Customer Reviews

Know Your Enemy

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The rift is catchy, the lyrics are are catchy (if not a bit vauge), and overall this track is a great single to introduce Green Day's new album, 21st Century Breakdown. I'd urge fans from Dookie to American Idiot to download it and give it a try.

My opinion is that it is worth every one of those 99 pennies.

Green Day relies on a tried and true formula with their first single off of their new "21st Century Breakdown" album. "Know Your Enemy" has a couple interesting riffs/verses that make it worth listening to, but is far from being the best off of a none to shaby 18 track release. Hopefully they pick a more worthy song (like "21 Guns" or "Restless Heart Syndrome" or "Before the Lobotomy" or "Viva la Gloria" or...) for the next single. Check out the whole album, if you've got the oppurtunity!

Between the political bluntness of American Idiot and the classic rock of Dookie lies "Know Your Enemy." It's a track that you crank up loud in the car, in the headphones, or even at a riot, even though it doesn't really seem like a political track, because frankly, I can't tell what the message is. The sound rocks, it's loud, it's a bit catchy, it's Green Day, and I expect it to be a big hit. So know this song, and pick it up, or crank it up on radio.

It has been 5 years since Green Day dominated the air waves with their American Idiot album. Yet, with the music industry changing, the question is can Billy Joe and company really make their way back to the top. Well, their latest single is actually offering some mixed signals. Know You Enemy from their upcoming album 21st Century Breakdown, isn't a bad song, but I was hoping that it would bring in a better appeal that just would seem flawless. The song doesn't completely hit the stride the way that songs like Boulevard Of Broken Dreams and Holiday had showed a few years ago. The song does return with a good guitar sound, but honestly from Green Day, it could've been better. Hopefully, when 21st Century Breakdown comes out soon, it will be better when Green Day does come around again.

Song: C+

Picking a single from a rock opera is a tricky thing. Based on what I've heard from the newest album 21st Century Breakdown (from youtube posts of concerts, demos, etc) I would say this is a choice based more on sound than narrative or how it overall fits in with the rest of the album. Clearly the first single had to be a hard rocking affair. Green Day does offer that, in spades. Was it the best choice? We will not know until the album is released. I think audiences expect Green Day to be as hard and as fast as they have been in the past. This is as old school Green Day has gotten in a long time. Its not the second coming as many people want it to be but it gets the job done.

This may not be Green Days greatest song but .. it is definatley worth a listen.Billie Joe brings back some of the same song writing techniques as in American Idiot in the melodys but that really isin't a bad thing here. I am almost convinced that Green Day is just releasing this single as a warm up to make way for marvelous singles. We'll just have to wait and see how the entire album plays out.

You gotta admit, they've come quite a long way since the early days.

From a band named after a weed score, and albums with giggle inducing names like 'Dookie' and songs about mastur----- and other snotty pursuits, they've now grown into one of the great voices in popular music.

'American Idiot' blew the old formula away (more or less) but now comes a true opus, a full rock opera ala The Who's Tommy and Pink Floyd's The Wall called '21st Century Breakdown'. I can't wait to hear it all. I sense something brilliant is at hand.

This first single however is a seemingly effortless standard GD song; probably written very quickly and with little new musically. It however has that perfected GD sound and musicianship that makes it a great hit single. An easily digestible piece of power punk pop (or whatever we are calling it these days).

Easily digestible,that is, until you start to chew on the lyrics. As a lead single which will probably be all over the airwaves in short order you've just got to give them big props for getting this out there ----

Do you know the enemy?
Do you know your enemy?
We gotta know the enemy (right here)

Violence is an energy
Against the enemy
Violence is an energy (right here)

Bringing on the fury
The choir infantry
Revolt against the order to obey

Overthrow the effigy
The vast majority
We're burning down the foreman of control

Silence is the enemy
Against your urgency
So rally up the demons of your soul

Do you know the enemy?
Do you know your enemy?
We gotta know the enemy (right here)

The insurgency will rise
When the bloods been sacrificed
Don't be blinded by the lights
In your eyes

Violence is an energy
From here to eternity
Violence is an energy
Silence is the enemy
So gimme gimme revolution

Do you know the enemy?
Do you know your enemy?
We gotta know the enemy (right here)

Overthrow the effigy
The vast majority
We're burning down the foreman of control

Silence is the enemy
Against your urgency
So rally up the demons of your soul

Great lyrics, and an awesome fist pumping song! Green Day is back and better than ever!

American Idiot was a masterpiece that will be difficult to match, but this song shows that the upcoming CD may come close. This song is powerful and memorable, a great melody and strong message.

Let's face it guys, Green Day just isn't Green Day anymore. And their new single "Know Your Enemy" is solid proof. From the moment the opening drum riff blared out, I already had a foul taste in my mouth. I thought to myself, "What on earth is this god awful dreck?". Thankfully I guess I was kind of lucky in a way because it prepared me for what I was about to hear: Crappy pop-punk, reminiscent of one of my most hated bands Simple Plan.

The music is bland, uninspired and unoriginal, the lyrics are so repetitive and crappy they make me want to cringe. Billie Joe's vocal delivery sounds very bored and almost like he's waiting for the song to be over (from what I saw in the "behind the scenes" footage of the upcoming video, he has a very bored facial expression). I don't want every song to sound like Nimrod but still, this song is flat out terrible.

But hey, I will be buying the album without a doubt, but if the entire album has this kind of sound to it, I seriously worry for the band. Here's to hoping they'll ROCK Rexall Place on July 5th this year!!!