Groovy (pronounced groo-vee)
(1) Of,
pertaining to, or having grooves.
(2) Set
in one's ways (obsolete).
(3) Inclined to follow a fixed routine (obsolete).
(4) Cool, neat, interesting, fashionable, highly stimulating or attractive; excellent. (used in the 1940s and then more frequently in the 1960s and 1970s; now dated but often used ironically or to suggest an association with the 1960s counter-culture (hippies, psychedelia and all that).
(5) A programming language for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), now under the auspices of the Apache Software Foundation.
(6) In music (jazz), as a professional compliment with the meaning "performing well (without grandstanding)”.
(7) In music, melodious, danceable; particularly of a riff or bassline.
1853: The construct was groove + -y. Groove was from the Middle English grov, grove, groof & grofe (cave; pit; mining shaft), from the Old English grōf (trench, furrow, something dug), from the Proto-Germanic grōbō (groove, furrow”, from the primitive Indo-European ghrebh- (to dig, scrape, bury). It was cognate with the Dutch groef & groeve (groove; pit, grave), the German Grube (ditch, pit), the Norwegian grov (brook, riverbed) & the Serbo-Croatian grèbati (scratch, dig). The earlier form in Old English was grafan (to dig) and from here there’s a lineal descent to groove and, at some point, a fork led to “grave”. The –y suffix was from the Middle English –y & -i, from the Old English -iġ (-y, & -ic”, suffix), from the Proto-Germanic -īgaz (-y, -ic), from the primitive Indo-European -kos, -ikos & -iḱos (-y, -ic). It was cognate with the Scots -ie (-y), the West Frisian -ich (-y), the Dutch -ig (-y), the Low German -ig (-y), the German -ig (-y), the Swedish -ig (-y), the Latin -icus (-y, -ic) and the Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós); doublet of -ic. Groovy is a noun & adjective, grooving is a noun & verb, groovier & grooviest are adjective, groover & grooviness are nouns and groovily is an adverb; the noun plural is groovies (though groovers is more common). The standard comparative is groovier and the superlative grooviest but constructs like supergroovy, ultragroovy and hypergroovy have been seen and the The alternative spelling groovey is extinct.
Groovy was first noted in 1853 in the metal working trades as a literal descriptor of the surface texture of metals and evolved into the general sense of “of or pertaining to a groove” and oral (either a dialectic form or specific to metal working) use may pre-date 1853. One colloquial figurative sense was "having a tendency to routine, inclined to a specialized and narrow way of life or thought", attested from 1882 and linked to the idea of a grove being “something permanent, static and unchanging”. That sense died out and the next figurative use was something of the opposite. The reason English never created ungroovy or nongroovy is there were already number of words adequately to convey the idea, the one most associated with the 1960s counter-culture being "square" which used to convey the quality of "someone honorable & upright". It's possible the purloining of "square" was developed from the familiar "straightlaced" although the eighteenth century "squaretoe" was an epithet applied to disparage the "prim & proper"; this later form is thought unrelated to the hippies' use of "square".
The slang sense in the context of jazz music is from circa 1926 and was used by musicians to convey a professional compliment: "performing well (without grandstanding)”. This seems to have migrated to adopt its modern sense to describe something wonderful in the late 1930s although it even then tended to be confined to the young and, outside of parts of some US cities, doesn’t appear to have enjoyed wide use. It became widely popular in 1960s youth culture which spread world-wide, including beyond the English-speaking word. Despite falling from favor after hippiedom passed its peak, it’s never actually gone extinct and occasional spikes are noted, triggered usually by some use in pop-culture. Generally though, it’s been out of currency since the 1970s although still used ironically.
The psychedelic Mod Top was a Plymouth factory option in 1969-1970. Ordered mostly in yellow, the flower power themed material was supplied by the plastics division of Stauffer Corporation, chosen for their expertise in the manufacture of durable, brightly patterned tablecloths and shower curtains. The company, dating from 1907, remains in family ownership and still operates but it’s not known if it's one of the Stauffer families which are branches of the Staufer Dynasty (known also as the Hohenstaufen) which provided a number of medieval German kings who were crowned also as Holy Roman Emperors.
1969 Plymouth advertising: Barracuda (left) & Satellite (right). The copy called the motif a "pop print", an allusion to "pop art" which recently had emerged as a trend in the art market.
