1984 New Wave Hit Flopped in Its Original Version, Then a Remake Made It a Pop Culture Staple
The song "Obsession" by Animotion captivated listeners in the early 1980s, and many fans assume it's an original. It's not. The 1984 hit is a cover song, and it started with an earlier version that most people never heard.
In 1983, singer-songwriter Holly Knight (who cowrote Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield" and Tina Turner's "Better Be Good to Me") and singer Michael Des Barres penned the original version of "Obsession" and recorded it as a duet. The original version appeared in the 1983 film A Night in Heaven but never charted.
Shortly after this, the new wave group Animotion formed, including Astrid Plane (lead vocals), Bill Wadhams (lead vocals, guitars), Paul Antonelli (keyboards), Charles Ottavio (bass), David "Frenchy" O'Brien (drums), and a little later, Don Kirkpatrick (lead guitar). They were newly signed with Mercury Records and recording their first album when their producer John Ryan brought them the song "Obsession."
The band recorded the duet, making their own synth-pop mark on it. In the remake, Wadhams sang melodically whereas Des Barres performed with a slower, speak-singing style in the original. Animotion added the iconic staccato synth hook, making it more upbeat and danceable.
Related: 1985 Music Video Turned an Emotional Hit Into a Defining MTV Anthem
Wadhams has admitted he wasn't initially sold on the song. "I thought it was cool, but I didn't think it was so special that it would make the mark that it did," he told PopMatters. But the song started climbing, and fast.
Animotion released "Obsession" as a single in October 1984, and their self-titled debut album followed in November 1984. The song also got a wider commercial push in January 1985 before hitting the UK. By March, the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100, and it topped out at No. 6 in June.
"By the time 'Obsession' got to number 17 with a bullet," Wadhams recalled, "I said, ‘I don't care where this came from.' We're taking off like a rocket. We were out on our first tour and we got the top ten at the time Bruce Springsteen's ‘I'm on Fire' was in the top ten, Madonna's ‘Like a Virgin' was in the top ten. It was heady company, and our name was made for that time."
The song "Obsession" pops up in '80s playlists and still transports Gen X listeners straight back to the dance floor. Animotion's version appeared in daytime soaps including Days of Our Lives and Guiding Light, video games including Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016), and served as the intro theme for WWF's Saturday Night's Main Event from 1985–1988. To date, the new wave anthem has over 38 million streams on Spotify.
Songwriters Holly Knight and Michael Des Barres wrote the catchy song, but Animotion made it immortal.
Watch the music video for "Obsession" by Animotion:
Listen to the original version of "Obsession" by Michael Des Barres and Holly Knight:
Check out the 2007 rerecorded version of "Obsession" too:
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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 5:08 PM.