Chris Isaak's music can be described as a blend of country, blues, rock and roll, pop and surf rock.
Chris Isaak's best-known song is "Wicked Game". Though released on the 1989 album Heart Shaped World, an instrumental version of the song was later featured in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart. Lee Chesnut, an Atlanta radio station music director who was obsessed with David Lynch films, began playing the full version and it quickly became a nation-wide top ten hit. The music video for the song was directed by Herb Ritts and was a big MTV and VH1 hit; shot in black and white, it starred Isaak and model Helena Christensen rolling on the beach, embracing and whispering in each others' ears. In 1999, Isaak's "Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing" was featured in Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.