“Another element we find in the boiling cauldron of idolatry is ingratitude for God's actions and purposes in our lives. It's striking that the mob referred to Moses as ‘this fellow’ who brought them out of Egypt, as if he were a hired hand or a gate-crasher. It's amazing how they can admit that Moses was instrumental in their deliverance from slavery… and yet in the next breath propose more or less giving the guy up for dead!
More significant, though, is the fact that there is no mention of their Divine Deliverer in their speech to Aaron. How many times had they heard:

‘Remember this day when you came out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, for the Lord brought you out of here by the strength of [His] hand’ Ex.13:3

‘On that day explain to your son, ‘this is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt’ Ex.13”8

‘This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ Ex.16:6

They had been delivered from an oppressive and painful slavery. They had seen mindboggling miracles. They had been guided by a pillar of fire and a column of cloud. They had vowed to obey everything God had said to them (Ex. 19:8). Yet ‘although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor give thanks to him.’ (Rom.1:21 NIV)

When you and I neglect the habit of worship, both corporate and private, we open the door to idolatry. When prayers of thanksgiving slow to a trickle, or stop, we make ourselves vulnerable. When we forget God's actions and purposes to such a degree that we neither glorify him nor give thanks to him, we should beware. Such ingratitude is a catalyst for the creation of an idol.” (Bob Hostetler, American Idols, 2006, p.12-13)