Animotion

Animotion harnessed the appeal of synth-driven pop tailored for MTV audiences during the mid-1980s, propelling the icily memorable single "Obsession" into the Top Ten at the start of 1985. Further commercial traction proved difficult to sustain, as the next release, "Let Him Go," reached the Top 40 only four months afterward. By 1988 more than half the original members had departed, among them principal figures Bill Wadhams and Astrid Plane, prompting actress Cynthia Rhodes and ex-Device vocalist Paul Engemann to step in as the group's primary singers. This revised configuration achieved another Top Ten placement with "Room to Move," taken from the Dan Aykroyd film My Stepmother Is an Alien. Following that short-lived resurgence the band dissolved. Occasional get-togethers took place across subsequent decades, sustained by lasting affection for "Obsession," yet Animotion waited until 2016 to issue a fresh full-length project, their fourth album Raise, which featured the original core members. Raise appeared first in the U.K. and reached the United States the next year under the revised title Raise Your Expectations.