Mushroom head
The hairstyle that the members of the rock group Beatles wore in the early 1960s was called the mushroom head . Analogous to this, the Beatles were also referred to as the "mushroom heads" in German-speaking countries. In the English-speaking world, people spoke of “mop-top” or “moptop” because of their similarity to a mop .
The Hamburg photographer Astrid Kirchherr was previously considered the creator of the Beatles' hairstyle , as she cut the hair of her boyfriend at the time, the first Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe in this way. The real role model, however, was her acquaintance, the photographer Jürgen Vollmer . Vollmer cut Paul McCartney and John Lennon 's hair in his hotel room in Paris in October 1961 when Lennon and McCartney visited him there. He had cut this hairstyle himself long before Astrid Kirchherr and Klaus Voormann met him. Actress Janet Leigh, who was photographed with a mushroom wig, paved the way for the mop top trend . In the 2000s, Vollmer drew attention to the fact that he was the actual role model or the inventor of the hairstyle in connection with the Beatles. Articles appeared in the German Rolling Stone , Spiegel Online or the Hamburger Abendblatt and he was interviewed for television programs.
Vollmer said in his interviews that one day after swimming, he hadn't combed the hair that fell on his forehead back as usual, but simply let it dry and stayed with this hairstyle from then on. This was his personal rebellion against philistinism and he was not deterred by the hostility of the teachers.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon confirmed in interviews that Vollmer was the model and performer for their haircut.
"[...] to get back to the haircut. I should know! We saw a guy in Hamburg, whose hair we liked. John and I were hitchhiking to Paris. We asked him to cut our hair like he did his. He was living in Paris. He was sort of an artsy guy, a photographer friend of everyone. His name was Jürgen. "
"[...] to come back to the haircut. I have to know it! We saw a guy in Hamburg whose hair we liked. John and I hitchhiked to Paris. We asked him to cut our hair like he did on himself. He was living in Paris at the time. He was kind of an artist type, a photographer friend of everyone. His name was Jürgen. "
“He had his hair Mod-style. We said, 'Would you do our hair like yours?' ”
“He had his mod-style hair. We said: would you style our hair like yours? "
“Jürgen had a flattened-down hairstyle with a fringe in the front, which we rather took to. We went over to his place and there and then he cut - hacked would be a better word - our hair into the same style. "
“Jürgen had a flattened hair style with bangs at the front, which we liked pretty much. We came over to him and immediately he cut - chopped would be a better word - our hair in the same style. "
Other groups like The Monkees also joined the mushroom head trend.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thorsten Knublauch and Axel Korinth: Come, Give Mir Your Hand - The Beatles in Germany 1960-1970 . Books on Demand GmbH: 2008. ISBN 978-38334-8530-5 . Pages 305 to 314.
- ^ Brian Roylance, Nicky Page, Derek Taylor : The Beatles Anthology. (Chronicle Books, San Francisco 2000). German translation: Ullstein, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-550-07132-9 , p. 116.
- ^ The Beatles Anthology. P. 241.