9 of the Best Backwards Music Videos Ever Made
It wasn’t quite sliced bread.
Nor was it the invention of the wheel.
But once upon a time, either by accident or intention, somebody queued a film spool in the wrong way – and history was made.
Nowadays reverse motion film is as common as the weather, used in everything from the latest Triple-A blockbuster to your uncle’s weird YouTube experiments. Because who doesn’t like watching common household objects piecing themselves together with the aid of a bullet?
Here at The Moon Unit we appreciate watching shit explode. Bonus points if it’s backwards.
Also, we like a bit of music.
We thought we’d combine the two with a list of the greatest ever reverse music videos.
Enjoy.
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Goodshirt – Blowing Dirt
Goodshirt put a Mazda 929 back together using hammers in a single (and hilarious) take.
Alt-J – Breezeblocks
A chilling and powerful story of a domestic fight gone horribly wrong. But backwards.
Cibo Matto – Sugar Water
A Gondry classic - two stories, one take and an epic crossover that'll have you rewatching just to figure out exactly how he pulled this off.
The Pharcyde – Drop
Spike Jonze's contribution to the world of reverse motion. A little bit of trivia: they hired a professional linguist to help the group rap backwards convincingly for the shoot.
God Lives Underwater – From Your Mouth
A visual feast, literally. Bonus points for how freaking strange this one is.
Coldplay – The Scientist
We might not all be the biggest Coldplay fans, but the amount of narrative that they've squeezed into this beauty of a video deserves recognition.
Greg Laswell – Take Everything
A house. A party. Shit gets smashed up. In reverse.
Bush – The Only Way Out
An excellent bit of visual magic with cool explosions to boot.
Danny Wilson – The Second Summer of Love
The earliest backwards music video? Maybe. Has it aged well? Definitely.
Producer | Visual Storyteller
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