August 15, 2015

Otis Blackwell Among @RollingStone 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time; Bob Gaudio & Bob Crewe Overlooked!

August 15th, 2015
Otis Blackwell

Otis Blackwell

Earlier this week, Rolling Stone named its 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Among the brilliant songwriters on the list is one who is mentioned in JERSEY BOYS: As Frankie Valli is introducing Bob Crewe to Bob Gaudio, he tells Crewe, “He’s the next Otis Blackwell.”

As most of you may already know, Otis Blackwell wrote “You’re the Apple of My Eye” for The Four Lovers and that song peaked at #62 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1956. Turns out that in 1956 Blackwell first gave “Don’t Be Cruel” to friend Frankie Valli for The Four Lovers, but as they were recording it, he asked to take it back and in turn gave it to an up-and-coming Elvis Presley. In exchange for this song he gave them “You’re The Apple Of My Eye.” The Four Lovers performed the song on the Ed Sullivan Show and of course, a shortened version the song is performed in JERSEY BOYS!

In his entry, Rolling Stone states, “When Elvis Presley recorded one of his songs, the result was 1956′s epochal “Don’t Be Cruel,” which was simultaneously Number One on the pop, R&B and country charts. Blackwell subsequently gave Elvis “All Shook Up” and “Return to Sender,” and wrote a cluster of hits for other artists, including “Great Balls of Fire” for Jerry Lee Lewis.”

The 100 Greatest list covers many of the great songwriting duos, trios, and solo writers, including pop music writing greats including Carole King& Gerry Goffin, Burt Bacharach & Hal David, and Holland, Dozier & Holland. Click HERE to check Rolling Stone’s list.

How in the hell could Rolling Stone have excluded Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe, when they included other songwriters who have not had the sizable collection of stellar recordings?! As a team, Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe wrote some of the biggest his of the ’60s! Furthermore, both Crewe and Gaudio wrote many hits on their own or with other songwriters! Overlooking these two genius hitmaking songwriters on the list of 100 greatest songwriters of all time is completely unacceptable!

Please tweet @RollingStone or contact them on their Facebook page and give them a piece of your mind for not including Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio on this list!

6 Comments »

  1. Without fail…I am going to write RS Mag and contributing writers past and current that I happen to know personally about this ridiculous oversight..
    As I’m sure you are already aware, this kind of thing happens in MANY of their top 100 lists. I’m not sure why exactly.. Maybe one contributing factor is that it may be possible that it has not been too long since the chosen staff and editor received their permanent teeth. Just a thought…
    I truly love uze guyz and gals… XO
    All the best,
    Love your biggest fan and hopeful comrade,
    Lisa Sez

    Comment by Lisa Sez — August 16, 2015 @ 6:59 am

  2. Paraphrasing one of the many excellent take-offs appearing on the cover of the Genuine imitation Life Gazette album “(“All the news that fits we print”) and applying it to Rolling Stone…their motto should be: “All the news [that we make up] we print.”

    Comment by David — August 16, 2015 @ 8:13 am

  3. I believe if you were to ask Bob Gaudio about this he would tell you he doesn’t give a crap what RS thinks. They have screwed the Seasons many times and as far as I know only made mention of them one time and that was for the Live recording of the 4 Seasons at their reunited tour back in 1980. When they wanted to do an interview after Jersey Boys became a huge hit Mr. Gaudio told RS to go scratch saying they never gave the group any interview years before. The 4 Seasons did it all on their own. If you ever had a subscription to that rag I would cancel it

    Comment by Bob — August 16, 2015 @ 8:17 am

  4. I think the worst thing about RS is that they view themselves as a serious News, Investigative, Political, and Editorial Magazine. Their recent missteps and retractions prove that they never were. Long ago I gave up on RS ever giving FV4S a fair shake. Along with the MTV and VH-1 Networks.

    Comment by Ted — August 16, 2015 @ 7:52 pm

  5. Not surprising.

    No love lost between Gaudio and Rolling Stone. They never even acknowledged one single Four Season song to be in their top 500 lists over the years.

    As mentioned, this rag has lost all credibility anyway.

    Comment by Ray — August 18, 2015 @ 7:28 am

  6. Happened to notice that “Can’t Take My Eyes off Of You” was ranked by BMI as one of the top 10 most played songs of the 20th century.

    Yet RS didn’t recognize Crewe/Gaudio…nevermind all the others.

    Comment by Ray — September 14, 2015 @ 8:19 am

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