(1949-2004)

When the Beatles toured New Zealand in 1964, I was already playing in a band, (The Crescendos'), so I came to the Beatles thing from a pretty well established musical background. I heard “Love me do" first, unlike a lot of fans for whom “Please please me" was their first taste of Beatle music. With each single they just seemed to get better and better until during the Christmas holidays in 1963, when I was staying at my grandparents place down in Beaumont, Central Otago, I heard “She loves you" for the first time. The impact of that record made me want to climb inside the radio, it had such pulling power. I suddenly realised that the Beatles were the best band I'd ever heard.

When I bought my copy of "She loves you" I played it over and over. One of the really exciting aspects of the recording occurred when Ringo played the tom-toms to preface the chorus. It was a riveting aspect of the overall production, a call to arms. You could see, or rather hear why the Beatles had preferred Ringo to Pete Best as drummer. You could describe the drum sound as primitive in a rock sense. It made a great song even better.

There's an old joke about drummers that poses the question: How do you know when a drummer's knocking at your door? Answer: He speeds up. That situation would relate more specifically to Pete Best than Ringo. Ringo, from the outset, was an outstanding rock drummer, in my opinion.

It wasn't just the music, it was the enthusiasm the Beatles created and unleashed. In Chinese the word "enthusiasm" is the same as for 'music" and that connection seemed totally apt when describing the impact of the Beatles. Later I became aware of the fact that in the 1960s scientists had recorded “excessive sun spot activity". The last time such a thing had happened was in the Elizabethan era, when a similar lightness of spirit and indulgence in colourful clothing and a general party atmosphere had prevailed. In the 60's, with the Beatles ability to transcend and induce "summers of love and celebration", you got the feeling that there definitely was "something in the air". Perhaps it was the influence of sun spots that created a blithe, carefree environment which the Beatles were able to complement with their ground-breaking, joyful music.

Back on earth, there was no denying that I exhibited symptoms of Beatle worship. The walls of my room were basically wallpapered with Beatle posters and related paraphernalia.

I was the first in the queue to get tickets to the Wellington concert, which, in effect because the Beatles played Wellington first made me the first New Zealander to procure a Beatle concert ticket. I was surprised at the lack of competition for places in the queue. I expected something like the queuing that went on outside Athletic Park for a rugby test match. I had experience of that phenomenon too, being a keen rugby player and a big All Black fan. In particular I recall the huge, milling throngs that gathered throughout the night, prior to the second test between the All Blacks and Springboks in 1956.

I took up station for the Beatle tickets queue at 7.00am, but for the early part of proceedings was on my own. Later on, as day broke, about three hundred fans had joined me and when I finally came away with my precious Beatle concert ticket I was snapped by a press photographer and ended up on the front page of the "Evening Post" with my Beatle ticket prominently displayed.

Because I was the first to buy a ticket I had the luxury of choosing where I would sit in the Wellington Town Hall. John Lennon was the Beatle who fascinated me the most, so I was able to secure a seat directly opposite where I knew he would be standing. The concert started with, appropriately, John's song “You can't do that", and despite what a lot of people said about the screaming and other disruptive noises, I was able to hear a lot of the music. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that I was right up the front.

On stage at Wellington John anchored the ship with his legs apart in a solid, basically unmoving stance, Ringo nailed the sound down at the back with surprising power for such a little chap. Just out of hospital too. Paul performed the function of MC, the charmer of the birds. George, in the middle looking very much the youngest, concentrated hard on his guitar work.

To me John was definitely the most influential Beatle. Not only was he the obvious leader of the band at the concert, (he threatened to take the Beatles off because the local sound system was so primitive) but to me he was more than a musician - he was an artist. When he put out his first book "In his own write", complete with his own witty wordplay and line drawings, it was obvious that being a Beatle was only part of his range of creative skills. In 1964 he wrote and sang much of the Beatle music. He played harmonica and found fantastic chords. He occasionally wore a leather hat. Already, within a band that was undeniably original, he was pushing the boundaries.

Although I was able to hear a lot of the music amidst the turmoil of the Town Hall it was noticeable that on occasions John had to turn to Ringo, sitting in splendid isolation at his drums at the rear of the stage, to make sure that Ringo was able to keep in time with John, Paul and George.

Even back then I considered Paul to be more an entertainer than an artist. He was more representative of Tin Pan Alley than John, and while such a stance was invaluable to the overall Beatle songs and sound, it was John who struck me as being the creative original in the band.

Out in the music traps of New Zealand it soon became common for bands to have a "resident scouse" in their ranks - a player, or players who could lay some sort of claim to being from Liverpool. If they were really from Lower Hutt, they could at least cultivate a scouse accent. The sense of identification with the Beatles was almost scary.

As a junior employee in the record purchasing section at the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation in Wellington, my first job was to gouge a nail across the tracks of the B-side of the Ray Charles single "Hit the road. Jack". Censorship and concepts of "safe" records were an over­ riding pre-occupation of the establishment back then, although it has to be said the "The Danger Zone", the B side was less threatening than "Hit the road, Jack". The Beatle invasion put paid to much of this sort of nonsense. In fact, apart from the word "Christ" being obliterated from the of opening line of the chorus The "Ballad of John and Yoko", towards the end of the Beatles era, Beatle music, because of its undeniable quality, basically silenced the establishment. But not before a fight. I was the first person to get a Beatle record played on National Radio (“And I love her” and “If I fell" on the all night Programme in 1967). As a programmer I had to fight the powers that were to set a precedent, a policy that persists to this day.

I was later able to lay claim to another Beatle first. I was the first New Zealander to hear their most famous album, 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. Because I was involved with the N.Z.B.C. record purchasing team I was sent a copy of 'Sergeant Pepper' straight from the airport, to get it passed early by the Record Purchasing Committee. I took it the same day to the record purchasing meeting where we auditioned it quite extensively. Everyone loved it which, bearing in mind I was the only member who even liked pop music, was quite amazing.

I was also the first New Zealand citizen to hear 'Hey Jude' and I was so excited by the first few bars, especially the piano sound, that I needed to share it with someone - anyone. I rushed out into the corridor and because she was the only one around, I convinced the tea lady to come and take a listen. I think she considered it to be "very nice".

Although it's still my contention that it was more the phenomenon of the Beatles, than the actual music, given that I was already playing piano in a band, there is no doubting their influence in terms of motivation to play and compose better music of your own. I ended up becoming a member of New Zealand bands like "Dedikation", “Human Instinct" and "Dragon" and the influence and direction provided by the Beatles was profound. And 1'd like to underline the way I eventually became disillusioned, even with John Lennon, thanks to things like that New York album with Yoko, and the way he became an irritable junkie in the Mai Ping/Nillson period, the same way Elvis turned into a bastard on hard drugs.

Although I was shattered by Lennon's death, its fair to say that even at that stage I was pretty much over the Beatles; a void that was partly filled for me by Pink Floyd and others who picked up the creative challenge.

One of the physical down-sides of the Beatle legacy for those of us who ended up playing in noisy bands, was the continual assault on the ear drums. In this day and age they reckon that 'old' rockers can't hear cell phones ringing'. That may be an advantage.

Graeme Collins. Musician. Wellington

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