The mullet is a hairstyle in which the hair is cut shorter at the front, top and sides, but is longer at the back.
Etymology
According to the
Oxford English Dictionary, use of the term
mullet to describe this hairstyle was "apparently coined, and certainly popularized, by American hip-hop group the
Beastie Boys",
who used "mullet" and "mullet head" as epithets in their 1994 song "Mullet Head", combining it with a description of the haircut: "number one on the side and don't touch the back, number six on the top and don't cut it wack, Jack."
[ ] They expounded on the subject at length in a six-page article entitled "Mulling Over The Mullet" in Issue 2 (1995) of their magazine
Grand Royal, offering a selection of alternative names for the cut, including "Hockey Player Haircut" and "Soccer Rocker".
[Grand Royal Issue 2, (1995) p. 44]
False etymology
Although a widely circulated image from the Australian automotive magazine
Street Machine appeared to show the term in use as early as January 1992, the Oxford English Dictionary was unable to verify the authenticity of this citation.
On an episode of
Slate Decoder Ring podcast, Willa Paskin discussed the etymology of the term
and discovered that the magazine image had been faked. In a 2018 apology posted to
imgur, the creator had admitted to faking the text and adjusting the magazine dates.
Fashion history
In antiquity
Historian
Suetonius writes that the Roman emperor
Tiberius "wore his hair rather long at the back, so much so as even to cover the nape of his neck", and that this was a tradition of his family, the
Claudia gens.
One bust of Tiberius's great-nephew
Caligula has short locks across the forehead and longer hair behind.
A metal figurine, dated back to the 1st-century CE and found during 2018 preparations for a new car park at the Wimpole Estate, England, was hypothesised by archaeologists to indicate that natives in ancient Britain during the Roman Britain could have worn their hair similarly to mullets.
In the sixth century, Byzantine Empire scholar Procopius wrote that some factions of young males wore their hair long at the back and cut it short over the forehead. This non-Roman style was termed the Huns look.
Researcher Alan Henderson describes the ancient hairstyle as useful, as it kept the hair out of the eyes, yet provided warmth and protection for the neck.
Native America
In
Mourt's Relation, author
Edward Winslow described the
Plymouth Colony pilgrims' first encounter with the Native Americans,
Samoset of the
Abenaki in 1621:
Native Borneo
Some tribes in
Borneo also have mullet hairstyles, including Dayak Kayan,
Kenyah people and
Iban people.
1960s
Tom Jones sported a mullet in two of his three 1965 performances of his hit song "It's Not Unusual" on
The Ed Sullivan Show, May 2, 1965 and June 13, 1965.
1970s
Mullets were worn by rock stars
David Bowie,
Rod Stewart,
Keith Richards, and
Paul McCartney in the early 1970s.
When writing
Neil Peart's eulogy in January 2020, Greg Prato asserted Peart had a mullet, based on his observations of a 1974 video, further suggesting "he also may have been one of the first rockers to sport another hairstyle – the rattail", based on a 1985 video, "The Big Money".
1980s
In Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s, mullets were "everywhere", according to Tess Reidy writing at
The Guardian in 2019.
The 1980s were also the high point of the mullet's popularity in continental Europe.
Chinese musician
Cui Jian's mullet hairstyle became popular among young Chinese men in the 80s.
Also in the 1980s, the mullet became part of lesbian culture, where it came to be used as a way of identifying oneself as a member of that culture in public.
1990s
After the much-publicized 1992
DC Comics storyline in which Superman apparently died, the character returned to the 1993 follow-up storyline "Reign of the Supermen", in which he was depicted with a mullet.
The cancelled Superman film project,
Superman Lives, would have depicted Superman with a mullet.
Punk rock band the The Vandals sang of the mullets worn by country music singers and guests of The Jerry Springer Show and listed regional names for the style in the 1998 song "I've Got an Ape Drape".
Vocalist Wesley Willis wrote and released the track "Cut the Mullet" in 1998 and frequently performed it at live shows.
2000s
The 2001 film
American Mullet documents the phenomenon of the mullet hairstyle and the people who wear it.
The same year Universal Records (Canada) released the album Mullet Years: Power Ballads, a collection of hard rock ballads.
This hairstyle became popular with the bogan subculture in Australia and New Zealand.
2010s
The mullet was banned in
Iran as one style on a list of "un-Islamic", "decadent Western cuts".
The mullet was returned to the spotlight in 2015 by K-Pop idol G-Dragon during his band BIGBANG's Made World Tour.
The mullet has also experienced a revival within American sports. After winning back-to-back Stanley Cups, Phil Kessel was spotted in Pittsburgh Penguins training camp in September 2017 bringing the mullet back to its native roots of Pittsburgh hockey (Jaromír Jágr wore a mullet with the Penguins in the 1990s). Similarly, Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy wore a mullet starting in early 2017; the popularity of his mullet supposedly earned Oklahoma State millions of dollars in marketing revenue.
2020s
In September 2020,
i-D called 2020 "the year of the mullet", attributing its boom in popularity to COVID-19 lockdowns and the extended closure of hair salons.
In an article for
Vice Media, the mullet-wearing teenagers interviewed all described getting the haircut as a joke, with one stating "There's an irony to the mullet haircut. It's this disgustingly gross haircut, which means it's definitely worn in an ironic way".
Magda Ryczko, founder of a barbershop in
Brooklyn, notes that mullets allow for a professional front-facing look for COVID-19 era Zoom meetings, while maintaining a messier, more fun look off-camera, when the longer back section of hair may be revealed.
An annual national USA Mullet Championship began in 2020.
The versatility of the taper fade has modernized the classic mullet, giving it a cleaner look.
In July 2023, Mexican singer Peso Pluma attracted attention for his mullet style, a hairstyle that he adopted as his signature haircut during his stardom as a musical performer.
58-year-old Tami Manis from Knoxville, Tennessee was awarded a Guinness World Record for a mullet in August 2023, a result of not having her hair cut for 33 years.[ Tennessee woman has longest competitive mullet][ Tennessee woman sets record for world's longest female mullet]
In September 2024, 26-year old Trevor Hyland, of Shrule in County Mayo, Ireland, gained the nickname "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Mullet" after finding himself representing Ireland in a Swiss competition to find the greatest example of the hairstyle. A win might see him representing Ireland at European level.
In popular culture
In 2019, Kiefer Sutherland described himself as an unwitting instigator of the hairstyle, which he sported in the 1987 film
The Lost Boys.
[ 'The Lost Boys' star Kiefer Sutherland talks 'violent and gross' deleted scene and inventing the mullet Yahoo!, 24 October 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2022] In 2022 press interviews marking the 35th anniversary of the film, Sutherland again recounted the story.
[ Kiefer Sutherland Celebrates 35th Anniversary Of ‘The Lost Boys' "While chatting with ET Canada's Carlos Bustamante about the 35th anniversary of “The Lost Boys”, Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland reveals he was blamed for the mullet becoming so popular." MSN, 8 January 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2022][ Kiefer Sutherland Celebrates 35th Anniversary Of ‘The Lost Boys' ET Canada. Retrieved 22 January 2022]
See also
Further reading
External links
