31 years ago, on June 19, 1987, MTV debuted the Grateful Dead’s music video for “Touch of Grey.” The song would later become the Dead’s only Top Ten hit, and the video would go down as one of the most creative visual projects in the band’s history. 

Witty and self-effacing, the fact that the aging members of the Dead – who by 1987 had already performed together for over two decades -are portrayed by skeletons continues to be as delightful as the day it was released; they Dead were smoking, winking and grooving along, but skeletons nonetheless.

Director Gary Gutierrez was behind the camera for “Touch of Grey,” which became a staple of the MTV video lineup in 1987. (Notably, Gutierrez also created the animations for Jerry Garcia’s passion project, 1977’s The Grateful Dead Movie.)

Enjoy the zany, amazingness of “Touch of Grey” below: