Mullet (haircut)

A doctored image showing an entire family with mullets

A mullet is a haircut that is short in the front, on the top, and on the sides, but long in the back. Mullets have been worn by males and females of all ages, but they have traditionally been most popular with younger men. A slogan or motto often associated with people who wear mullets is: "Business up front, party in the back!", which originated from the older phrase: "All business in the front, and a party in the rear."

The mullet is distinct from the Rattail, which consists of a long, narrow "tail" of hair growing from the back of the head.

History and cultural significance

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Florence Henderson (top center, as Carol Brady) wears a mullet with tidly tots

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David Bowie in 1974

The mullet's origins are from Joseph George Newman. Urban legends have it dating back to 19th Century fishermen, who wore their hair long in the back to keep warm — hence the term mullet. The Notes section of the Viking edition of Lydia Davis's translation of Swann's Way by Proust states "Jean Baptiste Prosper Bressant was a well-known actor who introduced a new hairstyle, which consisted of wearing the hair in a crew cut in front and longer in the back."

The mullet became popular in the 1970s, due in part to the influence of English glam rock artist David Bowie, who wore the haircut during his Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs phases. Women also wore the style--Florence Henderson, a star of the sitcom The Brady Bunch, has a mullet in the opening sequence from the show's 1973-1974 season. The hairstyle achieved further popularity in the late 1970s and 1980s among entertainers with receding hairlines such as Anthony Geary of "Luke and Laura" fame from the soap opera General Hospital and the singer Michael Bolton.

In the 1980s, the mullet became big and bouffant, and bemulleted men often indulged in other 1980s hair crazes such as spiked hair and blonde highlights. In the early 1990s, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus's "Achy Breaky" mullet fostered both imitation and ridicule.

The Beastie Boys 1994 song "Mullet Head" made fun of the hairstyle, and a year later band member Mike D discussed the mullet at length in issue 2 of the band's Grand Royal magazine:

There's nothing quite as bad as a bad haircut. And perhaps the worst of all is the cut we call The Mullet.

It goes on to lampoon the hairstyle over several pages, including many photographs of celebrities sporting mullets. Soon after the article was published, it became popular for fans of the band, and for youth culture in general, to mock the hairstyle.

The Oxford English Dictionary included "Mullet" into its lexicon in 2001 and cited that 1995 article as the first published use of the term; the entry also included the lyrics to "Mullet Head". The OED says that the term was "apparently coined, and certainly popularized, by U.S. hip hop group the Beastie Boys."[1] [2]

The Grand Royal article apparently initiated a trend of anti-mullet sentiment. In the late 1990's, Musician Wesley Willis followed this trend with his popular novelty song, "Cut the Mullet". In the song, Willis exhorts mullet wearers to:

Take your ass to the Barber Shop ... Tell the Barber you're sick of looking like an asshole.

On their 1998 album Hitler Bad, Vandals Good, southern California punk band the Vandals released one of their most popular songs, "I've Got an Ape Drape." Ape Drape is a regional term for a mullet. At the end of the song, they go down a list of other names including Hockey Hair, Forbidden Hair, Achy-Breaky Hair, Norco Neck Warmer, Shom and eventually Mullet.

Ska-punk band Five Iron Frenzy released a song called "The Phantom Mullet" on their 2000 album All the Hype That Money Can Buy. The song is a homage to the mullet and the people that choose to wear it. The song opens with these lyrics:

Cruisin' downtown in your Camaro, REO Speedwagon's on your stereo. It's kind of catchy, kind of a virus: cuttin' your hair like Billy Ray Cyrus.

In the 2000s, a number of web sites sprung up with photographs of people with mullets, often accompanied by mocking comments based on stereotypes of mullet-wearers. The mullet and its associated lifestyle were central themes in movies such as FUBAR: The Movie and Joe Dirt (2001), and television shows such as The Mullets (2003-2004).

Despite its reputation, the mullet remains a moderately popular hairstyle among certain social groups in various Western countries. It is also fairly popular among the 18-34 age group in some East European countries, notably the Czech Republic. In the U.S. and Canada, the mullet is particularly associated with blue collar men, fans of country and heavy metal music, American football and ice hockey players. Many homosexual women of the "butch" variety also sport this hairstyle, so much so, many see this as a social identifier. In the United Kingdom the mullet is most commonly associated with thugs, or with Central and Eastern Europeans, particularly professional footballers. In Australia the haircut is associated with Bogans and Australian rules football players, particularly those from the 1980s. In recent years, the mullet has enjoyed resurgent popularity among the hip set, in particular the emo sub-culture, probably due to its association with 1980s retro kitsch. During some light hearted research on his show Johnny Vaughan declared that 'Germans, Americans, Australians, these are the real mullet men'.

