Phil Collins made a secret cameo in The Beatles movie ‘A Hard Days Night’
The career span of Phil Collins has rarely been matched in pop history. Even though some people like to think of Collins as the drummer that ruined Genesis, his work behind the kit on the Peter Gabriel-era songs made for some of the most complicated percussion work of the 1970s, as well as some of the most tuneful hits of the ‘80s on albums like Invisible Touch. Long before he had the idea to pick up the drums, Collins was originally a humble theatre actor given the opportunity of a lifetime in 1964.
After trying his hand at different bit-part roles, Collins found himself on a movie set as an extra in The Beatles’ A Hard Days Night. The Fab Four had fast been taking over the world of music, and this film only skyrocketed their momentum, playing an exaggerated version of the lovable moptops most fans thought they already knew.
Towards the end of the movie, The Beatles finally meet up and play one final show for a crowd of screaming fans. As they tear through numbers like ‘Tell Me Why’ and ‘She Loves You’, one shot of the crowd features a screaming girl in the frame with a young Phil Collins intently watching from his seat. Although most of the attention in the film may have been on the mayhem of the screaming fans, Collins began to see his future up on that stage.
Not long after watching The Beatles perform, Collins picked up the drumsticks and played in various bands, including the progressive rock progenitors Flaming Youth. Although there might have been some complex songs on his first pressed-to-vinyl record, Collins was looking for something more intricate when he came across an advert for a drummer in a band called Genesis.
As Collins recalls, the prog-rockers were looking for a drummer sensitive to a 12-string guitar player and went down to their rehearsal space. Frontman Peter Gabriel immediately knew that Collins was the man for them, performing some of the most rigorous performances on songs like ‘Supper’s Ready’ and ‘Firth of Fifth’. Once the band settled into a groove and started to see chart success, though, Gabriel left the fold, wanting to carry on raising his child and not have to worry about the hustle and bustle of being the lead singer of a band.
Although Genesis was keen to try out new singers, Collins mentioned becoming the lead singer by default, telling Behind the Music: “We had tried out one of the last singers, and I just said ‘can I have a go. I can do better than this’. I became the lead singer because we couldn’t find anybody else”.
After moving onto a solo career, though, Collins would become a star in his own right, playing both sets worldwide during Live Aid and even playing with Paul McCartney on his late ‘80s album Press to Play. Though Collins might have some reservations about how Macca conducts himself with his fans, fans never forget seeing one of their heroes for the first time, either.
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