Mötley Crüe’s biopic entitled ‘The Dirt’ was released in 2019, starring Douglas Booth, Colson Baker, Daniel Webber, Iwan Rheon, and Pete Davidson. The movie was based on the band’s autobiography ‘The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band.’

Not only the movie itself but also its soundtrack list was highly praised. The list included Mötley Crüe classics, a Madonna cover, different artists’ songs such as ‘Keep on Knocking,’ ‘Close Enough,’ and ‘Total Insanity’ and many more. According to Tommy Lee, Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ cover was Nikki Sixx’s fault.

Nikki Sixx Wanted To Cover Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’ For ‘The Dirt’

Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee remembered the time when Nikki Sixx approached him, saying I have an idea, but can’t share it yet. Lee stated that he felt very excited, and his curiosity increased until he decided to go to Nikki’s house and find out.

Sixx showed him a demo of Mötley Crüe’s cover of Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin.’ In the beginning, Tommy found the demo very good but couldn’t understand it was Madonna’s iconic song. He was very shocked after he realized that, and Sixx thought Lee was going to punch him in the face.

Tommy Lee recalled these times saying:

“So we covered Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin.’ Have you heard it? It’s f’cking rad, right? It’s all this guy’s fault. He’s like ‘Tommy, I have this idea for a cover’ and I was like ‘Alright.’ I was open to everything. He’s like ‘I can’t tell you what it is and I just have to play it for you.’

I was like ‘Ok.’ So he comes over. We’re working on basses and drums for ‘The Dirt’ record and he goes ‘Dude check this out’ and puts a demo on and I was like ‘What the f’ck.’ Then, the chorus drops us. I said ‘This is insane. Let’s rip it.’ It was crazy. Can you imagine Nikki going like ‘Hey dude! I got this really rad idea. What a cover like a look ‘Like a Virgin.'”

Nikki Sixx responded:

“It’s the stupidest phone call because it’s like saying ‘Hey guess what I got you a Christmas present and it’s July.’ At first, he was like ‘what’ because it doesn’t sound like Madonna and he was going like ‘Oh, this is cool.’ It’s got that kind of raking rock and got a big heavy thing in the beginning.

Then all of a sudden I saw his eyes get bigger and I’m like ‘Man, he’s gonna punch me right in my face. As I was ready to get up and leave that verse started and He was like ‘Wow.’ I think it’s funny that Vince is singing ‘Like a Virgin.’ If Tommy would have called and said ‘Dude I’ve got this idea about ‘Like a Virgin’ I’d go. I don’t know. There is only one way to do it but then when Bob Rock got us to do it right beyond the demo.”

However, Tommy Lee didn’t punch him and wanted to try to cover the song. The cover was used in the soundtrack album of Mötley Crüe’s biographical movie ‘The Dirt’ thanks to Bob Rock, who encouraged them. So, Sixx was the man behind this cover for the movie. The band’s Madonna cover gained critical acclaim and appreciation from their fans.

You can listen to the songs below.