AlbumArtExchange Blog: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow Archives

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow: Beehives & Bouffants

By Aequi on May 28, 2011 7:32 PM

The Beehive hairstyle is also known as the B-52 (after the bulbous nose of the B-52 Stratofortress bomber), which also happens to be the name of an American rock band. Gee, what are the chances they'll come up in this topic! The beehive style of lacquered big hair was developed in 1960 by Margaret Vinci Heldt, but really originates from the earlier bouffant. Essentially, its a big pile of hair on top of your head - just think Marge Simpson or Russell Brand if you're confused.

Amy Winehouse is a big "beehiver", so much so that it's almost become her trademark, along with drug addiction. But boy oh boy can she sing. The single Back to Black, released in 2007, from the album of the same name, released in 2006, shows off her hair best. The song was covered by Glee in season two by Naya Rivera's character Santana Lopez.

Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (Single) (2007)

Posted by: leothegreat

The B-52's (their music company is called "Boo-Fant" Records) formed in 1976 and comprised of Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, Fred Schnieder, and brother and sister Cindy and Ricky Wilson. Sadly Ricky passed away in 1985. The band released their seventh studio album Funplex in 2008. Cindy and Kate were well known for wearing their iconic bouffant and beehive wigs. On a side note, the apostrophe was dropped from the band's name in 2008.

The B-52's - The B-52's (1979)

The B-52's - Wild Planet (1980)

Beyoncé Knowles's hit single Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), from her third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce, shows "Sasha Fierce" in silhouette and sporting a bouffant or beehive. The song was inspired by Knowles' and Jay-Z's secret marriage in April 2008.

Beyoncé Knowles - Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) (2008)

Posted by: zeefritz

The legendary Dusty Springfield (nee Mary O'Brien) was known for her trademark beehive, usually peroxide blonde. Dusty in Memphis was her landmark album and included the hit Son of a Preacher Man. Simply Dusty is a 2000 4-CD box set featuring over 90 digitally remastered tracks and includes specially commissioned tributes from Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Carole King, Neil Tennant and Paul McCartney.

Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis (2000)

Dusty Springfield - Simply Dusty (1969)

The Ronettes, a 1960s girl group from New York, consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector: she was married to Phil Spector from 1968 to 1974), her sister, Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. Their debut LP includes 5 hit singles, two of which, Be My Baby and Walking in the Rain, are ranked #22 and #26, on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The girls personify the popularity of the beehive in the '60s.

The Ronettes - Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes
Featuring Veronica (12") (1964)

Posted by: Da Guy

And lastly, I just have to mention Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders. In the band's music video for the 1979 single hit Brass in Pocket, Hynde portrays a waitress in a "greasy spoon" and she has, you guessed it, a beehive hairdo. The three male customers in the video are members of her band. It was the seventh video played during MTV's launch on August 1, 1981. (Video Link).

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: A Tale of Two Mullets

By Aequi on May 7, 2011 12:06 PM

This is A Tale of Two Mullets and like Charles Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities (1859), it explores both the good and the evil, the light (Lucie Manette) and the darkness (Madame Defarge). And in this analogy, the metaphoric imagery doesn't stop there; Europe vs America, the early '70s vs the early '90s, rock vs country, adulation vs infamy, a rock star with spiders vs a one-hit wonder, a carefully crafted persona that spawned a cult following vs a man, his guitar and a catchy phrase. The story of these two mullets couldn't be more different.

THE LIGHT

David Bowie - Aladin Sane (1973)

Posted by: Scott

David Bowie - Santa Monica '72 (1994)		David Bowie - Rebel Never Gets Old (2004)
David Bowie - Hunky Dory (1971)		David Bowie - Pinups (1973)

As you can see from the above selection of album covers (and there are a few more), David Bowie sported a magnificent orange mullet during the early '70s. So iconic was it, together with his alter ego Ziggy Stardust, that it is indelibly engraved and etched in the minds of tens, nay hundreds, of millions of people. It has entered the realms of pop folklore and is adored the world over, transcending cultures, generations, musical genres, continents and even conquered Mars! What more can I say? If you don't know about Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, then you must own a pretty huge rock.

Whilst David Bowie's hair style has changed with the times, his flaming rug and music sure were popular. 1971's Hunky Dory (Platinum UK), 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (Platinum UK, Gold US), 1973's Aladdin Sane (Gold US) and Pinups (Gold UK), and 1974's Diamond Dogs (Gold US) were all outstanding music successes and I personally attribute this to his long haired colorful haircut during that period. Okay... his talent had a bit to do with it. And all this during a period the mullet was not popular or fashionable according to Wikipedia: "Often ridiculed as a lowbrow and unappealing hairstyle, the mullet began to appear in popular media in the 1960s and 1970s but did not become generally well-known until the early 1980s. It continued to be popular until the mid-1990s".

Outstanding Bowie! YOU'RE A FLAMMIIN' LEGEND!