In the curious way Chrysler allowed its divisions to operate in the era, Dodge, Plymouth’s corporate stable-mate, offered a similar option called the Floral Top, the material for which was supplied by another company. The companion to the Mod Top roof was matching vinyl paisley upholstery and floor mats which could be mixed and matched, some cars built with one but not the other although, despite it being possible, no convertible buyers (who by definition couldn’t tick the vinyl roof box) opted for the hippie interior. Technically, Stauffer used exactly the same design technique used when applying flowers to tablecloths and shower curtains: endlessly repetitive patterns which repeat every 3-4 feet (900 mm-1.2 m), the same model used with most fake finishes for surfaces which emulate natural substances (granite, marble, timber etc).
There however the patterned roof didn't die although the grooviness did. Despite it being the
intermediate-sized Satellite which in 1969 which attracted the most
mod-toppers, Plymouth the next year restricted availability to the pony cars
and demand proved embarrassingly modest.
Not discouraged, the factory in mid-year offered a somewhat subdued variation
on their full-sized line, the Fury, a flourish perhaps surprising given the evolution
of the market segment. Until
the 1960 model year, the “big three” (General Motors (GM), Ford & Chrysler)
had each produced essentially one mainstream line (low-volume specialties such
as the Thunderbird and Corvette just lucrative niche players). Beginning in the 1960 model-year, that would
change, increasing prosperity encouraging and the growing success of smaller
imports compelling Detroit’s big three to introduce first compact, then
intermediate and later sub-compact ranges, what came to be called the
full-sized cars having grown just too big, heavy and thirsty for many.
1969 Plymouth Barracuda with Mod Top (one of 937). Given it was 1969, one unappreciated thing about a Mod Top was that upon first looking into one, even if one had not dropped some acid, one might assume one had.
The
market spoke and the full-sized ranges, while remaining big sellers, gradually
abandoned the high-performance versions which had once been the flagships, the smaller,
lighter intermediates, pony cars and even the compacts much more convincing in
the role. By 1970, the big cars ran a gamut
from stripper taxi-cabs to elaborately blinged-up luxury cars (which grew so big they came later to be dubbed "land yachts") but attempts to
maintain a full-sized finger in the sporty pie was nearly over. By 1970, only Ford still had a four-speed manual
gearbox on the option list for the big XL (though it seems none were built) and Chrysler, although the lusty triple-carburetor 440 cubic inch
(7.2 litre) V8 could be had in some Fury models, it was available only with the
TorqueFlite automatic. All of GM's (General Motors) full-size machines were by then definitely heavy cruisers.
1970 Plymouth Gran Coupe with Paisley vinyl roof.
But Plymouth clearly believed the Fury still offered some scope in other stylistic directions; it was after all a big canvas. Mid-season, quietly slipped into the range was the "Gran Coupe", based on the Fury II two-door sedan but bundled with a number of otherwise extra-cost options including air conditioning and the then fashionable concealed headlights. What was most obvious however, was the paisley theme, a patterned vinyl roof with matching upholstery, most Gran Coupes finished in a newly created copper tone paint although other colors were available.
The Gran Coupe was retained for 1971 but the coachwork was the more elegant pillarless hardtop in both two and four-door versions, the latter still known as a coupe. That attracted criticism from those who had come to associate the word exclusively with two-door bodywork but in the UK Rover had since 1962 offered a four-door “Coupé” although they did cut the P5’s roof-line a little, a nod to the history of the word coupé (from the French coupé, an elliptical form of carosse coupé (cut carriage), past participle of couper (to cut)). Shamelessly, Plymouth ignored the etymology and invented the un-cut coupe, clearly believing gluing on some paisley vinyl vested sufficient distinction. The factory also imposed some restraint on buyers: although the Gran Coupe was available in a variety of colors, only if the standard interior trim (tan) was chosen would the paisley patterned upholstery be available and, befitting the likely ownership of the full-sized line, the vinyl roof was subdued rather than the swirling psychedelia of the groovy Mod Top’s swirls. In the twenty-first century the “four door coupe” became a thing but although Rover seems to have been the first to apply a “Coupé” badge, the now familiar motifs were seen in some coach-built four-doors during the inter-war years, the big Duesenbergs and Buccialis among the most memorable.
Following Rover: 1971 Plymouth Fury III Gran Coupe (four-door hardtop). There are four door coupes because Plymouth said so.
