How The Zombies influenced The Beatles

MANILA, Philippines - A major influence in defining The Beatles’ music was The Zombies, the first British pop band to make it to No. 1 in the US charts after the Liverpool Fab Four in 1964. It’s not a well-known fact that when The Zombies disbanded in 1967 because of issues with agent Tito Burns, John Lennon offered to manage the group. But The Zombies’ Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent politely declined, deciding to pursue their professional careers separately.

In 1991, The Zombies reunited to record the album New World but the effort was only to keep the rights to the name intact, heading off the emergence of impostor bands. In 1998, Blunstone and Argent were back on stage with The Zombies and today, the group is as active as ever in the live circuit. They’re coming to perform at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu with the special participation of Gov. Gwen Garcia on Oct. 17 and the PICC on Oct. 19 fresh from a three-gig engagement in Tokyo.

Claes Johansen, in his book The Zombies—Hung Up On A Dream said Argent’s orchestral arrangement in the band’s songs led George Martin to do the same with The Beatles. “Modesty prevents The Zombies themselves from suggesting that they were an inspiration to The Beatles,” said Johansen. “Several Beatles pronounced admiration for The Zombies records right from the beginning. It is obvious that George Harrison was a fan and if you look closely, you can find features in Lennon/McCartney compositions from around 1965-66 which suggest at least a subconscious inspiration from The Zombies, a typical example being a surprisingly bluesy chord-change in the otherwise baroque-influenced For No One from the Revolver LP.”

Paul Atkinson, who was The Zombies guitarist in the early years, said: “When I first met Paul McCartney — I worked with him in the ’70s — he actually launched into She’s Not There. He knew all the words, he sang the whole thing.”

She’s Not There was The Zombies’ first-ever single and zoomed to No. 1 in the US. When it was introduced in the BBC radio program Jukebox Jury where a panel of musicians reviewed newly-released records, Harrison was impressed. The Beatles guitarist was a guest on the panel and gave She’s Not There a thumbs-up. “He really liked it,” said Blunstone. “It all seemed a bit inevitable.” Argent’s composition She’s Not There went on to register over two million airplays in the US. 

But The Zombies admitted they wouldn’t have been a success if not for The Beatles paving the way. “It wasn’t until The Beatles came along that things changed because up until that point, English music was copying or doing cover versions of American things and the only homegrown products, I suppose, were Cliff Richard and Johnny Kidd,” said The Zombies’ original bassist Chris White.

Still, Blunstone wasn’t bowled over by The Beatles’ Love Me Do although he was struck by Please Please Me. “I thought that was astounding,” he said referring to The Beatles’ single. “It had that thing which Rod and I tried to use a lot, the clashing harmonies and so on.” When The Beatles’ first album was released, Blunstone was completely sold. “I thought they were staggering,” he said. “I thought they were fantastic. I couldn’t have been more of a fan of The Beatles than I was.”

Argent said: “At this time, they were still writing stuff like PS I Love You which is great. I love those early Beatles songs. I just love that innocence and naïve quality on their very early things. It was so full of youthful energy and was such an explosion of happiness. Not saying that everything has to be like that but it’s a period that I do like to listen to. As soon as The Beatles came on the scene, it had a major effect. We were already going at that time and I desperately wanted to be in a band long before The Beatles came to the fore but they opened so many doors for everybody.”

Even The Zombies’ drummer Hugh Grundy was a huge Beatles fan. “You listen to some of those early Beatles songs and Ringo (Starr) was very clever with his little patterns,” said Grundy. “I think that influenced me quite a bit. It also helped that Rod was keen on that sort of thing as well. He’d suggest things and between the two of us, we’d work out something. That’s how we came up with the pattern for She’s Not There which of course is a classic pattern these days.”

Another Zombies fan was Elvis Presley whose father Vernon once told the band during a visit to Graceland in 1965 that the King had their records in his private collection. “The thought that Elvis had completely turned my world around when I was 11 and that he actually had my songs on his jukebox,” said Argent. “That was just like the pinnacle for me.”

Other artists whose works were influenced by The Zombies include The Beach Boys in their 1966 album Pet Sounds, the Left Banke with its hit Walk Away Renee and the Merry-Go-Round with You’re A Very Lovely Woman. Musicians like Tom Petty, Billy Joel, Robert Plant, Paul Weller, Al Kooper and Procol Harum’s Matthew Fisher are also Zombies fans.

The Zombies will have The Rennaisance Band as its special guest in Cebu show while MOBB band, Dreamgirls and Soul Republiq front act for the band in Manila. Tickets are now on sale at TicketWorld (891-9999) and SM Tickets (470-2222).