ABSTRACT
The record industry experienced a 17.9-percent decline in units shipped, 576 million in 1982, as opposed to 701 million in 1979. Record labels had little to celebrate in 1982; the lack of success of movie soundtracks mirrored the overall state of the industry. The film was originally test marketed in four cities and did poorly The Phoenix test was disastrous. The failure of the soundtrack, one of many, was due to oversaturation in the marketplace and the focus of the motion picture. Urban Cowboy failed to popularize country music, but it did rate triple platinum. Studios with risky or marginal youth-oriented films clamored for Irving Azoff's services as an executive producer. Bob Destocki, a "co-compiler", complained, "Some acts don't understand what the soundtrack business is all about. Artists don't make a giant amount of money off soundtracks". Fast Times was squarely in the tradition of beach party films.
