Basic Trope: Musicians, movie stars, and other famous people lead hedonistic and dangerous lifestyles.
- Straight: Bob, the lead singer of the rock band The Tropers, has numerous one-night stands, and drinks heavily.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob is so dependent on drugs (legal and otherwise) that he can't function, and has a new "girlfriend" every hour.
- Bob will fuck Anything That Moves, including his own bandmates.
- Downplayed: Bob has used drugs, but he is a Functional Addict, or only uses certain ones occasionally. And while he has a new girlfriend every few months, he isn't big on one-night stands.
- Justified:
- Bob Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight, and drugs, alcohol, and casual sex help distract him from his pain and stress.
- Bob uses drugs to enhance his creativity.
- Bob uses stimulants to keep up with his fast-paced lifestyle, instead of doing the sensible thing and attempting to carve out more time for rest.
- The runaway success of The Tropers causes Bob to feel jaded and to turn to ever more extreme activities to feel pleasure.
- Bob is a tortured artist.
- Inverted: Bob and The Tropers are all Straight Edge.
- Subverted:
- Bob and The Tropers write several songs about the dark side of drugs and sex.
- Bob used to have a drug problem, but has since cleaned up his act.
- The Tropers' contract with the record company includes a "wellness clause," or similar that specifically forbids certain behaviors.
- The Tropers' manager works tirelessly to keep the band and especially Bob in line and away from destructive pursuits.
- The Tropers' play up a hedonistic image, but a tell-all interview reveals it's just for effect.
- Double Subverted:
- But engage in both privately, or led a hedonistic lifestyle in the past.
- But the temptation is still there, and he'll still never let others forget it.
- The Tropers have occasionally bent or broken the rules in secret.
- In spite of their manager's best efforts, The Tropers and particularly Bob are still prone to hedonistic, self-destructive behavior, and his job is a tiresome, thankless one that involves sweeping a lot of things under the rug.
- People who have toured with The Tropers privately confirm that despite their claims that it's just a front, they really are that debauched.
- Parodied:
- Bob goes through a Drunken Montage or Binge Montage...while the Tropers are still a Garage Band, or within 5 minutes of signing onto a record label.
- Bob is a Child Popstar who is “addicted” to soda and scandalously holds hands with girls.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Bob and The Tropers occasionally drink, smoke, or have sex with people they don't know well, but not more than ordinary people.
- Implied: An ambulance is seen heading away from the concert hall and a sign states that The Tropers performance has been canceled.
- Enforced: Truth in Television, Drugs Are Bad
- Lampshaded: "We're rockstars! We should be partying like them!"
- Invoked: The stress of being famous and living up to everyone's expectations gets to Bob.
- Exploited: A rival band that less into the hedonistic lifestyle markets to the producers by pointing out they're less of a liability.
- Defied: Bob knows that his problems will still be there when the drugs and booze wear off and the girls go back home, so he manages his schedule effectively, doesn't try to live up to unrealistic expectations, and talks about his problems with a trusted friend or therapist.
- Discussed: "Ever since Bob got famous, he spends all his time In Da Club, drinking and screwing strange women. It's like he's a different person".
- Conversed: "Why'd you fire Bob? He was the best singer you guys ever had." "Uh, dude, he had to go. It wasn't an easy decision, trust me, but he was way too into the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. Every border crossing was a white-knuckle journey because you were desperately hoping that he didn't have drugs on him, and that's not even counting all the times that he ruined a night because he got wasted and acted like a dick or disappeared and then called us half an hour before we had to leave for the next city because he was stuck almost an hour away at the apartment of some girl he had fucked and didn't have a ride. He's too old for this shit and so are we, and we just had enough. It sucks, but that's what happens when you have a bandmate in a state of arrested development."
- Deconstructed: The quality of the music will suffer if the band members focus more on "living it up" than producing good-quality music. It also poses a risk to their health, and if Contractual Purity is an issue, their careers. It can also lead to the demise of the band, with stress and ensuing arguments.
- Reconstructed:
- See "Downplayed"
- Bob and The Tropers get themselves to rehab and make a commitment to staying clean.
- Played For Laughs: Bob's exploits lead to a hilariously over-the-top Drunken Montage.
- Played For Drama: Bob's increasingly debauched behavior repeatedly gets him fired from bands, causes his own solo career to tank, and eventually leaves him destitute with one foot in the grave from years of hard living extracting payment with interest.
- Bob's wild lifestyle catches up with him somehow. Maybe he nearly dies of an overdose (or actually dies from one), or gets AIDS from unsafe sex and sharing needles.
Duuude... I just got back from an intense night hanging out with some chicks and doing some blow... Man, the Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll lifestyle is so cool...
