The 1985 Animotion album is an 80s synth-pop and new wave record, best known for the hit single "Obsession". Reviews often describe the album as having a mix of hard rock influences and synth-pop, featuring standout tracks like "Obsession" and "Let Him Go". However, some critics find certain songs can become repetitive or the album as a whole to be stylistically similar.
It’s been a while since I posted a couple of 12” singles together, and I’ve been thinking that as 2024 approaches I should be working out some ideas for celebrating one of the most versatile ways of releasing music…yes dear reader, the 12” single. So, testing the water we have two absolute club dance bangers. I can’t really keep them apart, where there is one, the other is also.
Obsession was written by Holly Knight and Michael Des Barres, who recorded the song as a duet in 1983. This original version features spoken-word verses by Des Barres, giving the song a far more sinister feel. Released as a standalone single, it went nowhere, but it became a big hit the following year when it was recorded by Animotion. The song is about a stalker who seems to get more obsessed as the song progresses. At first, it appears he has a serious crush on the girl, but he later becomes more dangerous and intent on "capturing" her. Animotion recorded this song in 1984 and released it as their debut single. It was a good hit for the San Francisco band, which was a six-piece, synth-heavy group with both male and female vocals.
Big in Japan is the debut single of the German synth-pop band Alphaville from their 1984 album Forever Young. "Big in Japan" and the single's B-side "Seeds" were two of the first three tracks recorded for Forever Young and was released as a single before Alphaville had finished recording the remainder of the album. The timing of the song was influenced by "The Safety Dance", changing the speed to double-time halfway through the song. The theme was based on two friends who were involved in the sordid drug scene of Berlin's Zoo station.