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.