The story
By the 1960s, American radio was full of fast-talking disc jockeys who rhymed and joked between songs. When they dug out a hit from a few years back, they needed a lively way to bring it on. “A blast from the past” fit the bill.
No one knows which DJ said it first. The Phrase Finder points to a 1967 article in The Progress, a Pennsylvania newspaper, about a famously quick-talking Philadelphia DJ. It quoted his on-air patter, including “the blast from the past.”
The same article helpfully gave readers a glossary of his slang. In it, “blast” meant great, and “Golden Oldies” meant old rock ’n’ roll songs. So a blast from the past was a great old song, back on the air.
From the radio, the phrase spread to anything that brings back old times: an old friend’s phone call, a shoebox of photos, a song you haven’t heard in years.
