History Main / SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll

On the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]] end of the scale, rock is actually pretty screwed up. Drugs are prevalent throughout the culture, [[TheRockStar rock musicians]] themselves use their inflated stardom to become real-life {{Karma Houdini}}s, and the whole scene is decadent on the top and seedy on the bottom.

Not so much a response to {{The Power of Rock}} as an exposition of RealLife. Certainly {{Truth in Television}}, but often exaggerated in media for added effect.

{{Hookers and Blow}} is the SuperTrope.

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* ''DetroitMetalCity'' makes fun of this quite a bit... what with the protagonist being a fan of Euro-pop who joins a death metal band for the money. Needless to say, he ends up rather over his head...

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[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* Deconstructed in ''Discworld/SoulMusic'': "We're doing this for sex and drugs and Music With Rocks In!" "I don't think you've ever taken drugs, and for that matter, I don't think you've ever had--" "Well one out of three ain't bad!" "Yes it is, it's only thirty-three percent..."

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

** [=~Mötley Crüe~=] themselves spends a lot of time singing about getting high and/or laid because of their fame.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* The ''GuitarHero'' series has a few nods to this trope.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* [[TheSimpsons Bart Simpson]] did it with a fantasy sequence where Bart imagines himself as an alcoholic rocker, alienated from his friends, and insulting his fans in his songs. Note this is his ''fantasy'' sequence.

[[AC:RealLife]]

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* The Osbournes could either be seen as subverting this trope or playing it straight. On one hand, [[OzzyOsbourne Ozzy]] is clearly a little burnt from his years of drug abuse and wild ways, and cynics could claim that the sad after-effects of a rock and roll lifestyle are being played for laughs as a desperate and exploitative cash-grab. On the other hand, he has a luxury house, lots of money and though his family and home life certainly aren't conventional (or sane, given your point-of-view), there is certainly a lot of love and happy moments shown on camera.

** Drug abuse took its toll on {{Aerosmith}}; Steven Tyler and Joe Perry's nickname "The Toxic Twins" stems from their severe drug abuse, and Tyler infamously collapsed during several shows in the early 80's. All five members went through rehab in the 80's and have been clean and sober since. In the words of Steven Tyler: "Sex, drugs, and rock and roll: stop doing drugs, and you have more time for the other two."

->- Short blurb on the remastered Razor's Edge by [[{{ACDC}} AC/DC]]

* {{Metallica}}'s "Some Kind of Monster" documentary covers this, though with the inversion of showing an older, wiser version of Metallica that had outgrown their wild hedonistic early years and now basically was all corporate-like (to the point of hiring a therapist to help the band co-exist) and largely being a bunch of middle-aged family men desperately trying (and failing) to come up with a comeback album that would make the world love them again.

* Perhaps some amount of sex and controlled substances are necessary to rocking out at all: Fitz, from the DoctorWho EighthDoctorAdventures, plays guitar and wants to be a rock star some day. He also smokes thirty a day, gets quite drunk quite often and occasionally gets extremely drunk, tried laudanum once or twice, and has an [[ChivalrousPervert active love life]]. Note the following LiveJournal icon, by [[http://redscharlach.livejournal.com/ redscharlach]]: [[http://i43.tinypic.com/j67xqc.jpg]]

-> ''Sex and drugs and rock and roll''
-> ''Are all my brain and body need''
-> ''Sex and drugs and rock and roll''
-> ''Are very good indeed.''
-> Ian Dury and the Blockheads, ''Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll''

* Parodied to hell and back in ''Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story''.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Very, very numerous.
** Drug abuse took its toll on {{Aerosmith}}; Steven Tyler and Joe Perry's nickname "The Toxic Twins" stems from their severe drug abuse, and Tyler infamously collapsed during several shows in the early 80's. All five members went through rehab in the 80's and have been clean and sober since. In the words of Steven Tyler: "Sex, drugs, and rock and roll: stop doing drugs, and you have more time for the other two."
* Averted in StraightEdge hardcore.
* This trope tends to be most prevalent near the middle of the MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness, while bands at the extreme end of the scale tend to have far more laid-back lifestyles (save for BlackMetal, whose musicians embody a [[EvilIsCool different trope altogether]]).

** If you're talking about the episode "Bart to the Future," Bart wasn't fantasizing or wishing for this future. It was a vision of Bart's future that an Indian showed him. But it's true that he was undisturbed by this future, contrary to the FutureLoser reaction that the Indian was trying to provoke in Bart and did provoke in the audience.
** The fantasy sequence is from the episode where Bart tries to take up guitar and Otto gets temporarily fired from being a bus driver. Also Spinal Tap made a guest appearance in that episode.

On the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]] end of the scale, rock is actually pretty screwed up. Drugs are prevalent throughout the culture, rock musicians themselves use their inflated stardom to become real-life {{Karma Houdini}}s, and the whole scene is decadent on the top and seedy on the bottom.

->- Short blurb on the remastered Razor's Edge by AC/DC''

* Perhaps a bit of sex and fairly reasonable amounts of controlled substances are necessary to rocking out at all: Fitz, from the DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse, plays guitar and wants to be a rock star some day. He also smokes thirty a day, gets quite drunk quite often and occasionally gets extremely drunk, tried laudanum once or twice, and has an active love life. Note the following LiveJournal icon, by [[http://redscharlach.livejournal.com/ redscharlach]]: [[http://i43.tinypic.com/j67xqc.jpg]]

** Even moreso for Dr. Rockzo, the Rock n Roll Clown, whose cocaine addiction is one of the main reasons to why he is one of the favorite characters on the show.

*The Ian Dury song ''Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll'', the TropeNamer (although variations on the phrase seem to have existed before he wrote the song in 1977)
*''Oracular Spectacular'' takes both ends of the scale to hell and back.
*The DavidBowie song ''Ziggy Stardust'' is all about this trope.
**Another Bowie example: ''Ashes to Ashes'', in which Bowie uses the return of his character Major Tom as a metaphor for his struggle with addiction.
* Somewhat Bowie-inspired, Marilyn Manson's ''Mechanical Animals'' is a dual-layered odyssey that's half about this. The "Omega" songs are all Sex, Drugs, and Rock anthems of hollowness and empty glitter, while the "Alpha" songs are about overcoming pain and alienation.
*''Lust For Life'' by Iggy Pop covers this theme as well.

*Sixx:AM draws a ''lot'' of inspiration from the horrible things Nikki Sixx did back in his Mötley Crue days.
** [=~Mötley Crüe~=] themselves spends a lot of time singing about getting high and/or laid because of their fame.

* GrandTheftAutoViceCity seems to hint this with the fictional band Love Fist.

* SouthPark: After Stan gets tired of [[StopHavingFunGuys ruining]] GuitarHero, he starts playing "Heroin Hero", in which a person just plays a character who injects heroin into his body.