The hotly anticipated release of Daisy Jones and the Six, based on the best-selling book by Taylor Jenkins Reid, has taken Amazon Prime by storm since its release in early March.
It tells the story of a band in the 1970s and their journey as the biggest band in the world until their spiral downwards in 1977. The series explores the relationships between each of the band members, focusing especially on the two lead singers Billy Dunne (Sam Clafin) and Daisy Jones (played by the granddaughter of none other than Elvis Presley himself, Riley Keough), who are loosely based on Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac.
It features an original soundtrack including the band’s debut album Aurora, which has amassed over 3.2 million monthly listeners on spotify. Original songs from smaller bands featured in the series have also been released such as Look Me in the Eye by The Dunne Brothers and Wyatt Stone’s Stumbled on Sublime.
You also cannot forget the incredible cast of this series including Suki Waterhouse as Karen Sirko, Camila Morrone as Billy’s wife Camila, Josh Harrison as Graham Dunne, Josh Whitehouse as Eddie Roundtree and Sebastian Chacon as the iconic Warren Rhodes amongst other exceptional actors.
The reception of this series has been nothing short of outstanding and alongside the resurgence of 70s clothing in general, this series has cemented itself in a place of inspiration for music lovers and fashion lovers united.
Now that isn’t to say that Daisy Jones and the Six hasn’t been hit with some criticism. Fans of the book have been especially quick to voice their opinion that the show has drifted quite far away from the chaotic and raw characters that are shown in the book, especially Daisy Jones herself.
In the book Daisy is a feisty nepo baby with a severe drug problem and is more morally grey than she is portrayed in the show. The series has toned down a lot of her character’s 70s popstar seediness, especially regarding her drug problem, which was only really seen in the later episodes of the show and the series feels more PG and family friendly in comparison to the book.
This difference has upset some viewers who were expecting a series akin to the morally grey and notoriously unreliable book but, the producers definitely seem to have leaned into making these characters likeable to appeal to wider audiences and portray the Billy, Camila and Daisy love triangle in a more positive light.
Daisy Jones and the Six does a good job of portraying addiction among 70s musicians with a number of its characters battling substance abuse, most notably Billy who goes to rehab and tries to remain sober for many years. A poignant moment in the book is Billy’s falling off the wagon as he has a shot in the bar. This is representative of his battle with addiction and between the loves of his life. For me, this is the part of the book where we see Billy’s vulnerability and the true depths of his addiction.
The series did make some good changes, the main being the introduction of an affair between Camila and Eddie. In the book, Billy suspects Camila is having an affair but it is no way assumed to be Eddie. It was great to see a different sort of romance between the often angry Eddie and the sunny Camila.
Overall this show is one of the best shows I have seen and I loved the book. Book to screen adaptations are often difficult because dialogue and thoughts often don’t translate in the same way. Also, when you have book lovers desperate for an adaptation, it can be big boots to fill and potentially disappointing when it doesn’t turn out how they imagined. This being said, if this show is on your to-watch list, get ready to be spirited away to the 1970s along with its good music.