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For other uses, see Groovy (disambiguation).

Groovy (or, less commonly, "Groovie" or "Groovey") is a slang colloquialism popular during the 1960s and 1970s. It is roughly synonymous with words such as "cool," "excellent," "fashionable," or "amazing," depending on context.

The word originated in the jazz culture of the 1920s, in which it referred to the "groove" of a piece of music (its rhythm and "feel"), plus the response felt by its listeners.[1] It can also reference the physical groove of a record in which the pick-up needle runs. Recorded use of the word in its slang context has been found dating back to September 30, 1941, on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show, when band leader Billy Mills used it to describe his summer vacation, and the 1942 film Miss Annie Rooney features a teenage Shirley Temple using the term as she impresses Dickie Moore with her jitterbug moves and knowledge of jive. In the 1945 film A Thousand and One Nights, Phil Silvers uses the term to describe an ostentatiously bejeweled turban.

It has been found in print as early as 1946, in Really the Blues, the autobiography of jazz saxophonist Mezz Mezzrow.[2] The word appears in advertising spots for the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, and in the same year the phrase "Everything's groovy" was included on a 78 rpm recording of "Open The Door, Richard" sung by Walter Brown with Tiny Grimes Sextet.

Starting in the 1960s, variations of the word were used in the titles of many popular songs, including:

The cover of the original 1965 release of the single "The Sound of Silence" (under its original title), backed with "We've Got a Groovey Thing Goin'."

The term was also part of the title of a TV program called Groovy Show, which ran from 1967–1970. There was also an American TV cartoon show called Groovie Goolies, which ran from 1970–1972.

It later made its way into the titles of albums, such as Groovy Decay, a 1982 album by Robyn Hitchcock, and Groovy, Laidback and Nasty, a 1990 album by Cabaret Voltaire. Examples of band names include Groovy Aardvark from Canada, the The Groovy Little Numbers from Scotland, and Groovy Rednecks and the Flamin' Groovies from the USA.

By the early 1970s, the word was commonplace in American TV commercials aimed at young audiences, as exemplified by the slogan "Feeling groovy, just had my Cheerios."

Marvel Comics produced a Silver Age comic book entitled Groovy, subtitled "Cartoons, gags, jokes." Only three issues were published, dated March, May and July 1967.

An early ironic use of the term appears in the title of the 1974 film The Groove Tube, which satirized the American counterculture of the time. The term was later used jokingly in films such as Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, and the Austin Powers films.

Is Duke Nukem's catch phrase.

The term in its original usage had largely vanished from everyday use by 1980.[3]


  1. ^ "The Mavens' Word of the Day". May 5, 1997. Retrieved 2011-04-15. 
  2. ^ "Mezz Mezzrow - Really The Blues". Shades Of Blue. May 23, 2009. Retrieved 2011-04-15. 
  3. ^ "Groovy - Online Etymology Dictionary". Retrieved 2011-04-15.