Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Basic Trope: Musicians, movie stars, and other famous people lead hedonistic and dangerous lifestyles.
  • Played 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Double Subverted: But engage in both privately, or led a hedonistic lifestyle in the past.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Lampshaded: "We're rockstars! We should be partying like them!"
  • Averted: See "Inverted"
  • Enforced: Truth in Television, Drugs Are Bad
  • Invoked: The stress of being famous and living up to everyone's expectations gets to Bob.
  • 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: "Being famous will do that."
  • Played For Laughs: Drunken Montage
  • Played For Drama: See "Deconstructed"
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Sex,_Drugs_and_Rock_and_Roll/Playing_With?oldid=1622142"