"Greek Tragedy" is a song from

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

the Wombats The Wombats are an English indie rock band formed in Liverpool in 2003, consisting of Matthew Murphy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Tord Øverland Knudsen (bass, backing vocals, keyboards), and Dan Haggis (drums, backing vocals, keyboards). ...

. The track was released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

on 14 January 2015 as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from the band's third studio album, '' Glitterbug'' (2015). "Greek Tragedy" was written and produced by band members

Matthew Murphy Matthew Edward Murphy (born 23 July 1984) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of The Wombats, which he co-founded in 2003. He began a solo career under the name ...

, Dan Haggis, and

Tord Øverland Knudsen The Wombats are an English indie rock band formed in Liverpool in 2003, consisting of Matthew Murphy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Tord Øverland Knudsen (bass, backing vocals, keyboards), and Dan Haggis (drums, backing vocals, keyboards). ...

, with

Mark Crew Mark Crew (born 21 February 1985) is a songwriter, record producer, and mix engineer based in London, known for his work with Bastille, Rag'n'Bone Man, and the Wombats. Production and songwriting Crew produced the albums '' Bad Blood'' (UK #1 ...

also producing. The track received its premiere on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

when it featured as

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

's ''Hottest Record in the World'' on 14 January. An official remix of the track by British band

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was sto ...

was released on 27 January 2015. In 2020, Swedish music producer Oliver Nelson released a remixed version on the social media platform

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

. This remix became a viral sleeper hit, renewing popularity for the original 2015 version on streaming platform,

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

. In January 2021, the Wombats released an official music video for the remix, the video was created by Australian animator Jamie Mac.

Music video

Directed by Finn Keenan, the accompanying music video for "Greek Tragedy" premiered on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

on 15 January 2015. The video follows a young woman, portrayed by

April Pearson April Janet Pearson (born 23 January 1989) is an English actress. Born and brought up in Bristol, Pearson was drawn to acting from a young age and appeared in local theatre productions as a child. She made her acting debut in 1998 at the age of ...

, who becomes obsessed with the Wombats, culminating in her stalking and eventually murdering all of them. She then takes them to a warehouse and sets their corpses up like

marionette A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or reveale ...

s. The band credited Keenan for imagining the concept of the video. Knudsen said "it is refreshing sometimes to get a different sight on the song ... the video is not really what the song is about", and Haggis elaborated that "It’s not actually about a stalker – fortunately that’s not reality."

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2015 singles The Wombats songs 2015 songs 14th Floor Records singles Songs written by Matthew Murphy Songs written by Tord Øverland Knudsen Songs written by Dan Haggis