Introducing the worst hairstyle ever - the Mullet! Found on any stonewash-clad 80s-ite and championed by the likes of Fun House's Pat Sharp, Limahl and Billy Ray Cyrus, the mullet was indeed a sight to behold. It was as popular as the 90s "Rachel" among girls, but with more longevity probably because it took a lot longer to grow out as it consisted of short hair at the front and sides and long hair at the back.
Early sightings of the mullet can be dated back to the 1960s, with Welsh singer Tom Jones sporting a fine example. And in the 1970s David Bowie joined in with his own take on the mullet - a trendsetter in the mullet world was Bowie. However, the mullet did not achieve prominence and true popularity until the early 1980s when ‘Hair Bands’ like Kajagoogoo and Duran Duran somehow made them seem acceptable to the mainstream. If it was good enough for the celebrities, then by heck was it good enough for us plebs!
I don’t know what we called them in the 80s, but it certainly wasn’t ‘mullets’ because the Oxford Dictionary has given credit for inventing the name to the Beastie Boys in their 1994 song ‘Mullet Head’. Maybe people just took a cutting of Pat Sharp from their Just Seventeen magazine to the hairdressers, who know?
Thankfully the mullet haircut declined in popularity as the oh-so cool 90s approached and is now almost completely eradicated, except in Eastern Europe where the mullet still thrives. They'll catch on eventually.
But of course, while we may mock the mullet now, surely it's only a matter of time before the trend comes round again...
For anyone who still doesn't know what a mullet is it's the cool haircut in the photo. Did you have a mullet? Email me a picture and I might make a mullet gallery if I get enough good photos.
Do You Remember Mullets?
Do You Remember Mullets?