History Main / SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll

* ''[[http://youtu.be/frda3x7AQ5Q Feel Good Inc]]'' by Music/{{Gorillaz}} from ''Music/DemonDaysAlbum'' touches on this theme in its music video which according to the In Character Director's Commentary is about being entrapped in a hedonistic world of their own creation, trapped in the [[APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy Feel Good tower]]. Noodle has managed to escape on her flying island (or [[ChildrenAreInnocent never went into the tower in the first place]]), whilst [[TheHedonist Murdoc]] seems to be quite happy where he is.

* ''WesternAnimation/RockAndRule'' plays this trope ''and'' ThePowerOfRock straight. The Big Bad is this trope personified: he's a burned-out decadent rocker who wants to [[spoiler: [[RockMeAsmodeus summon a demon]] using the heroine's voice]]. He is defeated when the male and female leads sing a duet that destroys his evil.

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

* ''Film/WalkTheLine'' - Johnny Cash gets deep into drugs. The love of June Carter brings him back.

* ''The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years'' - A documentary featuring many of the most notorious hard partiers in rock at the zenith (or nadir, depending on your point of view) of their debauchery.

-->'''Hilly''': Sex, drugs, and elfrock ain't what their fans imagine it is.

-->...AND THEN MY SEVENTH ALBUM ONLY WENT -GOLD- INSTEAD OF PLATINUM! I HAD TO GET THE MEDIUM-SIZED JACUZZI! *sob* ''[stops sobbing and retains professionalism]'' Will that work for you?"

* The Bohemians faction of ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'' is portrayed with gothic humour as licentious dilettantes, closely connected with prostitution and [[FantasticDrug honey-smuggling]] - to [[SenseFreak use exotic pleasures as artistic inspiration]], to [[StarvingArtist pay the bills in between commissions]], and just for fun.

* Music/{{MGMT}}'s ''Music/OracularSpectacular'' takes both ends of the scale to hell and back.

* Somewhat Bowie-inspired, Music/MarilynManson's ''Music/MechanicalAnimals'' 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.

* "Shooting Star" by Music/BadCompany.
* Sixx:AM draws a ''lot'' of inspiration from the horrible things Nikki Sixx did back in his Music/MotleyCrue days.
** Music/MotleyCrue themselves spend a lot of time singing about getting high and/or laid because of their fame.
* Music/PinkFloyd: Much of their material from ''Music/{{Meddle}}'' onward revolves around the ills of rock stardom, but this is made especially prominent in ''Music/TheWall'', in which deeply troubled rock star protagonist Pink seeks solace in causal sex and drug abuse to escape the hollowness caused by his lack of meaningful personal connections.

* Music/TheArrogantWorms have a song called 'Sex, Drugs, and Rrsps' which deals with the lead man of a band who decides to invest his money in the stock market instead of blowing it on hookers and drugs.
* A ''lot'' of Music/VelvetUnderground, especially the first two albums, with the speed anthem ''Music/WhiteLightWhiteHeat'' the seventeen-minute tale of a drug orgy GoneHorriblyWrong "Sister Ray," and the heroin-inspired "I'm Waiting for the Man" and, well, "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Heroin]]" from ''Music/TheVelvetUndergroundAndNico''. Much of Lou Reed's solo work as well, especially ''Music/{{Berlin}}''.
* The downfall of {{Music/Savatage}}'s ''Music/StreetsARockOpera'''s main character DT Jesus. A drug dealer turned rock star, the fame and eventual drug abuse are explicitly part of his story. The sex can only be ''assumed'', but the man made millions and was a household name...
* The phrase itself was referenced by the Propellerheads' ''Decksanddrumsandrockandroll''.
* The German national anthem is the third stanza of the ''Deutschlandlied''. The first one was scrapped because it lays claim to areas of central Europe that all lie outside of the current German state, and the second one was scrapped as well because it's really just about Sex (German women), Drugs (German wine), and Rock and Roll (German song). The third one is about unity, justice, and freedom, which is much more suitable for a national anthem.
* The Music/{{Pantera}} home videos (''Cowboys From Hell: The Videos'', ''Vulgar Video'', and ''3 Watch It Go'') contain interviews, music videos, and footage of the band performing. The videos also contain backstage footage of the band's wild partying, drunken shenanigans, pulling pranks on each other, and female fans flashing their breasts to the camera. Basically, it's a concert video/documentary combined with ''Series/JackAss'' and a touch of ''GirlsGoneWild''.