Hip hop and slam poetry artist Sage Francis also debates the mullet as a cultural phenomenon in his 2000 EP Still Sick... Urine Trouble, as the haircut of his town in Providence, Rhode Island

Many people consider the Pittsburgh region as the "mullet capital of America", both by those who live in the region and by those who live outside it. This has been considered both a sense a pride and as a stereotype for the city, as Pittsburgh's love for the mullet is unknown. An example as to how much the city loves the haircut was in 1999, when then-Penguins superstar Jaromir Jagr had his mullet cut--and it was actually reported as its own story on the local news. Popular radio station WDVE, which coincidently is a classic rock station from the height of the mullet's popularity, has also contributed to the mullet's popularity in the city as a form of self-deprecation.

The mullet is typically associated with the "Red States" of America, as illustrated by the satirical report "Blue State Blues as Coastal Parents Battle Invasion of Dollywood Values" (posted 12 November 2004) at http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2004/11/blue_state_blue.html:

It was one day last spring," says Ellen McCormack. "My life partner Carol and I were in the garage, working on a giant Donald Rumsfeld papier mache head for the Bay Area March Against the War, when Rain walked by. I thought he looked kind of strange, so I stopped him and looked closely into his eyes. Then I realized the truth – he was wearing a mullet. I was shocked, but he swore to me that it was only ironic. After a few months, it was clear Rain had lied to us – that hideous Kentucky Waterfall was completely earnest," she adds, choking back sobs...

In August 2006, the mullet became the focus of a charged political debate when George Allen, Republican Senator from Virginia and Presidential hopeful, referred to an arguably mulleted worker from his opponent's campaign as "macaca," a type of monkey and potentially offensive slur. (See main article: Virginia United States Senate election)

Variations

A skullet

There are a number of sylistic variations on the mullet as well as a large number of whimsical, alternative terms describing the hairstyle:

Skullet

A skullet is a variation of the mullet hairstyle. A skullet is defined by a shaved or bald head with long hair on the sides and in the back. Prominent wearers of skullets include Dennis Franz, Hulk Hogan, Ron Jeremy, Paul Heyman, Devin Townsend from Strapping Young Lad, Gallagher, Bill Bailey, Terry Nutkins, Ian Hill (the bassist of Judas Priest), early days Carlos de Castro from Barón Rojo and Benjamin Franklin.

Frullet

A reversed variation of the hairstyle is the "frullet" (derived from "front mullet"), whereby the back of the head is shaved, leaving a long fringe hanging over the face in front. The frullet is the the initiation haircut for members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang. The haircut is also known as the "emo mullet" due to its supposed popularity among emo music scenesters.

The Frullet is also known as "the Devilock" created by The Misfits bass player Jerry Only. Other names include the "anti-mullet" or "reverse mullet".

Nicknames

There are many nicknames for the mullet. Some are:

• Camaro Hair
• Hockey Hair
• The "7"
• The "10-90"
• The Achy Breaky Big Mistakey
• The Nape Drape
• The Tennessee Waterfall
• The Beaver Paddle
• The Business in the Front, and Party in the Back
• The Camaro Crash Helmet
• The El Camino Headrest
• The Kentucky Waterfall
• The Canadian Passport
• The Missouri Compromise
• The Snake Plissken (taken from the lead anti-hero of John Carpenter's Escape From New York, who had a mullet.)
• The fridge
• The Neck Nugget
• The Back Bush
• The Varner
• The Alabama Shag
• The Mississippi Mudflap

