Then: Mullet Over

July 13, 1985- The Live Aid Concert benefiting the famine of Ethiopia took place, simultaneously in London and Philadelphia. To this day, it is one of the most memorable and historical musical performances of the century. Artists such as Queen, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, and Mick Jagger put on a show that is still discussed and referenced today. The main purpose of the concert was to raise funds for relief, but one thing the audience- goers took away from the concert, whether consciously or subconsciously, planned or unplanned, was, yes the hair.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVj7J-78Gu8&feature=related <-- Click here to see U2 performing "Sunday Bloody Sunday" at Live Aid 1985. Below is a picture of during the performance.

A little band we like to call U2 was still on the rise at this time. Bono, the lead singer of the group, sported a hairstyle that had been around here and there, but once he stepped on that stage, it became an iconic trend of the 80s; It's a hairstyle we love to hate on, best described by Joe Dirt as "business in the front, party in the back"- you know what i'm talking about- the mullet.

Though U2's performance at Live Aid is the most widely credited instance of making the mullet popular, this style started long before that, being said to date as far back as the Classical Period. According to ancient documents, Roman emperor Nero may have at one time adopted a hairstyle that resembled a mullet. After that, our first introduction to the mullet was in the early 1970s by Paul McCartney and David Bowie. Below are photos displaying each icon's rendition of the hairdo.

Post 80s, the mullet movement was still going strong. In the mid to late 1990s, the trend of having the "tail" of the mullet  "permed" with loose or tight curls came into play, adding yet another option of how to work the hairstyle. Also,some mullet-rockers began to grown the tail end very long down the back. Mario Lopez, Billy Ray Cyrus, and John Stamos show us how to properly mullet 90s style.

Circa the 2000s and 2010s, the style's popularity increasingly waned, but makes for great jokes, icebreakers, and reminiscing experiences.Will it be back with a modern twist? With other hairstyles of the past, this proves to be so, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.