How does a good band become a great band?
Daisy Jones and the Six adapts Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel of the same name that follows the rise and fall of the titular Daisy Jones (Riley Keough) and The Six, featuring dreamy frontman Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin), guitarist Graham Dunne (Will Harrison), bassist Eddie Loving (Josh Whitehouse), keyboardist Karen Sirko (Suki Waterhouse), and drummer Warren Rhodes (Sebastian Chacon).
‘Daisy Jones and the Six’ review: Can this fictional band be your next musical obsession?
It’s a story of rock-and-roll heartbreak, with massive highs and lows, and the show cranks up the drama. From The Six’s missing member to Eddie’s increased resentment towards Billy, here are the biggest changes Daisy Jones and the Six has made so far.
Contradicting oral history vs. cohesive narrative
The novel takes the shape of an oral history of The Six’s dynamite rise to stardom and infamous split. It’s told entirely through interviews with the band, other key players, and eyewitnesses. The interviews are conducted roughly 30 to 40 years after the band’s split, as the members reflect on their time in the band with distance and (some) maturity. Each member remembers how everything went down slightly differently, leaving what really happened elusive and up to interpretation. The author’s note reads: “It should also be noted that, on matters both big and small, sometimes accounts of the same event differ. The truth often lies, unclaimed, in the middle.”
The show’s first episode opens with Daisy and each member of The Six beginning their interviews, which take place only 20 years after the breakup. Lazy aging makeup aside, the shortened time since the band split changes the band member’s perspective — the difference between 40 and 60 years old is stark — and leaves them with rawer emotional wounds from their time in the band and more to lose.
Want more about the latest in entertainment? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter today.
Additionally, unlike in the book, we actually see a cohesive story of the rise of the band in the moment; there’s no ambiguity over what went down. The show relies much less on the interviews, and they instead serve to establish a sheen of nostalgia and offer insight into the different band members’ perspectives.
Creation of The Six
Credit: Lacey Terrell / Prime Video
In the book, Billy and Graham start the band together and bring members in, truly embodying their original band name, The Dunne Brothers.
In episode 1, Graham alone decides to start a band with his crew of nerdy friends — Eddie, Warren, and Chuck — in order to get his girlfriend back. He tempts them to join by saying his cool older brother Billy will join too. But in his interview, Billy claims, “I never agreed to be in their band. I said I would listen and maybe give them some pointers.”
Despite his initial reluctance, Billy immediately takes charge. This change establishes a power dynamic within the band and Billy’s dictatorship much earlier on than in the novel. The decision compensates for changes to The Six’s timeline, hones in on Billy’s centrality from the start, and foreshadows the precarious nature of The Six.
The wedding
In the book, The Dunne Brothers are performing at their first wedding gig when Billy and Graham spot their estranged father, who is drunkenly dancing with a much younger woman. Their dad doesn’t so much as spare his sons a glance, and Billy deals with it by chugging beers and asking out a pretty cocktail waitress – and his future wife – Camila (Camila Morrone).
The show amps up the drama at the wedding to the max. Billy confronts their father, smashes his guitar, and Graham punches him in the face. Moments later in the parking lot, Billy announces to the band, “We’re going to be the biggest band in the fucking world!” This sequence effectively sets up Billy’s deep-rooted daddy issues, but it also alters his character by having him seek validation in music and fame, sidelining Camila’s importance.
In the show, Camilla and Billy’s meet-cute takes place at a laundromat where she humbles him. But fear not, he still uses the atrocious line “You give me your number, and I’ll write you a song.”
Chuck D.D.S.
Right before the band has their first small break opening for The Winters in the show, Chuck quits to go to dental school. This is a major tonal shift from the book, in which Chuck is drafted to Vietnam and dies six months later. In the show, Chuck serves as a source of doubt —suggesting a safer, more financially secure option for the band — rather than inspiration for the band to pursue their dreams.
In episode 2, Warren says, “Maybe ol’ Chuckie was right. Maybe this was all just a big mistake, and we should have stayed at home with our moms to save money on rent and become dentists.” It’s one of a series of changes that both sanitizes and adds levity to the source material.
The Five: Where is Pete?
Credit: Lacey Terrell / Prime Video
The show nixes The Six’s bassist Pete Loving entirely. In the book, Pete is Eddie’s older brother, and he brings Eddie into the band to be the rhythm guitarist when Chuck is drafted. Pete’s whole thing is having a girlfriend back on the East Coast. In the show, Eddie is an original band member and is forced to switch to bass when Chuck leaves, one of many seeds of resentment planted.
The show explains away the misnumbered name during a brief scene where Karen suggests The Six, claiming Camila as the unofficial sixth member. Plus, Warren adds, they can’t be The Five because there’s The Dave Clark Five and The Jackson Five. The show has Camila much more involved in the band than she was in the novel, so this explanation makes sense, to some extent.
