The video features supermodel Helena Christensen rolling and frolicking on the beach with Isaak. The beach was covered by lava not long after the video was shot. The newly formed black-sand beach was created from lava from Kilauea volcano flowing into the ocean about a mile away. The more well-known video was directed by Herb Ritts, shot in Hawaii at what was formerly known as Kamoamoa beach in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. There are two different music videos for this song. The touches of Roy Orbison only make it stronger and given the right airplay, Isaak should score a significant, if unpredictable hit." A reviewer from Sunday Life called it a "brooding ballad, image-laden, and worthy of Roy Orbison in his heyday." Music videos Pan-European magazine Music & Media described it as a "laid-back C&W tinged song featuring Isaak's Orbison-esque vocals." Duncan Holland from Music Week said that the song's "dexterity and panache is something rarely heard. Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" is all three." Joe Rhodes from Entertainment Weekly stated that it is "perhaps the album's darkest mood piece", noting its "otherworldly" opening guitar line. Alaister Moughan from Dazed wrote, "Some songs are masterpieces, some represent moments in time, and others are simply good jams. Larry Flick from Billboard called it a "delicious treat". Grant Walters from Albumism wrote that the song is a "pristine union of Isaak's aching vocal and the desolate wail of James Calvin Wilsey's '65 Stratocaster." He added, "Underneath, the brushed drum loop, simple bass line, and muted background vocals create a simmering atmospheric buzz." Steve Huey from AllMusic described it as a "shimmering", "spare" and "moody masterpiece". Scottish newspaper Aberdeen Evening Express noted the "haunting strains" of "Wicked Game". James Calvin Wilsey came up with the distinctive guitar lead both the bassline and drums (except the cymbals) were sampled from previous recordings of the song and then looped. ĭuring the sessions for Isaak's third album, many different versions and arrangements of the song were made before the final version was completed. It was written in short order following the call. Īlthough it is often interpreted as a ballad about unrequited love, Isaak has said that the song was inspired by a telephone call from a woman seeking to arrange a casual sexual liaison and is about "what happens when you have a strong attraction to people that aren't necessarily good for you". The song is in the key of B Dorian mode performed in what AllMusic describes as a "brooding, sorrowfully conflicted" tone. It has subsequently received retrospective critical acclaim, being listed in the 2010 book 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die, and noted by Dave Marsh in an updated edition of his 1989 book The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.
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"Wicked Game" has been covered by many other artists and been featured in numerous movies and television series and advertisements, so much so that Dazed magazine questioned whether it might be the most influential love song in modern music. Additionally, the single became a number-one hit in Belgium and reached the top 10 in several other nations. Lee Chesnut, an Atlanta radio station music director who loved David Lynch films, began playing the song, and it quickly became an American top-ten hit in January 1991, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the first hit song of Isaak's career. Despite being released as a single in 1989, it did not become a hit until it was featured in the 1990 David Lynch film Wild at Heart. " Wicked Game" is a song by American rock musician Chris Isaak, released from his third studio album Heart Shaped World (1989).