"My Own Worst Enemy" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Lit | ||||
from the album A Place in the Sun | ||||
B-side | "Bitter" | |||
Released | March 2, 1999 | |||
Format | ||||
Recorded | 1998 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:49 | |||
Label | RCA | |||
Writer(s) |
|
|||
Producer(s) |
|
|||
Lit singles chronology | ||||
|
"My Own Worst Enemy" is a song by the American rock band Lit. It was released in March 1999 as the lead single from Lit's second album, A Place in the Sun, which was also released that year. The song was only moderately successful at first, reaching number 17 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart on February 27, 1999. It later achieved mainstream success, peaking at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one on the Modern Rock Tracks (also known as Alternative Songs) chart. The song's success helped A Place in the Sun to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on October 27, 1999 for sales of 1,300,000 copies in the United States. At the 1999 Billboard Music Awards, "My Own Worst Enemy" won the Modern Rock Track of the Year award. Its music video was filmed by Gavin Bowden in a Las Vegas bowling alley.
Considered pop punk and power pop, "My Own Worst Enemy" is, according to Lit guitarist Jeremy Popoff, "the result of waking up and realizing you screwed up the night before". Vocalist A. Jay Popoff said that the song "was the combination of many, many incidents"; he has been in trouble with the law for public nudity, and sang "My Own Worst Enemy" nude in the studio. The singer described a New Year's when the band got drunk in Laughlin, Nevada; he stole a janitor's cart, and he "and five friends jumped onto the flatbed, rode down the sidewalk, and got chased by the cops".
According to Lit guitarist Jeremy Popoff, "My Own Worst Enemy" "is the result of waking up and realizing you screwed up the night before. The first verse is about screwing up with your chick. A. Jay's the king of having four ex-girlfriends show up to the same show. It's funny watching him try to juggle". Vocalist A. Jay Popoff said that the song "was the combination of many, many incidents ... Sometimes I get in trouble when I get naked in public and have a girl there. It happens when I've been drinking Jagermeister. I actually sang "My Own Worst Enemy" naked in the studio". The singer said that the song's second verse "is about the morning after, when you hear about all the lame shit you did ... The last time it happened was when we got really drunk in Laughlin, Nevada, for New Year's. I stole a janitor cart, and me and five friends jumped onto the flatbed, rode down the sidewalk, and got chased by the cops. The next day, I found a couple of my friends were taken in by security, who were searching for me all night. I was tucked away in my hotel room, oblivious." A. Jay said that "My Own Worst Enemy" "isn't based on any one of our particular personal experiences. It's just a jumble of times where someone went out and had too much to drink. You say things you shouldn't say and do things you shouldn't do and then the next day you realize how bad you fucked up. A lot of people comment on the lyrics, but the hooky guitar riff doesn't hurt either".