Animotion - Obsession

What this video is

Released in early 1985 as the debut single from Animotion's self-titled 1984 Mercury Records album, 'Obsession' arrived at the apex of MTV's cultural dominance over American pop music. The song, written by Holly Knight and Michael Des Barres and originally recorded in 1983, was transformed by Animotion into a synth-pop juggernaut that peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video — directed by No Wave…

Why it matters

A canonical artifact of American synth-pop's commercial mainstream moment, 'Obsession' demonstrated how the dual-vocalist format — here male/female call-and-response — could amplify a song's dramatic tension within the MTV video format. The video bridges No Wave avant-garde sensibility (via…

The director

Amos Poe (born Amos Jay Porges, September 30, 1949, Tel Aviv – December 25, 2025) was an American independent filmmaker and a founding figure of New York's No Wave Cinema movement (1976–1985). He co-directed the landmark punk documentary The Blank Generation…