Among its many meanings, groove has, according to the American Heritage College dictionary:
• The spiral track cut into a phonograph record for a stylus to follow.
• Slang: A situation or an activity that one enjoys or to which one is especially well suited.1
Of course, these meanings are related.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "groove" originally existed in Middle English as grofe, meaning "a mineshaft" from Old Norse grod, meaning "pit." By the 17th century, the word had become grove or groev, and its meaning had been extended to "a channel or hollow cut by artificial means." In the early 20th century, this meaning was applied to the lines on a phonograph record --a term we still use for the musical trenches dug into LPs.2
In the early 1930's, the term "in the groove" was invented by jazz musicians to mean "[characteristic of] a time when jazz is played well."2
Literally, the musician is inhabiting the grooves of a record!
From this, we get groovy and grooving, but there's no reason to employ such trite hippie slang when we can have a great mental image like "in the groove."
2"groove." Oxford English Dictionary. 2007. Oxford University Press. 15 Feb 2009. http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50099217.
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