Ten Songs You Might Not Know Are Covers: Obsession (#8)

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As I continue my countdown of songs that you might not know are covers I suppose I should point out this is an "age" thing. Most of the songs I'm using are songs that are from "my generation" (no, not that Who song ). There are countless other examples out there. For instance, I didn't know that some hair band had actually done a cover of "Your Mama Don't Dance" by Loggins and Messina! I'll admit up front I'm most likely missing a few (hundred) songs. With that in mind, here's my next song. #8: Obsession This shocked me to discover it was a cover! One of the greatest songs of the new wave-techno era of the early 80s in my opinion, this was the first (and biggest) hit by the L.A. synth band Anamotion. (Yes, they're Americans, despite the way they sound [I guess everyone wanted to be the Human League in the wake of the Human League's success with "Don't You Want Me" back then].). "Obsession" became an obsession of sorts, hitting the Billboard top ten in 1984. And it's a cover! A year before Anamotion's big hit, Holly Knight and Michael Des Barres -- the latter famously known as being the one-time husband of super-groupie Pamela Des Barres (if you insist on reading her sleaze book I'm With the Band get a shot first) -- wrote and recorded the song, which appeared in the film A Night in Heaven. Most people probably don't realize the Anamotion song was a cover because the movie that featured the original was a major flop. At least a good song came out of it. Obsession Written by Holly Knight & Michael Des Barres Originally recorded by Holly Knight & Michael Des Barres Famously covered by Anamotion Here's the original version, which is really creepy in comparison to the famous cover (thanks to Des Barres reciting the lyrics instead of singing them):