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Written by: Gene Pitney
Produced by: Phil Spector
Released: Aug. '62 on Philles
Charts: 18 weeks
Top spot: No. 1

The Crystals were from Brooklyn, but Spector had bolted New York for Los Angeles to record "He's a Rebel." Worried that someone else would cut it first, he didn't wait for the the original Crystals to fly out. Instead he recorded this celebration of teenage bad boys with Darlene Love and the Blossoms under the Crystals name. A humbling footnote: Spector was just twenty-one years old.

Appears on: Best of the Crystals (ABKCO)

Next: Sail Away

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