Machine Gun Kelly, Mötley Crüe drop ‘The Dirt’ soundtrack collab

The buzz has been building around Mötley Crüe biopic The Dirt, which stars Machine Gun Kelly as drummer Tommy Lee. Earlier this month, we received word that the rapper would be joining the rock icons for a collab track for the film, and it’s finally here.

“The Dirt (Est. 1981)” premiered on Sex Pistols’ guitarist Steve Jones show “Jonesy’s Jukebox” Thursday afternoon, but the collab finally became available online today.

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Earlier this month, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx teased the matchup in a Twitter Q&A after a fan asked if it existed. Sixx revealed the news, saying, “Yes. New song with MGK is coming really soon. We wrote the song for #TheDirtMovie”

The band shared a song teaser just prior to Sixx’s “Jonesy’s Jukebox” interview.

Once on the radio show, Sixx gave a little background on the track. He explained they began working on it while in New Orleans on The Dirt’s set.

“We were flying back, and I was flying with Tommy. Because we’re not a band anymore officially—we don’t tour. I said, ‘Why don’t we, let’s write some music.’ And I didn’t think we would ever do anything again together besides this movie. We had kind of called it a day. We got excited about it and talked to the other guys.”

The band released “All Bad Things” in 2015, marking their final single ahead of their last tour. Sixx continues on to explain he had about eight tracks he had been working on that weren’t necessarily meant for the band, including some with John 5.

“I had these ideas, and Tommy said he had a bunch of ideas and Mick Mars had some ideas, and we kind of just started putting them together. We ended up with nine songs all called ‘The Dirt.’”

They eventually narrowed it down to three songs, and they chose this one as the first single where “the lyrics explain it all.” Sixx revealed there will be three other new tracks coming out at a later date, which, according to the soundtrack announcement, will include “Ride With The Devil,” “Crash And Burn” and “Like A Virgin.”

Jones and Sixx also chatted about the casting choices for the film. The bassist joked that he didn’t care if the actor portraying him, Douglas Booth, could do so well as he was only chosen for his looks “so people would think [he’s] actually good looking.”

Sixx also says the band were very involved with the process. They worked as producers, making script adjustments and approving actors. He explains casting brought the actors to them to review, and each member had several choices. Sixx also revealed that MGK tried out to portray him as well and not just Lee.

“I didn’t know this, but at one point, Machine Gun Kelly was sort of trying out to be me. He is Tommy. When you see the film, it’s unbelievable. He has the same body and everything.”

You can watch part two and part three of Sixx’s interview where he discusses the casting and more. Check out the new track below or here.

More on The Dirt and Machine Gun Kelly

MGK was cast as Lee early last year. He joins Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones), Daniel Webber (The Punisher) and Douglas Booth who will portray guitarist Mick Mars, singer Vince Neil and bassist Nikki Sixx respectively.

The Dirt is based on the group memoir the band wrote in 2001 of the same name. Last month, MGK explained what the book meant to him growing up and what it was like embodying Lee.

He told Billboard that The Dirt was his “Bible” when he was 13-years-old. However, he now realizes that he might have had the “wrong idols” growing up.

When you’re 13, you don’t really understand problems too much, so you’re just looking at all the things that glitter. It wasn’t until we were on set and doing these scenes that we were like, ‘Whoa, this is dark. What are people going to think about this?’” the rapper said. “But there’s something about the truth in that book — the fact that you do fall in love with these people [who] then do this giant nose dive into this dark place.”

MGK described Lee as the “puppy dog” of Mötley Crüe. He added that people tend to love him more when he makes mistakes. He also recalled the first time he met Lee in Atlanta, and said the two partied together at a show. The actor also revealed what is was like to dress like Lee, shag hair and all.

“Tommy was big into Chucks and stuff like that back in the day. He was always wearing some combo of high white tube socks with [Nike] Cortezes with full hair metal glam gear,” the actor said.

On the surface, the film might just seem like a story of a badly behaved band who did outrageous things. But, MGK believes the film had a deeper meaning about life itself.

“[The Dirt] is just a more intensified version of what all of our lives really are: making mistakes and growing from them. No one just gets it right,” MGK said.

Earlier this week, the first trailer gave us a look at the band’s rise (including their interaction with A&R rep Tom Zutaut played by Pete Davidson) and all the crazy things that came with it.

The Dirt hits Netflix March 22, and you can check out the trailer below.

See more: 16 memorable band photos

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