The Mullet in various languages and cultures

• The Argentinian term is Cubano, in reference to the alleged popularity of the haircut among Cubans.
• The Brazilian term is Chitãozinho e Xororó, in reference to the singers who started using this haircut in Brazil.
• The English Canadian term is "hockey-hair" in reference to the haircut's popularity among ice hockey players. May be influenced by the swedish word Hockeyfrilla which is the swedish name the mullet.
• The French Québécois Montréal term is "coupe Longueuil" (Longueuil haircut) in reference to the Montréal suburb of Longueuil.
• The French Québécois Québec City term is "coupe Vanier" (Vanier haircut) in reference to the Québec City suburb of Vanier.
• The English Québécois term is "pad" because the hair falling flat on the back looks like a pad.
• One Australian nickname for a mulleteur is "Freddie Firedrill", supposedly because the subject's haircut was interrupted by a fire-alarm sounding after the barber had finished shaving the front, but before s/he had started on the back, of the head.
• The Chilean term is chocopanda or just "choco", in reference to the ubiquitous public transportation Chocolito Panda ice-cream sellers wearing such haircut. It is also called a "Zamorano", after Iván Zamorano or "Pichanguera" ("pichanga" is an informal soccer match in Chilean slang), because of the great number of soccer players who use this haircut. This haircut is also popular in lower classes and gangs.
• The Colombian term is greña paisa in reference to the popularity of this haircut among most of the people from the Antioquia region (paisas). It's also called Siete (seven) because the hair on top and back form the image of a number seven.
• The Croatian term is fudbalerka, literally "footballer (hair)", a reference to its popularity among soccer players in the 1980s.
• The Danish term is Bundesliga-hår, which refers to its alleged popularity among Bundesliga soccer players, or alternativly, svenskerhår (Swede-hair), referring to its former popularity in Sweden. Also nakkegarn meaning "Yarn by the back of the neck".
• The Dutch term is matje, which means "little carpet/mat". Some people refer to it as a Duitsers mat (German mat) as well, implying that this is a haircut typical for Germans.
• The Finnish term is takatukka, which means "rear hair". Sometimes lätkätukka or tsekkitukka is also used, which means "ice hockey haircut" in reference to the Swedish term. Tsekkitukka means "Czech hair", based on Czech hockey players' hairstyle (especially Jaromir Jagr). Mullets are a well known and still popular "hockeyhair" in Czech Republic.
• The French term is "Coupe à la Waddle", referring to Chris Waddle, the English football player who adopted this haircut in the 1980s while he played for Olympique Marseille. It can also be referred as "nuque longue" because of the long hair covering the back of the neck ("nuque" in french).
• The German term is "Vokuhila", meaning "vorne kurz, hinten lang" (short in the front, long in the back). The opposite to this is "Volahiku". It is topped by "Vokuhilaoliba", meaning "vorne kurz, hinten lang, Oberlippenbart" (short in the fron, long in the back, mustache).
• The Greek term is "Χαίτη" (Hety) or "Λασπωτήρας" (Laspotiras) which means "Mudflap".
• The Hebrew term is vilon, which means "curtain". Another common term is "Eli Ohana" haircut, named after a famous football player who wore this haircut.
• The Hungarian term is also Bundesliga or just simply footballist (soccer player) hair.
• The Icelandic term is Hebbi, referring to a nickname of an Icelandic singer called Herbert Guðmundsson sporting the hairstyle.
• The Italian term is "capelli alla tedesca" (hair at German style) or "taglio alla tedesca" (haircut at German style) referring to its former popularity in Germany, above all among Bundesliga soccer players. It is also known as "alla McGyver" (at McGyver style) as the main character of this the popular American TV series appears with mullet in some episodes, or as "sette" (seven) because the hair on top and back form the image of a number seven.
• The Japanese term is urufu hea which is the Japanese way of saying "wolf hair." It's actually a quite popular look among young men, though the hair in the front is generally longer than a typical mullet's.
• The Norwegian term is "hockeysveis", meaning "hockey hairstyle", referring to the hairstyle's popularity among ice hockey players.
• The Portuguese terms are: XF which comes from a motorcicle model from Zundapp, or Deixe Ficar wich is short for deixe ficar atrás. That's what you say to your hairdresser when you want him not to cut the hair on the back of your head.
• The Polish term is "Czeski piłkarz" - meaning "Czech football player" as in the 1970s the haircut was greatly popular among Czech footballers.
• The Romanian term is chicǎ, which means "long hair at the neck". This haircut is associated with redneck-like people and is socially associated with the lack of sophistication or culture.
• The Serbian term is "Tarzanka", referring to Tarzan the Ape Man.
• Another Serbian term is "Krčedinka", in reference to the alleged popularity of the haircut in the village Krčedin.
• The Swedish term is hockeyfrilla, which means "ice hockey haircut" in reference to its popularity among some hockey players.
• The Turkish term is aslan yelesi or Fikirtepe modeli, which means "lion's mane" and "Fikirtepe" (a suburb of Istanbul where this style was popular among shuttle drivers) style", respectively.
• The sikha that a Vaishnava devotee wears can typically be mistaken for a mullet if long and bushy enough. Western devotees sometimes pass off their sikhas as mullets when inquired by outsiders.