* "[[VideoGame/DeadRising Gone Guru]]" by Lifeseeker. A famous rock star who believes CelebrityIsOverrated gives up his hedonistic lifestyle to become a hermit living in nature. Ironically, his new lifestyle choice causes him to end up becoming even ''more'' rich and famous as a self-help guru (and/or possible cult leader), and he falls back into his former party animal lifestyle, even going as far as spending his entire fortune in his old age to get his head cut off and put on a robot body so he can keep partying for eternity.
* "Stayin' Alive" by Music/TheBeeGees is about someone who tries to distract himself from his empty life with drugs, partying, and empty sex. He knows it, too.
* Parodied lovingly (as most things are) by Music/SteelPanther.
* ''[[http://youtu.be/frda3x7AQ5Q Feel Good Inc]]'' by Music/{{Gorillaz}} from ''Music/DemonDaysAlbum'' touches on this theme in its music video which according to the In Character Director's Commentary is about being entrapped in a hedonistic world of their own creation, trapped in the [[APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy Feel Good tower]]. Noodle has managed to escape on her flying island (or [[ChildrenAreInnocent never went into the tower in the first place]]), whilst [[TheHedonist Murdoc]] seems to be quite happy where he is.

* {{Grunge}} music as a whole tended towards the escapist side of this trope, and a [[DarkerAndEdgier very dark version]] thereof. Drugs were rarely glamorous; usually, their users were portrayed as taking drugs in order to dull the pain of the problems they faced and often wound up destroying themselves in the process. Many famous grunge stars were notorious heroin users and were writing from experience.
* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in "Swimming Pools (Drank)" by Music/KendrickLamar, a song about the problems with trying to stay sober and not become an alcoholic (or lapse back into such) in a culture where [[OdeToIntoxication alcohol consumption is glamorized]]. Ironically, it's also a really great song to get drunk to at a party.

* In addition to having been a RealLife example of this trope, Marc Almond has several songs which include drug references in his back catalogue. "The Idol" is of particular interest as the lyrics deal heavily with the negative consequences of the rock and roll lifestyle.
* Deconstructed in Music/MikePosner's "I Took a Pill in Ibiza". The protagonist is a hedonistic singer who wastes his time on drugs, girls, and reminiscing of his GloryDays. His life feels empty as a result, and [[JacobMarleyWarning warns his listerner against going down his path]]:
--> ''But you don't wanna be high like me\\
Never really knowing why, like me\\
You don't ever wanna step off that rollercoaster\\
and [[LonelyAtTheTop be all alone]]...''

You don't ever wanna step off that rollercoaster and be\\
[[LonelyAtTheTop all alone]]...''

* ''[[http://youtu.be/frda3x7AQ5Q Feel Good Inc]]'' by Music/{{Gorillaz}} from ''Music/DemonDays'' touches on this theme in its music video which according to the In Character Director's Commentary is about being entrapped in a hedonistic world of their own creation, trapped in the [[APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy Feel Good tower]]. Noodle has managed to escape on her flying island (or [[ChildrenAreInnocent never went into the tower in the first place]]), whilst [[TheHedonist Murdoc]] seems to be quite happy where he is.

[[TheRockStar Rock musicians]] may use their inflated stardom and wealth to become real-life {{Karma Houdini}}s. Some rock stars may use their fame to take advantage of fans or even rape them. The whole scene is decadent on the top, with stars partying all night at luxury hotels in drug-fueled orgies and seedy on the bottom, where has-been bands from yesteryear who got [[ExecutiveMeddling screwed over on their album contract]] play at dive bars in WretchedHive for a pittance. The adverse consequences to rock stars and their hangers-ons' addiction to fame, wealth and intoxicants are emphasized more than the fleeting Bacchanalian pleasures of partying in this view.

