Green Day debut Know Your Enemy video

Billie Joe Armstrong issues a call to arms
Billie Joe Armstrong issues a call to arms

Green Day's Know Your Enemy, the first single from the upcoming 21st Century Breakdown, is no-bones-about-it clarion call, and the accompanying video is the perfect complement.

Forget about crazy storylines, babes and bling - this video has all it needs in Green Day performing in the dead of night on an urban rooftop.

Echoing the song's lyrics about paranoia and Big Brother are visuals of the band being tracked by helicopters, surveillance cameras and satellites.

Big song, big visuals

"It's definitely the biggest video I've ever done," director Matthew Cullen told MTV. "It has a lot of really big visuals, because I was trying to match the song, which is huge."

Cullen said he utilized closed-circuit camera footage, night vision and a special lens mounted on Mike Dirnt's bass. And wait for the 2:40 mark, which is explosive to say the least.

For Windows, you can stream the video here:
http://streamos.warnermusic.com/wmedia/wmiuk/greenday/21st_century_breakdown_hi.wvx

For Apple's Quicktime, stream the video here:
http://streamos.warnermusic.com/qtime/wmiuk/greenday/21st_century_breakdown_hi.mov

Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar WorldGuitar PlayerMusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.