The Wombats are a Liverpool-based indie pop/rock band, most popular for their hits "Let's Dance to Joy Division" and "Greek Tragedy". Formed in 2003, they made a few extended plays and a Japan-only debut, before the rest of the world was introduced to them with their first major studio album, A Guide to Love, Loss, & Desperation, a year later (which included most songs from their debut).
Band members:
- Matthew Murphy – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards (2003 – present)
- Tord Øverland Knudsen – bass guitar, keyboards (2003 - present)
- Dan Haggis – drums, percussion, keyboards, guitar (2003 – present)
Discography:
Studio Albums:
- A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation (2007)
- This Modern Glitch (2011)
- Glitterbug (2015)
- Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life (2018)
Other Releases:
- The Hangover Sessions (2004)
- The Daring Adventures of Sgt. Wimbo and His Pet Otter (2004)
- No. 3 (2005)
- Girls, Boys and Marsupials (2006) (Japan-only)
- The Wombats Go Pop! Pop! Pop! (2007)
- The Wombats (2007)
- This Acoustic Glitch (2011)
- Our Perfect Disease (2011)
- Glitterbug B-Sides (2015)
- B-Z Sides (2019)
We're smashing tropes in karaoke bars...
- Album Closure: This Modern Glitch, an album at least partially about the singer's dissatisfaction with life, ends on "Schumacher the Champagne", a song about humbly accepting your fate and who you are.
- Album Title Drop: From "1996"-I kissed her on the cheekI kissed her on the cheekJust to impress the older kidsBut my self belief, my self beliefWasn't lost in the modern glitch
- Concept Album: A Guide to Love, Loss, & Desperation which is about... love, loss, and desperation.
- Death by Music Video: In the music video for "Greek Tragedy", the band is murdered one at a time by an obsessed fangirl who spent a lot of time stalking them. Two of the band members suffer a case of Slashed Throat while the third is electrocuted in his bathtub. The fangirl later dresses and strings up the bodies in a warehouse to make it seem like they're holding a private concert for her.
- Longest Song Goes Last: Both of their first two albums.
- No-Tell Motel: "Jump Into The Fog" has the singer meet his companion at a hotel that's apparently used for sexual encounters:What a great achievement it was
to find a hotel room this late.
I'll bet they charge by the hour here,
the kind the place you should bring your own UV ray. - One-Word Title: "Emoticons", "Headspace", "Isabel", "Flowerball", and "Turn".
- B-Z Sides has a soft spot for this: "Avalanche", "Valentine", "Trampolining", "Motorphobia", "Hunting", "Butterfly", "Glitterbug", and "Tormentor".
- Precision F-Strike: In "My First Wedding".As they dance to their soppy song, I pray it isn't love'cause she's my heartless BITCH that I just can't seem to get enough of!
- Shout-Out: The rather obvious "Let's Dance to Joy Division.". It also references "Love Will Tear Us Apart".
- Silly Love Songs: "Dip You in Honey" fits this trope to a T.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Lampshaded in "Let's Dance To Joy Division".Let's dance to Joy Division
And celebrate the irony
Everything is going wrong
But we're so happy
Let's dance to Joy Division
And raise our glass to the ceiling
'Cause this could all go so wrong
But we're so happy
Yeah, we're so happy
