Mad Mazzy Mickle Goes Looking for Love owes significant and obvious debts to some real-life music and musicals. In no particular order, here they are.

1) That entire subgenre of songs in the 1950s and 1960s about vehicle crashes. Epitomized by Ray Peterson’s insufferably whiny Tell Laura I Love Her [1961], this group also includes the iconic Dead Man’s Curve [1964] by Jan and Dean. The song I most associate with the genre, though, is the Shangri-Las’ Leader of the Pack [1965], which actually includes sound effects of the devastating car crash at the climax of the song. As a bonus, it also contains the line “They told me he was bad but I knew he was sad,” which is a concise summation of the appeal of the Byronic hero right there. This subgenre probably serves as the source for the automotive theme in the film.

2) The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie. Mazzy’s general appearance recalls David Bowie’s circa 1975. Also much of the album has haunting, otherworldly notes of melancholy that I envision underpinning MMM. Lady Stardust really encapsulates the tension between ecstasy and depression because it describes the speaker’s — and everyone else’s — excited fascination with the performer, but the song itself is delivered in a halting, lugubrious manner, full of regret and nostalgia. Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide, with its desperate plea for connection — “Give me your hands because you’re wonderful” — also embodies that alienation.

3) The Rocky Horror Picture Show by Richard O’Brien. MMM initially rose from my desire to explore the transformative effects of cult movies on people’s identities without using RHPS as an example. Thus Mazzy is a Frank analogue, while the Dude and Cyn are analogues of Brad and Janet, and all their trajectories are roughly the same, as is the general flow of the plot. Songs like Toucha Toucha Touch Me definitely gave me the idea for playful, punny songs.