Denis Leary plays Johnny Rock - a manipulative, egomaniacal, Washed-up, womanizing, drug-addict rock legend who is loathed by other musicians and particularly his former band-mates. He continually attempts to revive his career and vents about the excesses of the music industry that are holding him back.
Formerly the front-man of the Heathens - a much loved late 1980s/early 1990s band Johnny has gradually ended up further back in his career than where he started as the series begins. His ultimate low-point comes when he puts the moves on Gigi (Elizabeth Gillies) a woman young enough to be his daughter who actually turns out to be his daughter.
The hits keep on coming as she coerces him into re-forming the Heathens to serve as her own vehicle to pop stardom. Johnny is still on board to write songs with Flash (John Corbett) the former band-mate who despises him. But Gigi, who turns out to be ten times the singer her father ever was has displaced him as Heathens lead vocalist.
Johnny does his level best to be a father to his long-lost daughter whilst scheming to feed his substance abuse and to regain the momentum his career once had. Diplomacy remains far from his strong suit and as self-appointed arbiter/guardian of rock 'n' roll's legacy he pulls no punches (Like Leary's stand-up act).
A music historian with impeccable accuracy for someone whose mind has been blasted on booze and hard drugs for decades, his scathing criticisms and prescient observations strike with the accuracy of a stealth bomber. The show itself stages epic send-ups of rock star excess right down to the minutiae of the song-writing process which are absolutely side-splitting.
Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll is nothing less than a brilliant satire of the music industry. The opportunities for mining a raunchier/grittier kind of humour that prime-time network TV won't touch make it a perfect sitcom for cable TV.
Denis Leary hasn't lost any of his bite as a writer and this show is a perfect outlet.