Oh, and by the way, [[Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease there'll be no real-life examples in this page]], as claims about real rock stars tend to be [[NoRealLife/GossipAndStereotypes made-up, exaggerated gossip]]. Even documented RealLife examples of problem-filled rock star lifestyles are not to be included, as it is way too common and tragic.

** Even more so for Dr. Rockzo, the Rock 'n' Roll Clown. [[CatchPhrase He does cocaine!]] It's one of the main reasons he's one of the favorite characters (specifically he's an {{expy}} of Music/DavidLeeRoth).

* While not a full example of this trope, Alpha, [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker's]] [[BrattyHalfPint unwilling sidekick]], became this due to obtaining his powers. He lived the lifestyle of a rock star, going so far as to abandon his parents and his first crush. It took watching him nearly kill people in the air with his recklessness for Alpha to get his powers taken away. Coming back to normal wasn't easy. At all.

Oh, and by the way, there'll be [[Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease no real-life examples in this page]], as claims about real rock stars tend to be [[NoRealLife/GossipAndStereotypes made-up, exaggerated gossip]]. Even documented RealLife examples of problem-filled rock star lifestyles are not to be included, as it is way too common and tragic.

Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease, as claims about real rock stars tend to be [[NoRealLife/GossipAndStereotypes made-up, exaggerated gossip]]. Even documented RealLife examples of problem-filled rock star lifestyles are not to be included, as it is way too common and tragic.

On the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]] end of the scale, rock music and its culture are actually pretty screwed up. Heavy use of addictive hard drugs, including heroin snd cocaine, are used throughout the culture, leading to stars becoming the AddledAddict and hard liquor flows so freely backstage, onstage and on the tour bus that many become TheAlcoholic.

* Many songs by Music/PinkFloyd from ''Music/{{Meddle}}'' onward; mostly because [the person who wrote their happier stuff had been the AnthropomorphicPersonification of this trope before passing on.

* Many songs by Music/PinkFloyd from ''Music/{{Meddle}}'' onward; mostly because [[Music/SydBarrett the person who wrote their happier stuff]] had been the AnthropomorphicPersonification of this trope before passing on.

* Many songs by Music/PinkFloyd from ''Music/{{Meddle}}'' onward; mostly because the guy who wrote their happier stuff had been the AnthropomorphicPersonification of this trope before passing on.

On the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]] end of the scale, rock music and its culture are actually pretty screwed up. Heavy use of addictive hard drugs, including heroin snd cocaine, are used throughout the culture, leading to stars becoming TheAddledAddict and hard liquor flows so freely backstage, onstage and on the tour bus that many become TheAlcoholic.

On the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]] end of the scale, rock music and its culture are actually pretty screwed up. Heavy drugs, including heroin snd cocaine, are used throughout the culture, and [[TheRockStar rock musicians]] themselves use their inflated stardom and wealth to become real-life {{Karma Houdini}}s. Some rock stars may take advantage of their fame to take advantage of fans or even rape them. The whole scene is decadent on the top, with stars partying all night at luxury hotels and seedy on the bottom, where has-been bands play at dive bars in WretchedHive for a pittance. The adverse consequences to rock stars and their hangers-ons' addiction to fame, wealth and intoxicants are emphasized more than the fleeting Bacchanalian pleasures of partying in this view.

Portrayals can be broadly divided into two types of Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll. The hedonist sees all that is available with their fame and money, taking advantage of it until they wake up with a maxed out credit car bill, a hangover, and an eviction notice. The escapist has a DarkAndTroubledPast, uses drugs to escape their pain, casual anonymous sex as a numbing distraction and as a replacement for intimacy, and loud, raucous music (and instrument-smashing and hotel-room trashing) as an outlet for their anger.
There's also a related type that falls into illicit substances or encounters seeking ArtisticStimulation.

Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease, as claims about real rock stars tend to be [[NoRealLife/GossipAnd Stereotypes made-up, exaggerated gossip]]. Even documented RealLife examples of problem-filled rock star lifestyles are not to be included, as it is way too common and tragic.

Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease, as claims about real rock stars tend to be made-up, exaggerated gossip. Even documented RealLife examples of problem-filled rock star lifestyles are not to be included, as it is way too common and tragic.

