Christopher Joseph Isaak is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. Noted for his reverb-laden rockabilly revivalist style and wide vocal range, he is widely known for his breakthrough hit and signature song "Wicked Game" as well as international hits "Blue Hotel", "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing", and "Somebody's Crying".
real name: Christopher Joseph Isaak
labels: Warner Bros. Records
genres: pop music
plays: guitar, voice
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
Isaak was born in Stockton, California, to Dorothy (née Vignolo; 1931–2021) and Joseph Isaak (1929–2012), a forklift driver; they were of Italian and German ancestry, respectively.
In 1985, Isaak signed a contract with Warner Bros. Records and released his first album, Silvertone, to critical acclaim, including from John Fogerty. Despite being named after his band, Silvertone was mostly recorded with session musicians. The album's sound was raw and diverse, mingling country blues with conventional folk ballads. Although the album was a critical success, it failed to sell respectably. Two tracks from the album, "Gone Ridin'" and "Livin' for Your Lover", featured in David Lynch's 1986 film Blue Velvet.
Underlined songs have their story further down.
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"Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing" is a song by American musician Chris Isaak, released as the first track to the 1995 album Forever Blue. Filled with sensuality and erotic imagery, the song was described by Isaak as a declaration to "Somebody who is so evil and twisted and bad, and yet, you still want them." The title evokes how "That's a bad bad thing" is used both by parents scolding misbehaving children and by adults during sexual intercourse.
In September 1999, a remix of the song peaked at number nine on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, outperforming the number-27 peak of the original. In the United States, the 1999 reissue reached number three on the Billboard Triple-A chart.
Similar to how Isaak's "Wicked Game" only became a success following its inclusion in Wild at Heart (1990), the song got most of its mainstream recognition after being featured in the 1999 Stanley Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Kubrick heard the song as Kidman listened to Isaak's music to liven up during rehearsals. Isaak was asked for his approval as he prepared to perform on The Tonight Show, and immediately agreed once he was told it was for Kubrick, who Isaak declared, "Hasn't done a film I didn't like." The singer said he always considered "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing" ripe for soundtracks due to being "kind of a strange piece of work, with a really driving beat and a manic energy that I thought would...
The music video of the song was commissioned after its inclusion on Eyes Wide Shut, and directed by Herb Ritts, who also did the video for Isaak's "Wicked Game." It features French model Laetitia Casta videotaped in a motel room gyrating sexually being watched by Isaak. Casta was dressed in lingerie and wore a black wig throughout the video. In July 1999, VH1 aired two versions of the music video, the censored version was played before 9 p.m. and the uncensored version was played after 9 p.m. The video was initially regarded as too steamy by the network. The video was ranked number 28 on VH1's 50 Sexiest Video Moments.
San Francisco Days is the fourth album by Chris Isaak, released in 1993. The album's sound was more upbeat than that of its predecessor, the darker Heart Shaped World, and Isaak's breakthrough hit "Wicked Game".
It did not perform as well as Heart Shaped World, but was certified gold by the RIAA while several of its tracks became longtime staples of Isaak's live set. Later in 1993, the song "Two Hearts" was featured in the film True Romance and on its soundtrack.
"Somebody's Crying" is a song by American musician Chris Isaak from his fifth album, Forever Blue (1995). The song was released as the album's first single on May 15, 1995, by Reprise Records, reaching number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and becoming a top-five hit in Australia and Canada.
It also appears on his 2006 Best of Chris Isaak compilation. A live version is included on Isaak's 2008 Live in Australia album.
Isaak wrote the song shortly after a breakup with his girlfriend. Isaak had attended a friend's party, but soon realized that he did not want to be there. He went inside a walk-in closet, closed the door, grabbed a guitar that was leaning against the back wall, and wrote "Somebody's Crying."
"Somebody's Crying" peaked at number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in August 1995, making it Isaak's second-highest-charting single after "Wicked Game", which reached number six in 1991. "Somebody's Crying" also peaked at number 27 on the Adult Contemporary chart, number 34 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and number 36 on the Top 40/Mainstream chart. Elsewhere, the song peaked at number five in Australia and number 22 in New Zealand, marking Isaak's highest chart placement in the former country. It charted the highest in Canada, climbing to number four on the RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart. The single was not as commercially successful in the United Kingdom, reaching number 81 on the UK Singles Chart.
The music video for "Somebody's Crying" was released in 1995 and was directed by Bill Pope. In contrast to the song's melancholy lyrical content, the video presents a more upbeat story of a summer romance, and features Isaak riding a surfboard, a favorite pastime of his. Isaak said, "I thought it would be more fun to do. More and more I'm trying to keep a little bit of fun in what I'm doing." Actors Jennifer Rubin, Jenna Elfman, Zen Gesner, and Chris Penn appear in the video. The video received a 1995 MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Male Video but lost to Tom Petty's "You Don't Know How It Feels".
The song was played during parts of two episodes of the Fox television series Party of Five in 1995. It was also featured in a 1995 episode of MTV's Beavis and Butt-head. An acoustic performance of the song by Isaak is included in the 2000 DVD compilation, MTV Unplugged: Ballads.
Speak of the Devil is the seventh studio album by the American rock musician Chris Isaak, released in 1998. The song "Black Flowers" is featured at the end of the sixth episode, first season, of "The Penguin" HBO series (S1E06).
"Wicked Game" is a song by American musician Chris Isaak from his third album, Heart Shaped World (1989). It was produced by Erik Jacobsen and released as a single to little attention in July 1989 by Reprise Records; the song became a sleeper hit when Lee Chesnut, an Atlanta radio station music director who loved David Lynch films, began broadcasting it after hearing it in Lynch's film Wild at Heart (1990).
The song quickly became an American top 10 hit in March 1991, reaching No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also became a No. 1 hit in Belgium and reached the top 10 in several other countries.
The song is in B Dorian, performed in what AllMusic describes as a "brooding, sorrowfully conflicted" tone.
The Aberdeen Evening Express extolled the "haunting strains" of "Wicked Game." Grant Walters of Albumism praised the song as 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 of AllMusic described it as a "shimmering," "spare," "smoky," and "moody masterpiece." Larry Flick from Billboard magazine named it a "delicious treat." Alaister Moughan from Dazed wrote, "Some songs are masterpieces, some represent moments in time, and others are simply good jams. Chris Isaak's 'Wicked Game' is all three." Joe Rhodes from Entertainment Weekly stated that...
There are two different music videos for this song. The more well-known video was directed by Herb Ritts and shot in Hawaii at the short-lived Kamoamoa Beach in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. The newly-formed black-sand beach was created from lava from Kilauea volcano flowing into the ocean about a mile away. The beach was covered by lava not long after the video was shot. The video features supermodel Helena Christensen rolling and frolicking on the beach with Isaak. It was mostly filmed in black and white. Christensen is topless through most of the video, although her nudity is concealed by camera angles. In the middle of the video, Christensen is seen only in her black lace bra and panty; other times, she wears only a...