So Blue Hawaii is the album that ruined Elvis Presley, up until the Comeback Special anyway. It is a testament to the irrepressible abundance of Elvis’ talent that he accomplished as much as he did with the almost insurmountable barrier of Parker’s greed and artistic indifference in the way. Elvis’ popularity was such that it took a few years for people to stop buying that crap, but eventually even the hardest hard core fans caught on that the movies and their attendant soundtrack albums were hopeless schlock, and they’d been conned by that biggest carnival barker of all time, “Colonel” Tom Parker, that albatross around Elvis’ neck that tragically kept him from reaching his full potential as an artist. The success of Blue Hawaii – both the movie and the album – is directly responsible for setting Elvis firmly on the path toward such movie musical atrocities as Harum Scarum, Double Trouble, Frankie and Johnny, and about two dozen other abysmal movie soundtracks. Blue Hawaii is the album that put Elvis on a trajectory that took him out of any sort of artistic relevance for the next seven years. We all should – at least anyone who appreciates Elvis Presley an artist should. So given the public preference for musical soundtracks combined with the growing popularity of rock and roll, perhaps it is no surprise that the second best selling album of the entire decade in the United States was none other than the soundtrack to Elvis Presley’s film Blue Hawaii. Actually, at that time rock was still in its infancy, for the first half of the decade the best selling album each year was the soundtrack to a movie musical, ending with Mary Poppins in 1965. in 1966, probably more due to the album cover than any music buying public affinity for Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass). was in the 1960s behind – inexplicably – the soundtrack to West Side Story? Abbey Road? The Doors’ debut album ? Led Zeppelin II? Let It Bleed? Surfer Girl? Whipped Cream & Other Delights? (That isn’t actually a joke, it was the best selling album in the U.S. Anybody know what the second best selling album in the U.S.
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