ThePowerOfRock is awesome! Why? Well, what problem do you have that ''wouldn't'' be solved by going to a big concert, hearing an awesome guitar solo by TheRockStar, seeing a singer do an elaborate dance routine, and belt out a heartfelt song with a kickass drum beat? Whose life ''can't'' be saved by the poignant chords and emotional lyrics in [[Music/LedZeppelin "Stairway To Heaven"?]] Why not go to a concert to [[TheStoner partake of relaxing herbs]], make new friends backstage and party all night on the tourbus. Sex and drugs 'n rock and roll solves all your problems, right?

On the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]] end of the scale, rock music and its culture are actually pretty screwed up. Heavy drugs, including heroin snd cocaine, are used throughout the culture, [[TheRockStar rock musicians]] themselves use their inflated stardom to become real-life {{Karma Houdini}}s. Some rock stars may take advantage of their fame to take advantage of fans or even rape them. The whole scene is decadent on the top, with stars partying all night at luxury hotels and seedy on the bottom, where has-been bands play at dive bars in WretchedHive for a pittance. The adverse consequences to rock stars and their hangers-ons' addiction to fame, wealth and intoxicants are emphasized more than the fleeting Bacchanalian pleasures of partying in this view.

ThePowerOfRock is awesome! Why? Well, what problem do you have that ''wouldn't'' be solved by going to a big concert, hearing an awesome guitar solo by TheRockStar, seeing a singer do an elaborate dance routine, and belt out a heartfelt song with a kickass drum beat? Whose life ''can't'' be saved by the poignant chords and emotional lyrics in [[Music/LedZeppelin "Stairway To Heaven"?]] Why not go to a concert to [[TheStoner partake of relaxing herbs]], make new friends backstage and party. Sex and drugs 'n rock and roll solves all your problems, right?

On the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]] end of the scale, rock music and its culture is actually pretty screwed up. Hesvy drugs, including heroin snd cocaine, are used 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, with stars partying all night at luxury hotels and seedy on the bottom, where has-been bands play at dive bars in WretchedHive for a pittance. The adverse consequences of roxmck stars' and their hangers-on's addiction to fame, wealth and intoxicants are emphasized more than the fleeting Bacchanalian pleasures in this view.

Portrayals can be broadly divided into two types of Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll. The hedonist sees all that is available with their fame and money, taking advantage of it until they wake up with a hangover. The escapist has a DarkAndTroubledPast, uses drugs to escape their pain, sex as a replacement for intimacy, and music as an outlet for their anger. There's also a related type that falls into illicit substances or encounters seeking ArtisticStimulation.

Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease, as this is way too common and tragic.

->''"Kids, don't buy drugs. Become a rock star and they give 'em to ya for free!"''

ThePowerOfRock is awesome! Why? Well, what problem do you have that ''wouldn't'' be solved by an awesome guitar solo, an elaborate dance routine, and a heartfelt song with kickass drums? Whose life ''can't'' be saved by [[Music/LedZeppelin "Stairway To Heaven"?]] Rock solves all, right?

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. The consequences are emphasized more than the fun in this view.

