Yeah, I'm talking about the one where Ross and Rachel... you know. And, sure, it's the classic night that everyone dreams of — there's shining stars, a fur pelt, and a squished juice box — but what really makes the night truly special? The song playing over the speakers, of course. The sultry tune that no one can listen to without thinking of Ross and Rachel doing it is none other than Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game." (The episode is also the one where Monica and Richard meet for the second-first time — be still my silver-fox-ophthalmologist-loving heart — but that's deemed as the B-plot of the episode next to Ross and Rachel's intimate museum relations. Whatever.)
So as everyone knows by now, the build up to Ross and Rachel having sex, let alone getting together in the first place, was quite dragged out and awkward (that's basically how we can describe their relationship, right?). But as Rachel so poetically says, it was "worth the wait." Uh, yeah it was. If you're going to cheese-up something, then you better pull out the good stuff and make sure Isaak's cradling you with his deep, sexy voice. Could the night be any more magical? (Well, only if Isaak was actually in the room serenading them… okay, that would be creepy. I take it back.)
So how else has Isaak's sex-inducing song impacted pop culture? Take a look at a few of the times "Wicked Game" has popped up before and after the monumental Friends episode:
The music video itself.
With lyrics like "The world was on fire and no one could save me but you," obviously they had sex.
Every Nicolas Cage movie ever.
Well, not every film, but more than one of them. The song was used in The Family Man and Wild at Heart, both of which featured Cage.
The song has been covered by Phillip Phillips, P!nk, Coves, Emika, and others.
Of course Phillip Phillips would cover this song. Of course.
In Flight of the Conchords, the character Dave references "Wicked Game."
According to Dave (Arj Barker), "Women like three things: Men in kilts, Southern Comfort and Chris Isaak's 'Wicked Game.'"
American Idol & Siobhan Magnus
The singer performed the steamy ballad on Season 9 of the show.
It was also in a bajillion other shows.
The song has been used in Melrose Place , Beavis and Butt-Head, Beverley Hills 90210 and 90210, Smallville, The Mentalist, So You Think You Can Dance, and more.
Chris Isaak was actually a guest star on Friends before his song became the Ross & Rachel anthem.
Okay, so this is about the man and not the song, but it still counts. For those of you who don't know Friends' massive list of guest stars by heart, that song wasn't the first time that Isaak's voice was heard on the show. In fact, he appeared in another Season 2 episode in which he played Rob Donan, the man who invited Phoebe to play her music for some children at a public library (too bad her lyrics were a little to, er, real for the kids).
Images: NBC; boltsfromtheblue.com; HBO; NBC
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