Jayne Mansfield in Popular Culture - Musical Inspiration

Musical Inspiration

Mansfield became an inspiration for musicians in the punk rock genre. The Mansfields, a punk band, who take their name from the actress, released titles "Jayne's Laugh" and "Jayne Mansfield Was A Punk". St. Jayne, a punk band from Cleveland, Ohio was also named after her. Another band of the genre called itself Jane Mansfield's Head in 1980s. In 1989, the band L.A. Guns released "The Ballad of Jayne" and the next year the cyberpunk band Sigue Sigue Sputnik released "Hey Jane Mansfield Superstar". Masons, punk band form Tucson, Arizona, toured in 2000 playing three songs dedicated to her—"Bombshell," "Crash My Car" and "The Witch." The Motors, a British pub rock/punk band, had their billboard campaign I lost my head over The Motors, which featured a picture of Jayne Mansfield, banned. German punk band The Bates has recorded a tune called "The Lips of Jayne Mansfield," featured in the 1990 album Shake. The Dave Brothers, a punk rock band in the late 1990s had a Sunday show on radio station KRCL (106 FM, later taken over by KCGL) called the Church of Jayne Mansfield and distributed her posters for promotion. The Village Voice, a newspaper, compared punk pornographer Bruce LaBruce to Mansfield. Marc Bolan, one of the most influential artists of glam rock that spawned the punk, compared the demise of Elvis Presley to Jayne Mansfield. The Japanese female garage punk band The 5.6.7.8's wrote a song titled "I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield," which is featured in the movie Kill Bill Vol. 1, directed by Quentin Tarantino. Katy Rose mentions Mansfield in her song "Overdrive."

The post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees picked the title of number-one single "Kiss Them for Me" (included in their album Superstition) Mansfield's 1957 film Kiss Them for Me. Lyrics of the song uses Mansfield's catchword "divoon", and refers to her heart-shaped swimming pool, her love of champagne and parties, and to the grisly automobile accident which claimed her life in 1967. In Grok, a novel by Tom Maremaa, a character plays the CD and asks, "Yes, kiss them for me — I may be delayed." Too Hot To Handle, the UFO song considered to one of the top 500 heavy metal songs, takes its title from a Jayne Mansfield film. Mansfield is also alluded in the song "The Actor" by Robbie Williams, from the album "Rudebox". Alternative rock band The Chills released "16 Heartthrobs" as a memorial to Mansfield.