YouTube gets its share of criticism that it's a cesspool of junk, but it's also a historian's dream. So are sites such as Wiped News and Missing Episodes, sites that highlight long-lost radio or TV broadcasts and films.
Case in point in this video of glam rockers Sweet -- long a favorite of mine -- performing "Action" on the "Top of the Pops" music show.
What's interesting is this 1975 video -- missing from the BBC archives -- was recorded by Sweet singer Brian Connolly on a home video recorder. This is 1975, when consumer VCRs were in their infancy. In a story behind the video, Wiped News estimates Connolly's VCR would have cost him the equivalent of $10,000 dollars at the time.
Even at that price, there's some choppiness to the recording. But for you oldsters out there, can you recall the first time you saw a VCR in action? It was pretty powerful stuff.