Wicked Game
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| "Wicked Game" | ||
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| Single by Chris Isaak | ||
| from the album Heart Shaped World | ||
| B-side(s) | Wicked Game (Instrumental) | |
| Released | 1989 | |
| Format | CD Single | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 4:46 | |
| Label | Warner Brothers | |
| Writer(s) | Chris Isaak | |
| Producer(s) | Erik Jacobsen | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Chris Isaak singles chronology | ||
| "Don't Make Me Dream About You" (1989) |
"Wicked Game" (1989) |
"Blue Hotel" (re-release) (1991) |
"Wicked Game" is a song originally released by Chris Isaak in 1989. The song was featured on his third studio album Heart Shaped World (1989). Despite being released as a single in 1989, it didn't become a hit until January of 1991, when it reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
[edit] Song information
The lyrics have many interpretations: "What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way / What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you"; The "wicked game" is played by a woman who appears to have tricked the singer into loving her, or a woman so captivating that the singer falls in love with her even though he wishes not to (love is itself a "wicked game").
[edit] Music video
The popular music video of the song was directed by Herb Ritts and featured top model Helena Christensen rolling on the beach with Isaak. Both Christensen and Isaak were topless through most of the video, although clever camera angles concealed any actual nudity. Viewers still reacted to Christensen's sexually suggestive performance, and the video was later featured on MTV's Sexiest Video of All-Time countdown. The video won the MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video, Best Cinematography and Best Video from a Film. A previous version of the video was commissioned for the Wild at Heart soundtrack, and was directed by David Lynch. [1]
The song was also used in the episode of Friends, The One Where Ross and Rachel...You Know, accompanying the moment were Ross and Rachel decide to have sex for the very first time.
[edit] Cover versions
- The Finnish band HIM remade this song, first using it in their demo, then their EP 666 Ways To Love: Prologue, then another recording on their first album Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666, and lastly on the British and American versions of their sophomore album Razorblade Romance. The last recording they made of it then reappeared on their compilation album And Love Said No - The Greatest Hits 1997-2004. With "Wicked Game" on their EP and first album, HIM gained quite a bit of fame in their native Finland. HIM frontman/singer/songwriter Ville Valo had this to say about "Wicked Game": "I went to Pasila's library and borrowed the soundtrack-vinyl of Wild At Heart and recorded it on tape. So with Linde we tried to 'learn' the song from the tape. It was kind of funny, that we learnt the song a bit wrong. We didn't hear the guitar parts well enough from that 'bad quality' tape. We also heard the lyrics wrong, and when the song was later recorded to our first EP, there were a few funny mistakes in the lyrics."
- The industrial band Crossbreed recorded a version of this song for their 1998 release .01.
- The Swiss video artist Pipilotti Rist also recorded a version of this song for her 1998 album Remake of a weekend, changing the title to I'm a Victim of this song. She also made a video shot in the interior of a European café.
- Irish band JJ72 released an acoustic version of the song on their 2003 UK single release 'Always and Forever'
- Giant Drag added a cover of the track to the European release of their Hearts and Unicorns album
- The German dance/techno-outfit Novaspace recorded a version of the song for their 2004 album Cubes.
- Heather Nova included a cover on her 2005 album Redbird.
- The gregorian chant -inspired music group Gregorian made a cover of the song for their album Masters of Chant III.
- R.E.M. included a cover of the song on their 1995 Fan Club Christmas Single.
- The winner of Australian Idol Damien Leith performed the song in 2006.
- Ima Robot did a cover of the song, which appeared on their MySpace site in 2006, and then on their mindviz site in early 2007.
- Corey Taylor of Stone Sour performed this song acoustic in the bands tours of 2006 and 2007.
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| Chris Isaak |
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| Discography |
| Major label albums: Silvertone | Chris Isaak | Heart Shaped World | San Francisco Days | Forever Blue | Baja Sessions | Wicked Game | Speak of the Devil | Always Got Tonight | Christmas | Best of Chris Isaak |
| Singles: Blue Hotel | Don't Make Me Dream About You | Wicked Game | Dancin | Can't Do A Thing (To Stop Me) | San Francisco Days | Somebody's Crying | Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing |
| Movies |
| Married to the Mob | The Silence of the Lambs | Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me | Little Buddha | Grace of My Heart | That Thing You Do! | A Dirty Shame |
| Television |
| The Chris Isaak Show |