* Parodied in the ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'' DVD with the story behind the creators' success. It plays like one of those E! biographies, with "jujubee and high sugar candy binges" as well as other amazingly harmless demonstrations of how the success went to their head. It even has them do a PowerWalk down an alleyway! It mentions how the head animator got so hopped on sugar he ''animated an entire season in one night!'' However, it was a season they already had.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* This is the TropeMaker of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club 27 Club]]. Many talented musicians have died of various causes at the age of 27. If a rock star survives beyond this age, he or she is likely to avert this trope. Examples are:
** Music/BrianJones from Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} drowned in his swimming pool, probably while high. His fellow band members already had the impression that he indulged too much in this sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll lifestyle.
** Music/JimiHendrix died of an overdose, choking on his own vomit.
** Music/JanisJoplin died a week after Hendrix, also of a heroin overdose.
** Jim Morrison from Music/TheDoors was considered a SexGod to many women, but apart from LSD and peyote, his drug abuse wasn't as extreme as many other musicians on this list. He suffered more from alcoholism and was often drunk on stage, growing more obese during his final years, eventually making it difficult for his fellow band members to continue touring and recording. He died in his bath of apparent heart failure (although it's also been speculated that it was a heroin overdose after Morrison snorted what he believed to be cocaine; no autopsy was performed, so we'll likely never know).
** Despite technically fitting the description (he was a drug-addicted rock star who died at 27), Music/KurtCobain could be considered a subversion of this trope. Not only was he an avowed feminist who showed disdain for rock music which glorified female objectification, but his heroin addiction wasn't part of any sort of decadent lifestyle so much as a byproduct of his depression caused by lifelong chronic stomach pain. He also died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound rather than an overdose, though he did shoot up one last time before killing himself.
** Music/AmyWinehouse was a living example of this trope. She had numerous violent relationships, took about every drug in existence, and died because her body couldn't take her self-destruction anymore, even when she tried to kick her habit.
* Drug abuse took its toll on Music/{{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 '80s. All five members went through rehab in the '80s 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."
* Music/MotleyCrue is legendary for the debauchery and hedonism they engaged in during the 1980s. The members of the band gorged themselves on pretty much every vice imaginable: alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, groupies, strip clubs, etc. After Nikki Sixx nearly died of a heroin overdose (his heart stopped for a couple of minutes, but a paramedic managed to revive him with adrenaline shots to the heart), the band's managers canceled their European tour and convinced everyone in the band to enter rehab (Mick Mars refused, and instead cleaned up on his own). Although the band members are now more or less sober, they still have a reputation for being icons of the sex, drugs, and rock & roll lifestyle.
* Music/ElvisPresley became this trope from the late 1960s on. He had a constant supply of groupies, alcohol, fast food, amphetamines, and pills and grew obese. His manager Colonel Parker didn't care about his health and used all kinds of miracle cures to get him back on stage to perform. His close associates and friends didn't do enough to help him either. This eventually led to Elvis' death at the age of 42.
* Music/TheBeatles [[http://www.beatlesbible.com/features/drugs/ were on just about every substance you could come up with]]. Contrary to popular belief, [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs they didn't actually record any of their songs while high]], since they didn't like the results when they tried it. And as Music/GeorgeHarrison said: "After a while taking drugs just gets boring." Music/JohnLennon got hooked on heroin in 1968, but was smart enough to quit just two years later, inspiring his song "Cold Turkey". Music/RingoStarr had a mean bout with alcoholism in the '70s, later saying that, had he known psychedelic drugs like marijuana and LSD would give way to harder ones like heroin and cocaine, they'd never have taken part in it.
* Music/RayCharles and Music/JamesBrown were early examples, despite neither being considered actual "rock 'n roll." Both men heavily dabbled with groupies and mistresses, battled long-time drug addictions (Brown with cocaine, Ray with heroin), and were highly influential on rock music.
