999,805: Chris Isaak - Take My Heart

American culture is currently based on FEAR. We're all so goddamn anxious to earn that dollar! Find a husband! Bang that chick! Avoid that terrorist attack! Be cool! Dress right! Find Jesus! It's really rather exhausting. Popular music right now functions in the same way. It explodes in your face, barely pausing or giving you a moment to breath. It's all BOOM BOOM POW, TIK TOK or JUST DANCE. Pop music, like the dating world, has basically eliminated the courtship process. It's a "bad romance" (har har) kind of situation where the dude is basically a "womanizer" (Okay! I'll stop with this). Even Nashville got mechanized. If you can't look to country music for heartfelt emotion, something has gone seriously awry. Don't you dare tell me Carrie Swift Chesney is heartfelt.

Anyhow, even though he's not popular anymore, you still got to love Chris Isaak for continuing to tour and make his sweet music. In this hurricane age of autotune, Isaak's purebred vocals cuts through the storm. It's a shame THE KIDS THESE DAYS don't understand that emotion can be conveyed through the sound of a real voice. I bet the youngins' now think that a slow jam by Akon signals tenderness.

2009's "Take My Heart", is everything you never hear in music produced today: Hawaiian guitar, multi-part rich harmonies, and complex chord progressions. This song isn't just about some personal relationship. Chris, along with his baby blues, are pleading with you to accept his old world music warmth. This track was off of his first album in 7 years. He's begging you to buy his brand of delicate macho rockabilly. And I don't care if you are a boy or girl, you can't say no to Chris Isaak. Twin Peaks, that hot Wicked Games video where he rolls around in the sand with the model, and a song in a Kubrick film? AND a voice made of melted butter? Look at the girl in the album cover picture. She's alone at the carnival of life, she's helpless...she's YOU! There is Chris Isaak's disembodied head, frowning. He can't get through to her! Stupidly, this album didn't climb the charts. If Chris Isaak isn't good enough for you, America, to hand your heart over to him.... well you're not worth courtin'!