Good old days – commonly stylized as "good ol' days" – is a cliché in popular culture used to reference a time considered by the speaker to be better than the current era. It is a form of nostalgia which can reflect homesickness or yearning for long-gone moments. [1]
There is a predisposition, caused by cognitive biases such as rosy retrospection, a form of survivorship bias, for people to view the past more favourably and future more negatively. [2] [3] [4]
In 1726, John Henley used this phrase in his book The Primitive Liturgy "to all honest Admirers of the good old Days of their best and wisest Fore-fathers, this first Part of the Primitive Liturgy Is most humbly dedicated". [5]
In 1727, Daniel Defoe wrote in The Complete English Tradesman "In the good old days of Trade, which our Fore-fathers plodded on in." [6] In this part of his book, Defoe talks about how in 'the good old days' tradesman were better off than in Defoe's time.
In 2015, musical duo Twenty One Pilots released " Stressed Out", a song that pinpointed the return to the 'good old days'. It won the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in February 2017. [7] As of August 2021, the official music video on YouTube has been viewed 2.3 billion times. [8] In 2022, The Reklaws released the studio album Good Ol' Days. [9]
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