* VisualKei and Japanese HardRock / HeavyMetal + the Japanese underground club scene are all nigh-infamous for it... except it's not officially done, and it's a secret, because of the drug laws in Japan where even having pot can get you jailed for 10 years or more and your career ruined. Alcohol, tobacco, and lots and lots of often unsafe sex are the open parts of the iceberg, with everything else being known but not said. The first iteration of VisualKei, Visual Shock, was ''infamous'' for it. It was primarily Music/XJapan and the other Creator/ExtasyRecords bands that brought it to a true ''art form,'' though Music/BuckTick and Music/{{Kuroyume}} could easily compete. Somewhat died out with the decline of Visual Shock in TheNineties and a series of high-profile drug busts late in TheNineties - but popped back up in, of all places, the Oshare subgenre - and is relatively common everywhere in modern VisualKei, unless the band is Straight Edge, has a large amount of members that went sober - or the entire band did- or it is Oshare and actually abides by its "we are cute and clean" rules rather than violates them privately.
** Music/TaijiSawada was probably one of the more infamous figures in VisualKei for it. He struggled with mental illness and an addiction to alcohol and stimulant drugs throughout his life, which possibly figured into his relatively short tenures in bands that weren't his own projects. He would die soon after turning 45 from a suspicious death in custody (after a strange episode of disturbing the peace on a flight that seemed to be an epileptic seizure or being high on something), written off as a suicide, but that carried all of the hallmarks of a covered-up murder via PoliceBrutality.
* Averted in UsefulNotes/StraightEdge hardcore.
* This trope was probably most prevalent during the '80s. Once grunge hit the mainstream, it (or, at least, its ''glorification'') cooled down significantly. [[Music/{{Motorhead}} Lemmy Kilmister]] even once complained about boring, clean-living attitudes of modern rock musicians.
-->'''Lemmy''': It kills me how bland this period is... You go backstage these days and you see 20 bottles of Perrier and a bag of nuts. What’s wrong with this fucking picture? Everything is so healthy today and it’s terrible. I don’t get it...
* Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} were known for this trope (especially Music/KeithRichards), and it spawned [[http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/marsbar.asp a (false) rumor]] about Mick Jagger being caught eating a Mars Bar from Marianne Faithfull's vagina. They ''were'' caught in a drug raid, and while Ms. Faithfull was nude and covering herself only with a blanket, they were not doing ''that'' with a Mars Bar.
* Music/MarianneFaithfull also was a walking addict from the 1960s until the end of the 1970s.
* [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-reasons-child-stars-go-crazy-an-insiders-perspective/ This]] Website/{{Cracked}} article, written by Creator/MaraWilson (the girl who played the eponymous Film/{{Matilda}} in TheFilmOfTheBook), explains why people who become famous [[FormerChildStar during their formative years]] are ''particularly'' susceptible to this trope.
* Music/OzzyOsbourne may be the best example of how this lifestyle eventually will take its toll on your health. He's still alive today, but barely able to stand on his feet.
** Funnily enough, the reason he's still alive is that his DNA literally contains [[http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/ozzy-osbourne-mutant-scientists-hard-partying-rocker-genes-explain-survival-article-1.450575 a genetic mutation]] that allowed him to metabolize drugs much faster than the average human being.
* Music/CourtneyLove is another infamous example of someone who goes through life while being drunk, high, having sex, showing off her breasts, and playing rock.
* Music/SergeGainsbourg was notorious for smoking several packs a day and often appearing drunk during public appearances. He also had a lot of affairs with many women, including Creator/BrigitteBardot.
* Music/DavidBowie smoked fifty cigarettes ''a day'' until 2004, snorted coke and injected heroin for most of his career and had sexual relationships with both men and women.
* Music/IggyPop was also a poster boy for this trope throughout most of his career.
* Music/JoannCastle Was a heavy drinker who got fired from her job as a pianist on The Lawrence Welk Show for drunkly assualting someone in a bar in Detroit, She had a illegitimate daughter born with celebral palsy who died at the age of 13, She then started abusing prescription opioids and benzodiazpines later in life.
* Music/{{Nico}}: Heroin abuser, smoker, wild love life, died from a heart attack at age 49.
* Music/LouReed was the embodiment of this trope during the 1970s, often appearing high and drunk on stage. He had to be put back on his feet a lot and during a few cases, roadies had to give him reanimation to breathe new life into him.
* Christiane F, author of the autobiography ''Wir Kinder von Bahnhof Zoo'', filmed as ''Film/ChristianeF'' was a heroin prostitute during her teenage years. She is alive today, but never managed to kick her drug habit and has recently announced that she is at death's door.
* Jazz musician Chet Baker was practically a broken shell of his former self during the last years of his life, destroyed by heroin and cocaine. He died from a fall through a window.
