7 Rooms of Gloom

"7 Rooms of Gloom"
Single by Four Tops
from the album Reach Out
B-side"I'll Turn to Stone"
ReleasedMay 2, 1967
RecordedHitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); 1967
GenreSoul, pop
Length2:46
LabelMotown
SongwriterHolland–Dozier–Holland
ProducersBrian Holland
Lamont Dozier
Four Tops singles chronology
"Bernadette"
(1967)
"7 Rooms of Gloom"
(1967)
"You Keep Running Away"
(1967)

"7 Rooms of Gloom" is a song originally recorded by the Motown Records vocal quartet the Four Tops. It was released as a single in 1967 on the Motown label and reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was a Top 10 R&B Hit, charting at #10. It was also a hit in the UK, their seventh, staying for nine weeks in the UK singles chart and reaching #12 and in the Netherlands where it made #23 in the Dutch Top 40.

Described as "throbbing with dread over a racing minor key dominated arrangement" it was written by Holland–Dozier–Holland. The single's B-side was "I'll Turn to Stone" also written by Holland-Dozier-Holland with R. Dean Taylor. That song made a separate chart entry, and peaked at #76 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #50 on the R&B Charts.

Cash Box called it a "thumping, fast-moving, blues-oriented rocker" that is a "real powerhouse." Record World called it "Top notch wailing from the Detroit group."

The song begins with Levi Stubbs doing a spoken recitation, which gets repeated twice with alterations.