Animotion — Obsession

JUL 01 1985 · 12:00

Animotion — Obsession (1985) Director: Amos Poe Era: MTV New Wave Golden Age (1984–1985) - Peak synth-pop commercial explosion and the early MTV era's appetite for theatrical, costume-driven concept videos; the moment when the music video became the primary promotional vehicle for chart success. High-tier MTV archive specimen. Documents the precise intersection of No Wave Cinema's experimental director class and the commercial MTV promotional industry at its 1985 peak. The video's confirmed Amos Poe direction gives it exceptional art-historical provenance, while its quantitative profile — dark (brightness 45.06), warm (color temp 2.31), moderately paced (41 cuts, 5.87s avg) — provides a measurable aesthetic baseline for mid-1980s major-label synth-pop video production. Its cross-decade cultural reach and identifiable production fingerprint make it a priority preservation asset. Context: 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 Cinema pioneer Amos Poe — exemplifies the era's appetite for theatrical, high-concept visuals that could sustain repeated MTV rotation. The costumed historical vignettes (Cleopatra, Roman, samurai, space age) literalize the song's themes of compulsive desire across time and culture. The video's dark, warm aesthetic and moderate editorial rhythm (avg shot 5.87s) positioned it as sophisticated MTV product, helping establish the song as a lasting emblem of 1980s pop style. It subsequently served as the theme for the internationally syndicated FashionTelevision program and as the WWF Saturday Night's Main Event introduction theme from 1985–1988. Director notes: Directed in 1985 for Mercury Records as the promotional video for Animotion's debut single 'Obsession.' Cinematography credited to Daniel Pearl (per FilmAffinity). The video features the band performing next to a swimming pool and inside a luxury Hollywood-area residence, with lead vocalists in a series of elaborate historical costumes including Cleopatra, Mark Antony, a spaceman, a desert sheikh, and a samurai. The production marks one of Poe's most commercially visible works, bridging his No Wave experimental background with the demands of MTV-era major-label promotion. The video's dark, warm visual palette (brightness 45.06, color temperature 2.31) and theatrical staging reflect Poe's art-film sensibility applied to a pop-commercial context. The single reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was distributed via MTV.