LogFAQs > #956832782

62. Chris Isaak Wicked Game (1989)
from the album Heart Shaped World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oadhHk2xs6c

Key lyrics:
Nobody loves no one

Roy Orbison could be considered one of the most singular voices in popular music, if not for the fact that Chris Isaak does such a perfect imitation. Wicked Game plays like a classic Orbison track being given the sensuous freedom of a later era, layered with a disarmingly dark mood provided by a distinct sliding note on the lead guitar. This is passion at its most extreme, a man caught up in a love he cannot handle.

What makes Wicked Game as compelling as the best Orbison tracks is how it plays against a distinctly modern sound. Orbisons style of crooning seems emblematic of a particular era of pop music, where instrumentation took a backseat to vocals. Isaak instead plays himself against a guitar that could easily steal the spotlight. His insistently drawn out notes force a certain restraint on the guitar the song has to be structured around sustaining sounds as Isaak belts it out. The result is something like a mellow surf rock, a twanging sound that can play to its own rhythm while Isaak emphasizes every word.

The result is a heartbroken love song too cool to be cheesy. The guitar oozes with enough force that the fact this song is commonly considered soft rock can be easy to forget. In fact, Wicked Game seems to exist at the intersection of half a dozen styles, but Chris Isaak makes such a perfect fusion that it all goes down easy. By bridging a gap between distinct eras, Wicked Game created its own timelessness.

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My top 100 games (with write-ups): https://foolfantastic.com/top-100-video-games-project/