It's one of the most reviled facial hairstyles of the last few decades, but the soul patch wasn't always seen in such an ungenerous light. If fact, when it first made a showing on the face of jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie, it didn't even have the same name. Gillespie referred to it, instead, as his "jazz dab" (and others called it the the "Dizzy Gillespie beard"). And at the time—that is, the late '40s–it was considered pretty cool. 

Since then, the soul patch has co-opted by everyone from beatniks and The Blues Brothers to '90s grunge dudes and modern bros. (Even Garth Brooks wore one in his ill-advised stint as alter-ego Chris Gaines.) And along the way, the style has slipped further and further in the public's estimation, eventually becoming the symbol of general doofishness it's recognized as today.

In the video above, the team over at Vox breaks down the soul patch's nearly 70-year history in just under two and a half minutes. There's a lot more to learn (the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie makes an appearance, as does Tom Waits), so go ahead and give it a watch. 

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