R.E.M.'s first UK TV appearance.
Some Helium songs are in 480 or even 1080, but not this one.
There's something happening here, and what it is ain't exactly clear, though an HD reupload would take care of that. You can easily find it in much higher audio quality (the pitch isn't even right here), but while the video isn't groundbreaking, people deserve to have a clear picture when they look what's going down just for the way the song captured the late 60s zeitgeist. And what it's worth, there's Neil Young's sideburns.
While there are aspects of this video that will permanently date it, it is partially salvageable picture-wise. It's the only known footage of Leadbelly besides a full, better quality clip of his performance of Goodnight Irene ("full" in the sense that the performance is captured in its entirety; the rendition is repetitive and intentionally incomplete).
This year and only this year do we get a pass for not daily lamenting that this early YouTube masterpiece looks as though it has Vaseline smeared on it.