Stats: 25 studio albums, 9 live albums, 46 compilation albums, 5 extended plays (EPs), 108 singles and 3 soundtracks. Bowie has also released 13 video albums and 47 music videos. Throughout his career, spanning more than 5 decades, he has sold an estimated 136 million albums. In the United Kingdom, he has been awarded 9 Platinum album certifications, 11 Gold and 8 Silver, and in the United States, 5 Platinum and 7 Gold certifications. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him 39th on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and 23rd on their list of the best singers of all-time.

THE DARKNESS

Billy Ray Cyrus - Some Gave All (1992)

Posted by: zeefritz

Billy Ray Cyrus - The Definitive Collection (2004)

Billy Ray Cyrus - Southern Rain (2000)

William "Billy" Ray Cyrus' mullet, on the other hand, could be said to have lived in infamy. His 1992 debut album Some Gave All, spawned his first #1 US hit. Achy Breaky Heart was his debut single and his signature song. And that was the peak of his career and probably why he has been labeled, unfairly, as a OHW (One Hit Wonder).

It's one of those songs that you either love or hate. And if you love it, you soon get sick of it. It was also responsible for vicious outbreaks of line-dancing. "Wierd Al" Yankovic's parody Achy Breaky Song was actually about his annoyance with Achy Breaky Heart. And if you couple all this vitriolic loathing of the song with cultural imagery of mullet-ed country hillbillies and rednecks -- therein lies the problem, perhaps.

Stats: 12 studio albums, 42 singles, 1 extended play (EP), 7 compilation albums, and 35 music videos. He is a multi-platinum selling recording artist, and has scored a total of eight top-ten singles on the Billboard Country Songs chart. His most successful album to date is the debut of Some Gave All, which has been certified 9× Multi-Platinum in the United States and is the longest time spent by a debut artist at Number One on the Billboard 200 (17 consecutive weeks). Oh, and he gave us Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana, which cancels every thing else out! :)

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Pink Hair

By Aequi on March 6, 2011 4:38 PM | 2 Comments

What is it with pink hair? Not red hair, nor purple, and not orange and not certainly not streaky pinky-ochre-rouge-orangey-purplish dirty mops either. I'm talking about PINK! It seems every so often, someone gets in on the act, and usually at the start of their career. What's up with that? Or is it just for a bit of marketing hype and shock value? I wouldn't be surprised to see Lady Gaga and Katy Perry sporting some soon on covers or in their videos. At least Alecia Beth Moore has an excuse, it's also her stage name, often stylized as P!nk.

P!nk - Missundaztood (2001)

Posted by: zeefritz

Pink can be found on other famous, big-name artists; such as No Doubt's Gwen Stefani (she of the midriff, seen here showing off her abs at the Huffington Post) and Cyndi Lauper. Jeffree Star, an internet celebrity from MySpace who has made a name as an androgynous gender-bending model, also went for pink. And there are so many other artists, that's its impossible to list or show them all. So I'll errr.. umm... 'randomly' choose Skye Sweetnam, whose website loads up showing progress in, wait for it, pink percentages.

No Doubt - Return of Saturn (2000)		Cyndi Lauper - A Night to Remember (1989)
Jeffree Star - Cupcakes Taste Like Violence (2008)		Syke Sweetnam - Sound Soldier (2007)

Onika Tanya Maraj, or Nicki Minaj as she is better known, is also into pink, but in a big way. Almost every album art she is in has her with pink hair (including Lil Kim's latest on which she has been decapitated). She must have shares in the pink factory! Her debut solo studio album is even called Pink Friday. My only problem with all this is that while other artists actually have pink or red or purple dyed hair, Nicki Minaj just uses a cheap wig.

Nicki Minaj feat. Lil Wayne - Roman's Revenge (2010)

Posted by: zeefritz

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Quiff

By Aequi on March 2, 2011 9:24 AM

The quiff can be either a lock or curl or tuft of hair brought forward over the forehead or one brushed up above the forehead. It is a hairstyle that combines the 1950s pompadour hairstyle, the 50s flattop, and sometimes a mohawk (such as seen sported by Eleanor Kate "Elly" Jackson of La Roux fame).

La Roux - Gold Edition (2011)

Posted by: zeefritz

Another current act associated with quiffs, are Jedward (John and Edward Grimes), an Irish pop rap duo and identical twins. They first appeared as John & Edward on the sixth season of The X Factor in 2009, where they finished sixth.

Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby) (2010)

Planet Jedward (2010)

Morrissey is the arguably the most famous musical "quiffiseur" (I just made that word up) that I can think of. Whilst the Leningrad Cowboys have taken that and parodied it to the extreme.

Your Arsenal (1992)		Everyday Is Like Sunday (1988)
Go Space (1996)		Happy Together (1994)

The etymology of the word quiff is uncertain but may derive from the French word "coiffe" which can mean either a hairstyle or the mail knights wore over their heads and under their helmets. It may also derive from the Southern U.S. where a quiff was "a puff or whiff of tobacco smoke".

And lastly, the Welsh psychobilly band Demented Are Go were an early exponent of the quiff. The band, formed around 1982, has always argued that their name originated from "Demon teds are go!" (rockabillies are known as teds and psychobilly is often associated with horror), which is in turn an adaptation of the phrase "Thunderbirds are go!" I'm getting a strange feeling about those blue early model Thunderbird caps from the '60s (right).