in the process. 

Zataut nervously refuses the favor and immediately continues pitching the record deal to the rowdy group, never once considering their careless behavior a cogent foreboding. In response to Zataut's offer, Vince Neil jokingly states, “I don’t know if we can trust a dude who turns down a free blowjob." Seconds later, the band signs to Elektra for a five-album deal. The whole scene goes down in a matter of minutes. 

The Dirt: After signing a deal with Elektra Records, the band gets a hefty advance and starts raging even harder, throwing "bigger parties" with "better drugs." While at one such party, Nikki Sixx gets into a violent altercation with a man donning suspenders and a buzzed head. Heroically, Doc McGhee – the then-music manager for KISS – chin-checks the attacker. With his foot firmly on the man's neck, McGhee looks up at Sixx and says, “You fellas are gonna need a manager.”

Moments later, Mick Mars looks directly at the camera and says, “This didn’t actually happen. Doc never came to this filthy shithole.” This is one of many unusual asides wherein the characters acknowledge the movie’s inaccuracies, deeming them inexplicably intentional. 

How it really went down: The band actually met Doc McGhee at the Santa Monica Civic Center following a performance. McGhee was there with his partner Doug Thaler whose presence and contributions to the band’s rise were inexplicably left out of the film. Later, The Dirt shows Doc McGhee donning an "Entertainment or Death" tattoo, a design meant to celebrate the band's upcoming album. Unfortunately, Nikki Sixx changed the album's name to "Theatre of Pain" just before its release, rendering the tattoo meaningless. What's more, Doc McGhee never received that tattoo. Instead, Doug Thaler was the unfortunate recipient of the faux pas. Luckily for Thaler, the band eventually named their 1999 live album "Entertainment or Death."

The Dirt: Just before performing at The Forum, Vince Neil has sex with Tom Zataut’s girlfriend in his dressing room. As Zataut bangs on Neil’s door to let him know it’s show time, the camera pans inside revealing the two getting down and dirty.