ARTIST: Green Day
TITLE: “Know Your Enemy”
WEB DEBUT: April 16, 2008
ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: The first song from 21st Century Breakdown isn’t as immediate a listen as the initial single from its predecessor American Idiot; it’s a straighter-than-straight three-chord rock song with a simple shout-along verse, and a buildup to a breakdown. And that’s… um… it? I guess it’ll get fists pumping and car stereos a-blazing, but Billie Joe Armstrong’s constant hectoring of whether or not I know the enemy makes me wonder if said bogeyman we’re supposed to be wary of is the super-high expectations that follow a huge, career-defining achievement.
WHERE TO GRAB IT: It’s free with a pre-order of 21st Century Breakdown, but if you know how to work Google Blog Search, you can probably go into wait-and-see mode. Here’s a tagged version:
Green Day [MySpace]
hope the paycheck from New Musical Express was FAT, Green Day! Sellouts!
Whatever I dig it. I have a feeling this will be more of a power-pop record.
So is this Part IV: Act III, or what? I’M LOST WITHOUT THE WHOLE STUPID STORY.
@Anthony Miccio: What? That makes no damned sense. If you’re going to call Green Day a sellout you’re pretty damn late for that bandwagon.
zzzzZZZZZZZzzzzz….
This is what the record labels call ‘a setup track’..
this is exactly what I’d thought it’d be: the exact same song they’ve been playing since “Warning”.
Place bets now on how long it will take for this bland but radio friendly song to top the Modern Rock Tracks chart after its radio release.
I bet four.
weeks. not days (although those are applicable due to how Mediabase measures their Alternative listings).
the thing that gets me is that you watch videos of them playing “going to pasalacqua” (which is their best song. objectively.) and then you look at them now and it’s like comparing the ramones to meatloaf. just two completely different bands.
by the way, congrats to the bassist (mike dirnt? been a while since i had to think about it) for finding the fountain of youth. that guy hasn’t aged since 1991. he’s always looked 35.
@DocStrange I’m thinking 8 weeks. Modern Rock takes forever right? And with the Kings of Leon locomotive still rolling….
@drinkypuss Actually, according to Mediabase http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/insideradio/charts.asp?format=5&showyear=y&dpt=n, Anberlin’s “Feel Good Drag” is now the new top Modern Rock song (Mediabase Alternative uses the same info as Billboard Modern Rock). That song will be on top for a few weeks before the new Incubus takes over. I suspect that the new 311 song will have some time on top too before Green Day takes over.
and hey! the Green Day song is already #29! again, four to five weeks.
sort of a nothing song, isn’t it? they might as well have not even written it.
and they’ve way, way BETTER first singles. i mean, “Warning!” was better than this.
@raycummings You know they’re in a bad way when their last album’s best song was nine minutes long.