"The Look" was written by Per Gessle as an exercise while learning how to operate the Ensoniq ESQ-1 synthesizer he had recently purchased, using a repeated A–G–D bass line as the song's core.
"[7] Anders Herrlin, the bassist in Gessle's former band Gyllene Tider, was integral in the recording of the song's electronic components.
Gessle sought to avoid the "live band" sound present on Roxette's debut album Pearls of Passion; Herrlin programmed eight digital snare drums in the intro alone, and "maybe 20 or so other effects" throughout the track.
[8] According to Gessle, guitarist Jonas Isacsson also had a "big impact" on the song, saying: "We asked him to play something in the style of George Harrison's "I Want to Tell You" and "Taxman" from Revolver, and off he went.
"[4] Isacsson said the main guitar riff was written several days earlier while composing songs with then-girlfriend Marianne Flynner.
[2] The track was an immediate commercial success there, peaking at number six and spending almost two months in the top ten of the then-fortnightly Sverigetopplistan chart.
[13] Around the same time, an American exchange student from Minnesota named Dean Cushman returned from Sweden and gave his copy of the album to his local Top 40 radio station, KDWB-FM in Minneapolis.
[14] The station's program director Brian Phillips initially ignored Cushman's request to play a song from the album, leaving the CD unplayed in his office for several weeks.
[18] The song had already entered the top fifty of the Billboard Hot 100 before official promotion began,[3] peaking at number one on the chart eight weeks later.
[19] This made "The Look" the third number one single by a Swedish act on the Billboard Hot 100, following Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling" in 1974 and ABBA's "Dancing Queen" in 1976.
[22] It also topped the charts throughout Scandinavia, peaking at number one in Denmark, Finland and Norway,[23][24][25] and was certified gold in the former country for shipments in excess of 45,000 units.
Fredriksson categorically denied these rumours in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1990, saying: "If you hear that we paid that exchange student to take our record to that radio station, don't believe it.
They went on to comment: "Time will tell if they manage to be as productive as the legendary foursome, but this tense, atmospheric Beatle-esque song definitely marks a step in the right direction.
[35] Bill Coleman from Billboard said "The Look" was "too catchy for words", describing it as a "pop track that incorporates an eager rock edge and funky rhythm underpinnings.
"[36] A writer for Stereogum noted an inability to define the genre of the track, saying that despite its disparate influences, the song was neither rock, dance or funk.
"[37] Stephen Thomas Erlewine, in a 2019 report for Billboard, said the song was "glam rock for the age of George H. W. Bush: stylized and stylish on the surface, yet classically structured at its core.
He also commented on the route the song took to commercial success, saying: "It was a hit single lying in wait, ready for the right ears to recognize [its] potential.
"The Look" was remixed in 1995 and re-released exclusively in the United Kingdom in conjunction with the release of their first greatest hits compilation, Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!
Additional production was credited to Swedish duo Addeboy vs Cliff, who had recently contributed material to Roxette's then-upcoming tenth studio album Good Karma,[86] later released in 2016.
[86] The first appearance of "The Look" on a television show was during a montage featuring Erika Eleniak and Chris Gartin in the Baywatch episode "The Cretin of the Shallows" from the first season broadcast on 1 December 1989.
[91] In 2009, the song was prominently featured in a marketing campaign for Grand Theft Auto IV Episodes from Liberty City.
[citation needed] The season 2 premiere episode of the FOX series Scream Queens featured the song in a scene where the Chanels see Dr. Brock Holt showering in the hospital locker room.