Timeline of The Six
In the show, the band powers through Chuck’s departure, opens for The Winters, and meets their future keyboardist, Karen. After their performance, they receive life-changing advice from their future tour manager Rod Reyes: “Get the fuck out of Pittsburgh.”
With no planning or further direction from Rod, they decide to move to LA that same night and leave the next morning. At first, Camila refuses to come to LA, but by morning she’s changed her mind and gets in the van, which robs us of one of several essential Billy and Camila moments! More on this later.
The show reduces Rod’s role and downgrades him from The Six’s manager to their touring manager. In the book, the band has an established relationship with Rod, not to mention a lot more experience before moving out to LA. The band opens for The Winters for several shows on their Northeastern tour, where they convince Karen to join the band. When Karen joins, they change their name from The Dunne Brothers to The Six. They get more gigs and catch the eye of Rod in NYC, who sets up more shows for them on the East Coast and then helps them move to LA, where he hooks them up with gigs.
The lack of planning adds drama, humor, and excitement to the show — as if being in a rock-and-roll band isn’t already enough.
Teddy Price
One of the most memorable scenes from episode 2 is unique to the show. It features Billy accosting Teddy Price (Tom Wright) at the grocery store and getting him to agree to listen to one of their songs. Billy is fixated on having Teddy produce their album from the start. On the show, he’s not just their producer but also their main point of contact in the music industry. He essentially absorbs some of Rod’s role, as well as that of Daisy’s manager, Hank.
In the book, The Six’s intro to Teddy is much less exciting, and his mythos grows as he becomes a father figure to Billy and Daisy. Rod introduces the band to Teddy at the Troubadour, they play him 10 songs, and he gets them a record deal.
In the show, Teddy approaches Daisy after she performs at the Troubadour and offers to shape her. She doesn’t want to be shaped and storms off. A similar power struggle ensues in the book, but only after she’s been signed to Teddy’s record label and forced to sing covers.
Regardless, it’s Teddy who consistently gets through to Billy and Daisy and pushes them.
Camilly
Credit: Lacey Terrell / Prime Video
Perhaps the changes that will upset fans of the novel most are made to Camila, Billy’s wife. In the book, Camila is a force, Billy’s rock in his struggle with addiction, and comfortable with her position as a rising rockstar’s stay-at-home wife. The show suggests otherwise.
In the show, Camila is introduced as a photographer rather than “wife of Billy Dunne.” She’s constantly recording and photographing the band, giving her a more official role. When she moves to LA with Billy, she acts as a quasi-manager, cold-calling record labels, sending photos of the band to newspapers, and is even folded into the band’s name.
In the book, Camila and Billy break up when The Six relocates to LA. And in one of the more romantic moments, Billy calls Camila and says, “If I had a record contract, would you marry me?” Camila accepts and comes out to LA to be with him.
In episode 2, Camila reveals her pregnancy to Billy the day before The Six leaves for tour, and it’s only then that they decide to get married. They proceed to have a full-blown wedding that night, with proper decorations and guests. However, Billy and Camila’s wedding is one of the most memorable scenes in the novel; they get married last minute in the middle of the night, and Karen decorates trees with aluminum foil. Between the proposal and wedding changes, the show presents Camila and Billy’s relationship less romantically, setting up viewers to be team Daisy and Billy.
In the show, the first tour is told primarily from Camila’s perspective of the pregnant wife at home, while in the book we really see Billy’s downfall and heroin addiction.
Simone
Daisy’s best friend and disco icon Simone Jackson (Nabiyah Be) has a much larger role in the show and gets to be a character in her own right rather than a talking head that adds context to Daisy. In the show, we see her career play out as a foil to Daisy’s, which also allows for more disco content!
SevenEightNine
In episode 3, it’s revealed that Billy’s stint in rehab gets The Six dropped from their label. Additionally, they were forced to pay their advance back, and the band members are now working odd jobs. Billy quits the band to focus on being a faithful husband and father, while initially barely doing either of those things. The remaining members of The Six audition new frontmen before deciding on…Eddie. C’mon, you can’t be serious. The show does everything in its power to increase Eddie’s animosity towards Billy, and the bitter bassist is no match for Billy’s charisma and stage presence.
In the show, Billy writes a song, plays it for the band, and is welcomed back with open arms – aside from Eddie. Teddy likes it and brings it to the label, but The Six has burned too many bridges, and the label isn’t willing to take another chance on them. Teddy brings in Daisy as a last-ditch effort to try to fix the song.
In the book, none of this happens! Billy returns from rehab and immediately starts working on the band’s second album, SevenEightNine. Daisy is brought in because they aren’t confident they have a lead single. These changes both delay Daisy and the band’s first encounter and raise the stakes. Everyone loves an underdog, and it’s a fun twist to make Daisy and The Six underdogs together.
The first three episodes of Daisy Jones and the Six are out now on Prime Video, with new episodes releasing weekly.
