by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
When I host trivia every Wednesday night, I get a chance to play whatever music I like. I generally try and mix up the music based on the crowd, which consists of mainly middle-aged, white, millennial dudes. Generally, my music taste consists of 1990s R&B and whatever comes up on my various Apple Music playlists. In reality, though, all my 1970s playlists are the biggest hits. The music of this era defined various genres, and pushed the envelope about the possibilities of what music can be. Experimentation in sound and structure helped propel some of the greatest bands ever to icon status.
Last week, I played a song from Daisy Jones & the Six, and most of my contestants really enjoyed it. Truth be told, it’s some of the best music to come out of a television show in a long time.
Shows that focus on musicians or bands have been rather hit or miss as of late. They have been showcasing a variety of different types of styles: Pop (Girls5eva), country (Nashville), and R&B/hip-hop (Empire) have all had varying levels of success. Rock ‘n roll, though, hasn’t had very much success, at least from a fictional band perspective. Sure, there’s been biographical series of bands, but I can’t recall a time when rock ‘n roll was prominently featured. Daisy Jones & the Six breaks that mold, and it’s honestly an amazing series.
It’s not surprising that the music is one of the best parts of Daisy Jones & the Six. It showcases the best music from the 1970s. The real gem for the music, though, is the original song by Daisy Jones and the Six. Fleetwood Mac serves as the inspiration for the story that the book by author Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote. The sound is similar to them, but it stands out because of the personality of the lyrics, along with the individual achievements of all the people playing the instruments. Props go to Blake Mills, who was the primary artist who composed, performed, and produced the main album of the band.
The series starts with the humble origins of the up-and-coming band from Pittsburgh. The Dunne Brothers, led by lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin), peaks around town only to find the opportunities are mainly out west in Los Angeles. The first few episodes have some pacing issues, as they try to extend the struggles of the band across three episodes, before finally making the band complete by introducing Daisy Jones (Riley Keough).
The style of the series is a VH1 Behind the Music homage. The members of the band give interviews in the present day, and talk about their experiences in the band. There’s a moment when Billy Dunne and Daisy Jones are giving their respective interviews. The way they react when they remember the moment they met in the third episode sold it for me. This is where the series starts to pick up, because Claflin and Keough have amazing chemistry. I bought them as soulmates who make the other better musically, but are completely destructive to one another. Billy and Daisy are fantastic characters, as we see most of their struggles as musicians and as people. Both are fascinating to watch, but Daisy’s musical struggles and Billy’s personal struggles are far more interesting to watch.
Daisy is a songwriter who struggles to find an audience. Her struggles with acceptance, family, and drugs aren’t as much of interest to me. She has an episode where she goes to Greece, and it feels completely out of place and out of character. Whenever Daisy and Billy are talking about music, though, Daisy Jones & the Six is at the peak of greatness. The episode where Billy and Daisy write all the songs for their album Aurora is the best episode of the series, next to the final episode.
Billy struggles with addiction, and balancing his desire to make music with his newfound family with his partner Camilla (Camilla Morrone). We see how far Billy goes down with the rock ‘n roll lifestyle after having modest success. When he meets Daisy, Billy needs someone to challenge him and cause him to loosen up a little. I was far more interested in Billy’s family life until Camilla does something that feels out of place. Morrone and Claflin have great chemistry, too.
The other members of the band deal with various other issues around rock ’n roll. Guitarist Graham (Will Harrison) struggles with going after what he wants, which is to find love and settle down. Keyboardist Karen (Suki Waterhouse) wants to be accepted as a woman in rock ‘n roll who didn’t have to sleep her way to glory. Eddie (Josh Whitehouse) has feelings that are not returned, but also hates being in the shadows as a bass player. Drummer Warren (Sebastian Chacon) is just along for a ride. The thing that makes the band so great as a unit is they feel like a family. We see them rise and fall, but for the most part, they do it together.
There are three other people in the show that I wish would have gotten more time. Simone (Nabiyah Be) is Daisy’s roommate when she’s first starting, and is an aspiring singer herself. I enjoyed her relationship with Daisy, but I wanted to see more of her musical journey, which is jammed into the Greece episode. Teddy (Tom Wright) is the producer who helps put Daisy Jones and the Six together. He’s a calming presence in the chaos, and I just feel better every time he is on screen. Tour manager Rod (Timothy Olyphant) is only in a few episodes, and I wish he would have gotten more time. He’s there as a voice of reason for the band’s hardest moments, while also showing what it means to truly love the hustle of being in the music industry.
The show does have some flaws beyond pacing. Daisy Jones & the Six is filled with a lot of manufactured drama to keep the story progressing. It steers into the cliché world of the rock ‘n roll lifestyle being about sex and drugs. Daisy sometimes just feels surface-level, and it’s disappointing to hear where her beginnings lie. We don’t get enough of Eddie or Warren because of the time with everyone else in the band.
I will also give credit where credit is due: Daisy Jones & the Six sticks the landing. The final episode dives deep into what happens to the group. It’s a single day where they go through a show in Chicago. Everyone is at the apex of their acting talents — we can feel the emotion that comes from their performances. It’s a sad episode, but it’s also oddly hopeful, because without the events of that performance, they wouldn’t have the futures all the members of the band have. We also discover who is making the documentary, which is one of my favorite moments of the series.
Daisy Jones and the Six rides on the coattails of two powerhouse performances. I enjoyed the 1970s aesthetics, and the music is among the best television has to offer. But the series has its issues with pacing and underdeveloped characters.
Overall, this is a wonderful story that is encouraging me to actually read the book to see how it differs. I can see this being nominated for a lot of awards, which would be well-deserved. The final episode is the cherry on top of a dynamic journey for the band. March has been a stacked month for shows, but this is one worth adding to your queue.
Score: 9/10
Daisy Jones and the Six is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video
You can read more from Mike Hilty, and follow him on Twitter, Letterboxd, and Serializd