Posted by A good movie is also made by little curious things that trigger our attention. Family Switch, the comedy released on Netflix in November 2023 with Jennifer Garner, Ed Helms, and Emma Myers, is an easy-to-love Christmas movie with many funny situations and a meaningful message in the background. There are many jokes in the plot, and one caught the viewers’ attention: what’s with the band Maroon 6 and Bill’s interrupted career as a rock star? Is there a true story behind it?
Let’s take a step back. In the plot of Family Switch, we see a family with a father and a mother (Bill and Jess), two teenage kids (CC and Wyatt), little Miles, and a dog, Pickles. They are living those typical moments when teenagers don’t feel understood by their parents, and one night, driven by frustration, they all wish at the same time to switch their existence, with the parents getting young again and the kids finally living as adults. The magic of Christmas makes the wish come true, and the rest of the movie shows how every character struggles to bring every life forward. They will finally switch back to normality after they “fixed what’s broken,” referring to the family harmony and the appreciation for what every member brings.
In an emotional father-son moment, Wyatt discovers that his father, Bill, gave up a promising career as a rock star when he was young: he was going to be a father, and he chose his family instead of following his dreams. It’s one of the movie’s touching moments, showing how life is complicated for every family member. But there is space for a little joke that caught the spotlight: the son asks his father what his band was, and the father answers: Maroon 6. “Isn’t it Maroon 5?” Then, the kid realizes how big the deal was.
Of course, there is no Maroon 6 band: the well-known rock band is Maroon 5. The joke implies that there was a sixth member when that band was born, so the band was supposed to be named Maroon 6. However, since Bill had to give up, the band went on with five members, and the name they chose was Maroon 5. Viewers wondered if there was a true story behind this anecdote: how many members were there when the band Maroon 5 was born, was Maroon 6 really a thing?
According to the official story explained on Wikipedia, when Maroon 5 were formed, there wasn’t any sixth member. Just the opposite, they were initially four: when they started making music in 1999, the band was named Kara’s Flowers, and the members were Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden, and Ryan Dusick. Only in 2001 the band followed a suggestion from Octone Records’ executive Ben Berkman, who believed the band needed a guitarist so Adam Levine could focus on singing. That’s when James Valentine entered the line-up as the band’s fifth member, and the name changed to Maroon 5.
There will be a sixth member in Maroon 5, years later. Sam Farrar, who has been Maroon 5’s frequent collaborator since the beginning, will be announced as an official member in 2012, and before him, the lineup even included a seventh member, PJ Morton, who entered Maroon 5 in 2010. But that happened only after the band became famous: when Maroon 5 were born, there were only five musicians.
The story is realistic, though, and it could have been true: after all, Maroon 5 were born in Los Angeles, the same city where the movie Family Switch is set. And we all know the sacrifices parents make when they start a family, giving up job careers, sports, and passions. But as Bill explains to his son, the joy of a family typically makes it worth it.