* Music/MilesDavis went through several periods of severe addiction, first with a heroin addiction in the 50s nearly ending his career. He managed to kick that, but began drinking and using cocaine heavily during the 60s to deal with sickle-cell anemia. In the 70s, things got out of control as chronic pain (exacerbated by his heavy drug use and the drug-friendly environment of jazz) made him use more drugs to self-medicate; by 1975 he was a recluse, refusing to perform and spending all day watching tv, doing drugs, and hiring prostitutes. Though eventually he returned to music after kicking the cocaine habit in 1980 and quitting drinking after an alcohol-induced stroke in 1983, the damage was done - in 1991 died of drug-induced chronic health issues (including HIV) at 65. He also had relationships with many women, worked as a pimp in the 50s, and married three times (all of whom he physically abused.)
* Herman Brood, a Dutch rock 'n' roll musician was an attractive man whom many women fancied. At the same time, he took about every drug in existence. By 2001, at the age of 54, his doctor told him his body was so spent that he practically had only two more months to live. Brood decided not to wait that long and died of suicide by jumping from a hotel building.
* Pete Doherty from Music/TheLibertines is perhaps the youngest most famous example of this trope, still alive today.
* Music/BillieHoliday had a tragic life. She was born in poverty, barely escaped being raped at age 11, worked as a teenage prostitute together with her mother, got arrested, and was put in a workhouse. Her vocal talent provided her with means to escape this world and she started performing in nightclubs, but her status as the most famous {{Jazz}} singer of her lifetime was tarnished by an endless spiral of abusive partners and addictions to morphine, alcohol, and heroin, which paid their toll on her health. She got arrested several times during her lifetime and eventually died at age 44 from liver cirrhosis.
* Music/{{Megadeth}} gained much notoriety for this during their early years. To begin with, Dave Mustaine created the band after he was kicked out of Music/{{Metallica}} for his violent behavior when intoxicated -- and given that Metallica (as noted above under "Music" with the documentary ''Some Kind of Monster'') was itself known for this trope back then, to the point where they were nicknamed "Alcoholica", that's saying something. They spent 3/4 of the ([[NoBudget quite meager]]) budget for their first album on drugs, alcohol, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking food]]. Band members getting kicked out due to their drug problems has contributed to Megadeth's status as a RevolvingDoorBand.
** Sadly, this continued long after Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson, who introduced and were the heaviest users of heroin were gone. Bassist Dave Ellefson quit relatively early, while Dave Mustaine physically ''died'' for a short while.
* Music/TheWeeknd is one of the best-known living embodiments of this trope in modern times. Weed, alcohol, ecstasy, cocaine, codeine, heroin... and he proudly sings about it.
* Music/SoftCell. According to Marc Almond, they basically treated pop stardom as their opportunity to abuse as many different substances as they could lay their hands on. Read Almond's autobiography ''Tainted Life'' and you'll wonder how on Earth they ever made it out alive. Indeed, a few years before the book was written, Almond spent time in rehab after he narrowly avoided becoming another of pop music's drug-related fatalities, though, in his case, the drugs were not directly responsible. Rather, he was nearly killed in a dispute with drug dealers.
* Music/TheWho were also well-known for their drug-fueled antics, particularly those from drummer Keith Moon, who ended up dying at the very young age of 32 (ironically, from an overdose of a drug that was meant to curb his alcoholism). Bassist John Entwistle, who was straight-edged for most of the band's career, decided (rather foolishly) to try cocaine for the first time in 2002, dying the next day from a heart attack at the age of 57. And despite taking part in illicit substances themselves, surviving members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend managed to survive by abandoning the lifestyle early on, with Daltrey becoming a dedicated fitness and health nut and Townshend simply becoming bored with psychedelics, instead taking a more spiritual approach by following the teachings of Meher Baba.
* Music/EricClapton was famous enough for his substance abuse problems that even when his shows got cancelled due to technical problems, it was still often reported as him being in no condition to perform. It got so bad he ended up incapacitated and isolated for a few years, having to re-learn his craft and ''still'' didn't give it up for years to come.
