Kane Grissinger wasn’t even born when his “business in the front, party in the back” hairstyle was in its heyday. The incoming freshman, who starts Key West High School next week, didn’t grow up in the era of Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart” and long-short hair. He wasn’t even born in 2001, when David Spade rocked the mullet in the movie “Joe Dirt.”
But that hasn’t stopped the Key West teen from nurturing and celebrating the “mullet” that has made him a Top 10 finalist in the annual USA Mullet Championship, an online contest whose final round of voting runs Aug. 7-11 at mulletchamp.com. It’s free to vote, but contestants also get credit for donations made in their name to a charity that provides housing for veterans. A donation link is also available at the contest website.
Grissinger is competing in the teen category, and with 2,200 votes, was ranked first out of 100 contestants in his division when the first round of voting ended.
“My mullet came to mind in the summer of 2021. My father and I went to the barbershop, and my dad suggested I get a mullet — probably jokingly. I didn’t even know what a mullet was. But he suggested it because he thinks I’m an old soul. I love old-school music and movies. AC/DC is one of my favorite bands. “Back to the Future” is in my Top 5 movies. When he showed me a picture of a mullet, I said, ‘YES.’
“I have been growing it out ever since. Many people have tried to convince me to cut it. My grandfather once offered me $500 to cut it, but I can’t do it. It’s a part of who I am. The mullet is me. I am the mullet.”
Despite his mom’s initial misgivings about the hair, Vanessa Grissinger now says she embraces the style and her son’s “old-school” ways.
“I’ll admit, at first I was completely against it. The grow-out phase was really awkward. But I’m now a proud mullet mom. It’s been a great form of expression for him.”
Vote for Kane “Hurrikane” Grissinger at mulletchamp.com Aug. 7-11 in the teen division. (The website also provides a surprising history of the mullet, which reached the height of its popularity in the 1980s, but didn’t get its name until the 1994 Beastie Boys song, “Mullet Head.” By then, the hairstyle had been relegated to a sort of counterculture style statement, although the mullet made a bit of a comeback in 2020, perhaps due to the pandemic, which closed barber shops and left people to their own devices when it came to haircuts.
“Voting in the contest is free, and no registration or login is necessary, but donations help boost his score,” Vanessa Grissinger said.
All donations benefit Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Warriors, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing critically injured U.S. veterans with injury-specific, accessible and mortgage-free homes. Donations help the group rebuild and remodel homes to meet the unique needs of each veteran.
