Know Your Enemy

Singer Billie Joe Armstrong told Q magazine May 2009 about this rock number: "It's a rallying song. It's about liberating yourself from a lot of bulls--- that you see on TV."

This was the lead single from the 21st Century Breakdown album.

The music video was directed by Matthew Cullen, who, as the co-founder of production house Motion Theory, has worked with acts like Modest Mouse and Beck. He told MTV News: "We shot in downtown Los Angeles - in a real urban center - and the video is Green Day performing. There isn't another single person in it. It's based very much on my interpretation of the lyrics, but it connects to the title of the song, and it plays to the environment of fear that we've created for ourselves. There's a lot of symbolism that I tried to mirror [in the shoot]. I took a lot of influence from Green Day's lyrics and the imagery of [street artist] Banksy. It may not sound like a lot, but it's huge visually. It's gonna be a new experience for a lot of their fans. I mean, it's still Green Day, but it's just bigger."