DAISY JONES AND THE SIX MAY BE THE FAKE BAND YOU WISH WAS REAL

Do you remember wanting to know everything that was going on behind the scenes with your favorite bands? We would hear rumors and tabloid trach about their lives and the dynamic within the group. The relationships, on stage antics, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and the eventual breakup or the drift into memory. Then in the late 90’s came “Behind The Music” and the flood gates were opened! The show was an hour-long breakdown of the biggest stars and groups in music history that told every story with the artists part of the storytelling. You could not have been more riveted to the screen learning about the twisted tales of Tony Orlando and Dawn, Def Leppard, Milli Vanilli, Leif Garrett, and Sonny Bono. These were coming from the sources and people that actually were there and knew the truth. This show basically pushed the documentary to forefront of entertainment instead of some random show on PBS. Before that there was a book published in 2019 called “Daisy Jones and The Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid that was inspired by her interest in Fleetwood Mac and their dynamic performances fueled by love and hatred within the group and their leadup to their biggest album “Rumors”. How could people that had been lovers lead a band while they now almost hated each other? How do they handle the biggest moment of their lives and balancing joy and anger? Amazon Prime’s “Daisy Jones and The Six” takes a fictional look at that dynamic by moving it from the pages to the screen with a series of the same name.

The show starts in documentary form with the band members and influences around them getting settled in front of the camera showing their age with greying hair and weathered looks. Instead of showing old clips from concerts or news clippings they instead go into the story of the band The Six and of Daisy Jones who don’t know each other at first. Daisy is played by Riley Keough as a wistful free spirit that doesn’t take any guff from anyone and just wants to be the biggest singer in the world. She is damaged and a bit lost and her constant use of drugs and alcohol are slowing her down. The Six, formerly the Dunne Brothers Band is a band from Pittsburgh led by the Billy Dunne, played by Sam Claflin and joined by his brother Graham played by Will Harrison along with Eddie (Josh Whitehouse), Karen Suki Waterhouse, and Warren (Sebastion Chacon). Their band photographer is Camilla (Camilla Morrone) that is Billy’s wife and mother of his daughter. The band itself is very happy and driven by Billy’s desire to make music, but they are more of a family than anything else. They’re just missing something that could put them over the top and that’s where Daisy becomes not just the spark for the band to go further, but also the maelstrom that could tear them apart. Her singing and stage presence are captivating and her and Billy’s chemistry in song writing and on stage is electric. However, off stage the band is a mess. There is animosity between the members both creatively and emotionally. As they hurtle towards their date playing a sold-out stadium you wonder how they can make it work.

The concept of the show is wonderful: take a fake band and add in some real life experiences with a massive amount of fiction and see what it gets. The characters involved are less than lovable. At one point you find yourself loving them only to remember their last selfish action regardless of their excuses. I’m sure there are plenty of girls out there that relate to and want to be the spirit that Daisy is only to forget that she is a selfish bombshell. Billy is driven to be the leading person for the band and his heart can be in the right place until you see that he’s a bit of a control freak with an ego that can’t always be kept in check. They all have faults that are driven by the times and recent world events. What I like is this isn’t another it’s-the-70’s-let’s-focus-on-Vietnam-and-the-music show. It centers around the characters and the spirit of the decade and how different things were handled versus today. You think staying sober now is difficult? Try it when at the time sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll was a mantra and readily available and encouraged. When people turned a blind eye to sexual harassment and artists’ material was stolen at will. The story and characters really draw you in and you genuinely feel for them until their worst traits pop back up. It’s not like soap opera drama, but feels like real reactions and ramifications that one can relate to. Get this on your watchlist and enjoy it with someone if you can. Will they make it to the end of their journey? You’ll find out but be hoping that there’s more story to tell with a reunion tour coming soon to a city near you.