The Enemy is a fresh UK punk act that, weren’t gonna take the 9-5 anymore and so they became rock stars. According to one song, they “Had Enough.” But that’s not all. They want you to escape, too.
Their debut album We’ll Live and Die in These Towns can be summed up in their anthem, “This Song.” Lead vocalist Tom Clarke sings, “This song is about you / about changes in your life, your mind, changes in the times,” and the rest of the album has a similar vibe. It’s about anyone who feels trapped by their dead-end job, by their small town life and the self-destruction that commonly comes with age, such as teenage pregnancy and drug addiction.
But The Enemy escaped from their small town and they encourage you to also pursue dreams—violently, if necessary. Songs like “Aggro” (a word that means aggressive behavior) and “You’re Not Alone” (about job loss in UK factories) are meant to get you to rise up and fight The Man. Other tunes such as “Technodaneaphobic” and the title track are more sympathetic to those that can’t resist a normal, depressing life. Someone has to flip burgers; we can’t all be rockstars.
Perhaps The Enemy’s best song is a bonus track cover of Bowie’s “Five Years,” a tune that reflects on what you’d do knowing the world would end in half a decade. It’s pretty obvious what Tom Clarke would do; listen to his favorite songs, tell the girl of his dreams he loves her and fall back on all the people he never knew he needed, including you.
But the message is effective by itself and will get you up in the morning, even if you decide not to rebel. You can still appreciate the amped-up power chords and catchy lyrics, basically joining The Enemy in their fun and living a quiet life quite loudly.
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