* Music/{{Queen}}. While guitarist Music/BrianMay and bassist John Deacon were pretty straight edge, frontman Music/FreddieMercury enjoyed cocaine, booze, wild parties, seedy gay clubs, and sleeping around with handsome men. Drummer Roger Taylor admitted that he "felt it was his job to have a good time...and the problem was we just got better at having a good time," and while Taylor didn't have as much trouble with drugs that others had, he certainly enjoyed wild parties, booze, and beautiful women. The release party for their album, ''Music/Jazz1978'', in UsefulNotes/NewOrleans was infamously crazy with champagne, strippers, groupies, and according to legend, a woman smoking a cigarette in her vagina, dwarves, and mountains of cocaine. Roger Taylor claims that there were no dwarves or cocaine that he saw, but admitted that the rest of it wasn't that exaggerated.
* [[Music/GunsNRoses Guns N' Fuckin' Roses]]. That all five members of the definitive lineup are still alive as of 2018 is nothing short of a miracle.
** Axl Rose was definitely the most straight-edge of the group (he used to do heroin, but quit before they made it big), but he certainly fulfilled the 'sex' part. Even now, he doesn't seem to have trouble finding [[KavorkaMan women who are attracted to him.]]
** Slash slammed back Jack Daniels and did all sorts of drugs like it was going out of style. It wound up giving him heart problems by his mid-thirties and was given anywhere from six days to six weeks left to live in the early 2000s (he overcame it with a pacemaker and physical therapy).
** Bassist Duff [=McKagan=] destroyed his pancreas from the sheer amount of alcohol he would drink. It swelled up to the size of a football and leaked digestive enzymes that gave him alkaline burns on his internal organs.
** Izzy Stradlin definitely fits this trope but managed to get clean before it took a major toll on his health, unlike Slash and Duff. He left the band shortly after.
** And Steven Adler. "What in the fuck do you have to do to get kicked out of ''Guns N Roses''?" indeed.
* Music/StevieRayVaughan was addicted to alcohol and cocaine in the early years of his career, eventually building to the point where he collapsed onstage and was taken to a doctor, who told him he would likely die within a month if he didn't kick the habit. He then became a subversion, as the warning finally gave him the push he needed to go to rehab and get clean, and his rock-and-roll career ended up soaring to new heights now that he was no longer hampered by being intoxicated (which is saying something given that he was already considered one of the best of his era if not of all time). Vaughan would remain on the wagon until his untimely death in 1990 (in a freak accident completely unrelated to his past drug habit).
* Music/BobbyBrown is an R&B example of this lifestyle. The fact that he got his wife Music/WhitneyHouston in this lifestyle did not help.
* Music/DennisWilson of Music/TheBeachBoys epitomized the "California Myth" lifestyle, especially when it came to his personal life. Guy surfs, drinks booze, and has numerous relationships.
* In their heyday, Music/RedHotChiliPeppers led an extremely hedonistic lifestyle, playing wild, sexually charged funk rock, hooking up with groupies, and doing enough illicit substances between them to kill a herd of buffalo ("Under The Bridge" is about heroin use, while Flea came up with the bass for "Give It Away" completely strung out on pot). To date, the only fatality has been original guitarist Hillel Slovak. For comparison, their second, more famous guitarist John Frusciante OD'd on heroin twice, ''and lived''. That said, they've all been straight-edge since the mid-'90s. Frusciante's heroin problem in particular caused all of his teeth to fall out, forcing him to get them replaced before rejoining the band in 1998.
* Music/{{Oasis}} practically made this trope their brand, not only playing ear-splittingly loud, up-tempo '60s-inspired rock music but also being strung out of cocaine while writing and performing it. Guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher is particularly infamous for his brash attitude and bad public behavior (including getting kicked off of a ferry in Manchester), which he would always say he was doing in the name of "rock n' roll," with some accusing him of being more interested in the lifestyle of a rock star than actually making good music. Their third album ''Music/BeHereNow'' is considered by many to be the moment where their indulgence got the better of them: the music got too loud, the attitude got more unbearable and everyone was so high on cocaine that they didn't care. And while it didn't kill anyone, the toxic relationship their lifestyle caused eventually broke the band up in 2009.
* As documented [[https://www.theringer.com/music/2018/8/15/17687092/korn-follow-the-leader-20-years-nu-metal-limp-bizkit-woodstock-99-legacy here]], Music/{{Korn}}'s ''Music/FollowTheLeader'' was created in such an atmosphere, involving lots of cocaine, Jack Daniels, and porn stars. Frontman Jonathan Davis even decided to go sober after production!
* [[Music/{{Motorhead}} Lemmy Kilmister]]: Did speed, drank tons of Jack Daniels, slept with more than 1200 women, and played [[InsistentTerminology Rock N Roll.]] His lifestyle finally caught up to him around 2012-2013, and he died of an aggressive form of cancer in late 2015 just after turning 70.
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