Seeing as this question got popular while I was asleep and it's becoming a handful for the (never sleeping, always vigilant) mods, let me make few clarifications and follow-ups. Firstly, I have looked online a bunch before posting this, including JSTOR, and walked away with the firm knowledge that people think that the hairdo is silly, plus a lot about the fish of the same name. I am asking it not just to satiate my thirst for being in the know about this particular party/business head expression, but also to see how does one study and find out information about hairstyles: How different is it from other fashion trends, where we often have artifacts of material culture to work with as opposed to quickly fading trends? What were the early precursors of this style and how direct is the lineage from them to the mullet atrocity? Is it hard to establish a point where something as a hairstyle enters wider culture? It would be rather easy for The Rachel, but apart from that, I wonder if we're usually able to pinpoint the more or less exact starting "incident"?
So, maybe I was looking all wrong and you have the perfect link or know a really interesting tidbit about the style - in that case, totally PM me, I'll be glad to check them out! But please don't post answers you know are not up to AH standards or anything else besides further follow-up questions. We don't want to overwork our mods and make a large comment graveyard, that then will get more people complaining in the thread. Thanks!
My mother was a hairdresser in the eighties for a little bit and I almost went into the business myself but chose to go to college and grad-school instead. I've actively followed men's hairstyles since then and have tracked the mullet nee' bi-level since having worn the style until getting into hip-hop and punk rock in the eighties.
First I think we need to look at when bi-levels and shags become mullets. You have the famous guy evolution. I'm not sure exactly where it started but a safe bet would be Ziggy Stardust as far as popular cultural iconography. From here you start seeing people like Paul McCartney and Ron Wood start to adopt the look. The progression of the hair style seems to have gone thusly, Bowie, Patrick Swayze , Rod Stewart (it should be noted that Stewart evolves his look from his shag of the early seventies to the previous pic from the 90s) as well as a host of other including the Partridge Family's David Cassidy. The shag and some versions of the bi-level have longer sides and taller spikes on top. As we move from the 70s to the 80s you see the sides getting shorter as well as the top while the back can have long little wisps to more substantial and long hair as you see later in this article when you compare Billy Ray Cyrus to Andre Agassi. Cyrus I think is a great example of how the hair style takes hold in the rural regions of America where the top and sides border on a crewcut leaving almost the back with any length. Strangely this is very similar in it's way to the rude girl look that became popular in Ska, Skinhead and SHARPs scenes in the 90s.
The Mullets were called bi-levels for most of the 80s, with the bi-level having all sorts of permutations which include the more classic mullet. The 80s saw the adoption of the look by football (soccer) players which I think is where the evolution of the shorter sides and top starts to take hold because of practicality and in some places remains popular to this day.
At the time even in St. Louis where I am from, there was a certain level of acceptance that it was a soccer haircut because many players did wear it and probably because of Rod Stewarts association with the sport and his popularity. More broadly you see the style take hold in the fertile soil or sport. There is even a version call the relief pitcher which has been lampooned in the HBO show East Bound and Down, the style even had it's adherents among players of African desent. The pinnacle of the style and it's blend of bad boy looks with sportsman practicality is really Andre Agassi as seen here in all its glory from the height of his career.
In the 80s it was called the blanket term bi-level for the most part with mullet actually gaining popularity after the Beastie Boys' song Mullet Head. There is some division over weather the Mike D, who wrote the lyrics, came up with the name or whether it was named after a French Fashion icon Henri Mollet although the Oxford English Dictionary claims the words origins are in the 90s giving weight to the former over the latter as does this 2000 article from the Washington Post.
I'm going to come back and clean this up a bit later but I hope this gives some framework for a more constructive exchange around the haircut. I would also note that relative to my background in rhetorical studies that the mullet has been unique among a few different styles that is meant to make a statement. From more current musicians like Peaches to Billy Ray Cyrus there is a communication made with the audience around who you are and how you fit into popular culture.
Follow up question: When were mullets first described as "business in the front, party in the back." Was there some pop culture event that codified this description, or does it just sort of 'pop up' like the name of the hairstyle itself?