It was for years the end for any exuberance in the full-sized lines. Although the option of a four-speed manual transmission appeared in the early catalogues for the 1970 Ford XL, none were built and Chevrolet had already removed the SS option for the Impala; big engines would remain, indeed, they would grow larger but power would drop, the full-sized lines of both now hunting those wanting cut-price Lincolns and Cadillacs rather than something in the spirit of the old "letter series" Chrysler 300s. Plymouth had already abandoned the Mod Top after lackluster sales in 1970 and the more dour paisley vinyl lasted only another year, consigned to history with the triple-carburetor 440. Happily, decades later, big-power engines would make a comeback but fortunately, the paisley vinyl roof remained forgotten.
Chrysler's use of the term "paisley" was actually a bit misleading; only some of the groovy vinyl was a true paisley but the marketing people liked it so applied it liberally, even to fabric with big yellow sunflowers. To this day, in the collector market, the universal description is "paisley". Customers didn't however didn't long share the enthusiasm felt by the sales department and by mid-1970, Chrysler realized they had a lot of bolts of un-wanted paisley vinyl in the warehouse; this was some time before just-in-time (JIT) supply chains. The inspired suggestion was to dye the vinyl a dark purple (officially called "Burgundy," code V1M) and offer it only with the "Sparkling Burgundy Metallic" (code GM8) paint which was exclusive to the Imperial line, the theory being the same as used with hair-dyes: dark can always cover light. Some testing verified the theory and in September 1970 the 1971 models began to be shipped to dealers, some cars parked outside... in direct sunlight. Almost immediately, the now burgundy vinyl began to fade. If nothing else, the incident illustrated the point made by Austrian–British philosopher Sir Karl Popper (1902–1994): What is critical in theories is not proof but disproof; it matters not how how many bolts of vinyl satisfactorily can be dyed purple, if just one fades in the sunlight then it's a bad idea. Option code V1M was withdrawn in November, making it one of the industry's shorter lived. A few actually were sold with the purple fabric still attached, later to fade, at which point most owners took up the offer for a re-cover in white or black vinyl but at least one (which must have spent the decades protected from the ultra-violet) still exists as it left the factory.
Prototype 1967 Chevrolet Camaros.
Chrysler wasn’t the only US manufacturer to offer a patterned vinyl roof, Mercury for a single season in 1970 having houndstooth available for the Cougar and even GM flirted with the idea before thinking better of it. Hidden away in GM’s vast historical archive before being published early in the twenty-first century were photographs of the patterned vinyl being contemplated for the 1967 Chevrolet Camaro’s debut in late 1966. Chevrolet seems to have produced prototypes with both paisley and houndstooth vinyl and intriguingly, also pictured were (presumably functional) side mounted exhaust pipes, exiting under the rear of the door. Like the Camaro’s triple carburetor option (cancelled late in the planning process), neither the patterned vinyl nor the side pipes reached production, the latter remaining exclusive to the Corvette although even on the sports car they didn't see the next decade.
1970 Ford Mustang Grandé in New Lime Metallic with Ivy Green Corinthian Vinyl & Houndstooth Cloth trim with Houndstooth vinyl roof in green & black.
Although the term "houndstooth" had come into use only as late as 1936, it was a very old patter and not really "groovy"; it was associated more with the coats and hats respectable ladies might don for church. It must therefore have seemed a good choice for the "non-groovy" Mustang introduced late in 1969 as a 1970 model. With the Boss 302 & 429 made available for serious racers and the Mach 1 covering those who just wanted to look serious or do their racing a quarter-mile at a time, the Mustang Grandé was spliced in as a "luxury model" a market segment assessed by the industry as growing. Ford decided to remove any ambiguity by spelling Grandé with a “é” (l'accent aigu (acute accent)), indicating the pronunciation should be Grahn-day, despite the spelling not being used in any language where “grande” exists. As a "luxury" pony car, the Mustang Grandé was a harbinger for the trend of the 1970s as high-performance was, for many reasons, put on-held. The Grandé used a standard mechanical specification but included a long list of “convenience” and “dress-up” items and was a success; it was the spiritual ancestor of the “Ghia” versions which for decades would be the most elaborately equipped Fords. Surprisingly, despite being aimed at a demographic not interested in going fast, the Grandé could be ordered with almost any engine in the catalogue, including the 428 cubic inch (7.0 litre) Super CobraJet, designed for use on drag strips and some really were built so configured; only the unique Boss 429 was not available. A vinyl roof was standard but the rarely ordered houndstooth option cost an additional US$28; so low was demand that it wasn't carried over to 1971.
