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Decoder Ring

Mystery of the Mullet

Decoder Ring

Slate Podcasts

Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.62K Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2020

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The mullet, the love-to-hate-it hairstyle is as associated with the 1980's as Ronald Reagan, junk bonds, and break dancing. But in at least one major way, we are suffering from a collective case of false memory syndrome. In this episode we track the rise and fall of the mullet, and also the lexical quandary at its heart: who named the mullet? Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Dear Prudence and Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This podcast contains explicit language.

0:09.8

Lauren Wright is a DJ and for the last three years she's had a very particular haircut.

0:15.2

You know the one.

0:16.2

Business in the front, party in the back.

0:18.1

I am the proud owner and wearer of a mullet. So first, can you describe what your mullet looks like to be,

0:26.0

like what nature of mullet is like?

0:28.0

It's pretty short and tight on the sides,

0:31.0

and I've got some solid length in the back so it's kind of getting flowy. I think it's more the mullet that makes more people uncomfortable. You know it's a little less feminine. It's definitely curly and luscious and I don't know I'm pretty proud of it.

0:48.0

Lauren first encountered mullets when she was a kid back in the 90s.

0:52.0

So I grew up in Texas and I remember,

0:55.8

I think the first mullet I ever saw in person

0:58.6

was in elementary school.

1:00.4

My PE teacher who was a woman.

1:05.0

She was the head coach.

1:06.6

She had this long, epic curly mullet.

1:11.4

And she had a really thick country accent and she was always chewing gum,

1:17.1

gold hoops, just like strong gay woman, which I didn't really know at the time, at least twice a week, she'd say,

1:25.9

everybody line up and we get on the line and she would throw on Billy Ray Cyrus,

1:31.1

acky-Heart,

1:33.2

and we would she teach us different line dances. So it was kind of like this double mullet experience with you know this like strong

1:46.8

woman with a mullet who everyone respects is having a sign up and dance to this

1:52.1

country star with another epic mullet.

...

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