Michael Monroe says that he doubts MÖTLEY CRÜE 's "The Dirt" biopic is a truthful portrayal of the iconic 1980s rock band.
The former HANOI ROCKS frontman was asked to comment on the film in light of the fact that CRÜE frontman Vince Neil caused the tragic car accident in 1984 that killed his passenger, HANOI ROCKS drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley .
Asked by The Metal Gods Meltdown if he has seen "The Dirt" , Michael replied (hear audio below): "Nah. I never read the book [that the movie is based on]. I'm not interested in that band. Why bother? To me, it's nothing. I'm not saying this because of the accident or anything like that. I'm just not interested. It's not my kind of thing. I was never into that band before or after the accident. It was a tragic thing that happened, but I doubt that it's truthful to what really went down. People are telling me, 'Oh, yeah, Razzle is in the movie.' 'Oh, yeah? Did they also mention the two teenagers who got paralyzed from the neck down?'"
Back in 2004, Monroe slammed MÖTLEY CRÜE for the band's decision to title a box set "Music To Crash Your Car To" , calling the move beyond disrespectful and referring to the group's bassist Nikki Sixx as "shallow," "ignorant" and "stupid". "The 'Mostly Crude' gotta be as dumb as they are to have done that," he told Metal Sludge . "I'm not only talking about Razzle , but also for the other families involved in the accident... As we've previously stated: The most tasteless and murderous gimmick to cash in on the past we've ever heard of. There's nothing 'cool' or 'funny' about death or winding up a paraplegic for life. How low can you go? I'd say this gave bad taste a bad name."
Three years later, Monroe publicly apologized to Sixx , saying that his "unflattering comments" about the bassist were "really childish and stupid." He explained: "I just took it a bit personally when they called their album at the time 'Music to Crash Your Car To' . I thought it was inappropriate since it came across as if they were making fun of the accident, which I'm sure was not their intention."
Neil 's drunk-driving death car crash happened back in December 1984 when he smashed his car into another vehicle in Redondo Beach, California, killing Razzle and seriously injuring two other occupants.
Vince was charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol. His blood alcohol level was 0.17, which was over the legal limit.
Neil served half of a 30-day jail sentence, received five years probation and had to pay $2.6 million in restitution, as well as perform 200 hours of community service.
In 2011, Monroe gave Sleaze Roxx his take on what happened that night: "There was an accident, and unfortunately our drummer was killed. As far as Vince Neil , I have nothing to say. It was an accident. What happened happened, and it can't be changed. Everybody suffered from the whole thing."
