How The Zombies influenced The Beatles
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, fresh from a three-gig engagement in Tokyo.
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.”
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.
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 their 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.
Filipino fans get a chance to appreciate what has made The Zombies the most enduring British Invasion band next to The Rolling Stones when Blunstone and Argent relive their greatest hits in Cebu and Manila.