Prime Video’s 10-Part Drama Is a Series You Won’t Be Able To Stop Watching

The road to rock ’n’ roll greatness is rough — but the payoff at the top is intoxicating. The real question is: what comes after you’ve made it? For those caught up in the hedonistic excess, the answer is simple — it’s all downhill from there. The television counterpart to A Star Is Born, Daisy Jones & The Six tells the classic story of a band rising from promising to unforgettable. Set in the 1970s, long before social media or streaming made overnight fame possible, breaking into the music industry required relentless hustle. The show follows that grind in great detail, showing just how much work it took to turn raw talent into rock ’n’ roll legends.

What is ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’ About?

Daisy Jones & The Six first sets the stage by taking it all the way back to 1977, when the band, Daisy Jones & The Six, is at the absolute peak of its fame — the crème de la crème of the rock scene. In the middle of a sold-out shot at Chicago’s Soldier Field, everything seems untouchable, until it suddenly isn’t. Instead of delivering an encore, the band abruptly calls it quits, effectively ceasing to exist overnight and leaving fans dumbstruck. Their breakup continues to be a mystery until twenty years later, when the band members finally begin to speak, officially setting the record as to what actually happened behind the scenes.

Who’s Your Perfect Classic Rock Band?

Instead of reuniting as a band, the members participate in separate documentary-style interviews. Alongside Daisy Jones & The Six, close collaborators and those closest to the band members also share their memories, recounting the band’s rise and fall from their perspective. Through these recollections, the series flashes back to the experiences of the two main singers: Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin), an innately gifted musician who whipped the original band from nobodies into a well-oiled machine, and Daisy Jones (Riley Keough), born into privilege and raised in the Hollywood Hills, with a loud voice but a troubled soul.

The Music Industry Isn’t the Same for Everyone in ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’

In the 1970s, different people had different access to the music industry. Daisy is a Los Angeles native born and raised in wealth, which gives her access to a wide range of records and proximity to some of the city’s most popular clubs. This makes her musical repertoire even sharper, and her songwriting feels years ahead of her experience. Meanwhile, Billy hails from the more humble suburbs of Pittsburgh, and the only way he and his band can make it is by driving their beat-up van to Los Angeles with little money and sparse connections. This ultimately shapes the way they “break” into the industry.

It’s not just a matter of having money to make it big. Sadly, especially in the ’70s, women have a notoriously harder time carving out their own paths. Through the experiences of Daisy, keyboardist Karen (Suki Waterhouse), and disco singer Simone Jackson (Nabiyah Be), the series illustrates how each of them frequently encounters disheartening situations with men in the industry. Whether it’s being pushed into the role of the “mother” of the group, having your song stolen by a more famous male musician, or even more serious situations like sexual assault during recording sessions, Daisy Jones & The Six makes it clear that these are not isolated systems, but rather part of an overarching industry issue that unfortunately still exists in this generation.

‘Daisy Jones & The Six’ Shows There’s a Price to Pay for Fame

Image via Amazon Studios

Despite their different backgrounds, what Daisy and Billy share is a rare chemistry that becomes the very substance of the band itself. However, some concoctions are just too hazardous. They fight a lot, but it definitely drives the band’s record sales — that is, until they call it quits. Fans of Fleetwood Mac may find Daisy and Billy’s chemistry akin to Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, and it’s no coincidence. With that dynamic serving as the backbone of the original novel — and even acknowledged by Nicks herself — it’s an electrifying look at the making of a legendary band.

They say pain is the true essence of great artistry, which is why so many great songs are born from heartbreak. But Daisy Jones & The Six begs to differ. Pain doesn’t inspire the band. Not only does it destroy the group itself, but also the relationships outside of it. The more successful they become, the more Daisy and Billy grow insecure, pushing them deeper into substance abuse issues they were already struggling with before their breakthrough. They claim the substances numb the pain and even make them better performers, but in reality, they become the deadly catalyst that fractures the band’s future. That’s exactly what makes this 10-part drama so hard to look away from. One minute, you’re rooting for these underdogs. Next, your heart aches at the state of what the band has become. It’s a mesmerizing watch from start to finish and worthy of your next weekend binge.

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Release Date

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2023 – 2023-00-00

Network

Amazon Prime Video

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Directors

Scott Neustadter

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Writers

Scott Neustadter

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