Much of Siouxsie and the Banshees‘ discography predated my discovery of music outside the boundaries of Top 40 pop. But by the time the band released its 10th album, 1991’s Superstition, I was ready to take a peek into the dark side.

Produced by Stephen Hague (OMD, New Order, Pet Shop Boys), the album had a poppier, more dance-oriented sound, a departure for the British goth rockers, who’d gotten their start in 1976. The cover art signaled a change too, with Siouxsie Sioux appearing in a yellow dress against a pink background. In fact, about a year after the release of Superstition, she distanced herself from the album: “It was far too accessible and I think a lot of the guts of the band was sacrificed with that.”

Being new to Siouxsie and the Banshees, I wouldn’t have known to notice (her vocals were still avant-garde enough for me). Plus, as a fan of OMD, New Order, and Pet Shop Boys (not to mention the Some Kind Of Wonderful soundtrack, which Hague also produced), Superstition made me a believer. Of all of the band’s songs, I still consider “Kiss Them For Me,” the album’s lead single, to be their “prettiest by far.”

“Kiss Them For Me” prominently samples Schooly D’s “P.S.K. What Does It Mean,” considered the first hardcore rap song, with additional Indian-inspired instrumentation and vocals from Talvin Singh (marking his first mainstream contribution). The song is inspired by the biography of actress Jayne Mansfield, referencing her catchword “divoon,” her infamous heart-shaped pool, and her untimely death at 34, killed in a grisly auto accident on her way to New Orleans in 1967. Even the title comes is taken from the buxom blonde’s 1957 film of the same name, a box-office bomb co-starring Cary Grant that was her last mainstream role:

Irony being what it is, “Kiss Them For Me” was anything but a bomb for Siouxsie and the Banshees. The song spent five weeks at #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart in the summer of 1991, and reached #8 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. That popularity helped propel “Kiss Them For Me” onto the Hot 100 chart on August 17, resulting in the band’s best-ever showing when it topped out at #23 that October.

Siouxsie and the Banshees officially called it quits in 1995, though they did briefly reunite in 2002. Also worth noting is that while Mansfield, her boyfriend, and her driver all perished in that 1967 car crash, three of Mansfield’s kids were riding in the backseat and survived. One of them, Mariska Hargitay, was just three years old at the time. Now, like her mother, she’s an actress, playing Detective Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU, a role for which she’s won both an Emmy and Golden Globe.

Purchase Siouxie and the Banshees – “Kiss Them For Me” – via iTunes, Amazon MP3.