Semiotics

The Green Day album I chose to apply the semiotic method to was the American Idiot cover. To give a quick summary of this album cover, basically this CD has a full black background, with the image of a white hand holding a heart shaped grenade. The heart shaped grenade is red in color, and is dripping with a red liquid, which can be easily interpreted to represent blood. Although the images on the cover do not reveal the meaning of the songs, the lyrics of the songs on the album are filled with resent towards the American government, its foreign policies, and its actions in the world.

The bleeding heart shaped grenade on the front of the cover is littered with symbolism. As the album is mostly politically motivated, it is only natural that the band would also use the images on their album art to portray the same message they do in their lyrics. The heart shaped grenade represents the heart and soul of the American people. The white forearm and hand that is holding the grenade is representing the American government. Green Day is trying to express that the United States government is holding the heart and soul of the American government in their hands, and in a very unstable situation by representing the heart and soul with a grenade, which is by nature very unstable once the pin has been pulled. The current actions of the US government can be viewed as pulling the pin, and once the grenade is no longer contained the government will have destroyed the heart and soul of America. The fact that the grenade is bleeding shows that the heart and soul of America is already draining, and has been slowly dying.

The back cover of the album art contains the typical list of songs, and the image of a lone grenade pin. I think that the front cover is representing the current time period, and the back cover is the future. Because the pulled grenade pin is on the back of the cover, Green Day is implying that unless change is made, the government will successfully launch the grenade of destruction that will demolish the heart and soul of the American people and all positive relations that the US currently has maintained. The fact that the grenade pin is alone, and there is no other imagery, Green Day is implying that once the government has pulled the pin of devastation there will be nothing left for America and its people.

These images can be applied to the model discussed in class. A grenade can literally be viewed as an explosive device, thus being a signifier in this perspective. Similarly, the hand and heart shape are literally interpreted as a body part and a common anatomical organ shape, relatively. When combined into signs and a system of signs, these common images have much different meanings, as discussed above. The heart shaped grenade is interpreted as being the heart and soul of the American people, being the signifier. In my opinion, there are two possible myths which can be derived. Because the pin is displayed separate from the grenade on the back of the cover, or the future as interpreted, this could imply that there is nothing which can be done to change the outcome. Perhaps, that is actually the point that Green Day is making; that a change must be made to avert the impending doom that the government is leading the American people into. The second myth has basically the same meaning as the first, that there is no way to change the future outcome. I base this myth upon the symbolism that the hand is already holding the grenade. If the hand is grasping the grenade and simply needs to pull the pin, it can be argued that there is no countermeasure to change the outcome. The lyrics in the Green Day songs strongly disagree with that, and promote change.

Although the images on the American Idiot album art are fairly simple, there is still plenty of interpretations which can be made. It is interesting how a single image can have one meaning, yet when combined into a system of signs the combination carries a different meaning and can yield drastically different interpretations. Overall, the band Green Day, and their album American Idiot in particular, are very politically motivated and this is quite apparent when consuming their art.

Interview with a Rock fan

As popular of a band as Green Day is, I found it somewhat difficult to come across somebody who considered themselves a "fanatic" about the band. The person I interviewed, Patrick, is definitely a fan of many music genres, and has been a follower of Green Day since the early 90's. His interests in music vary from the Rolling Stones to the little known Project 86. Although he doesn't consider himself an extremely "trendy" person, towards the end of the interview we both had new realizations about ethnography and our own consumption of popular culture.

Patrick was first introduced to Green Day in 1994 with the release of their album Dookie. In his own words, "I remember being on a field trip, and one of my classmates had the CD. We all passed it around and started listening. It was something different for me. I've been a fan of their music ever since." He has seen them play live several times over the past decade. The most reccent show he saw was at Merriweather in 2005 when the band was touring to promote their American Idiot album. The 2005 show was enjoyable, but he considers his favorite Green Day memory to be their appearance at the 2001 HFStival. The concert was held at RFK stadium in Washington, DC. Patrick finds this concert to be one of his greatest memories because the band actually set their equipment on fire. "It was crazy. People were tearing up the plastic floor that covered the grass and were crowd surfing on it. Then, at the end, the band set the drums and bass guitar on fire. That really got the crowd wild!"

Ethnography was not something Patrick was familiar with prior to this interview. During the course of the interview, we discussed popular culture, and the ways that we consume it. Being the music fan that he is, Patrick says that most of the willing consumption of popular culture he does is in the form of music. He enjoys reading sites such as Dig.com, which posts user submitted stories about news events. He generally prefers reading reputable news sources. The extent to which he follows such things as the Paris Hilton drama is what he sees posted on msn.com. That brought us to an interesting point in the interview, where we both came to the realization that although we don't really care about the absurd storyline concerning the DUI sentencing for Paris, it is completely unavoidable because she is a part of current popular culture.

Sports is another part of popular culture that Patrick enjoys. Most of the interview involved music, as that is something which means a lot to him, but we also discussed sports and other trends. Patrick has been an Orioles fan since he was very young, and has tried his hardest to continue to be a Ravens fan even through their past few seasons. He also enjoys watching college basketball and NBA championships. "I much rather see a sporting event live, but I enjoy it all the same", he says.

As a result of our conversation, Patrick seemed to have a different perspective on the way popular culture impacts him. He prides himself on his comedic personality, and stated, "I suppose popular culture and people like Seinfeld and Lewis Black probably helped shape my personality." We discussed fashion, and how we tend to dress a certain way based upon whatever the popular mall stores are carrying. Popular culture seems to affect many parts of our lives, whether we actively realize it or not.

Assignment 1

Green Day is a popular American rock band. The band has produced 10 full length recordings since their formation in 1989.

Information about tour dates and band history can be found on their official website at http://greenday.com/

Additional band info is available on their myspace profile at http://myspace.com/greenday. Music samples and band blogs can be found on their myspace profile as well.

http://www.greendayauthority.com/ is another official Green Day website, which includes more commercial information and has an online merchandise store.

I was first introduced to Green Day in 1994 when I heard their Dookie album. Although Green Day has always been, and continues to be, an alternative rock band, their style has changed over the past 17 years. Despite the changes in style, I still appreciate and enjoy the music produced by Green Day. My interactions with Green Day are not limited to only their recorded art, as I have seen them perform live more than once. Generally, I will attend such concerts with friends of mine who appreciate the same music. The music of Green Day often touches on real world issues, such as politics. The meanings in the songs have not really affected me or my personality.

I chose Green Day as the topic for this blog because they are a popular element of American pop culture that I enjoy and would like to learn more about during the project.