American Idiot is the seventh album of the band Green Day. It was released on September 20th, 2004. The cover is a hand holding a grenade in the shape of a heart that is bleeding out on a black background. This album was in reference to the Iraq war and had several songs that were opposed to the war. The symbolism is very strong with this artwork in referencing a broken heart in time of war. The grenade in the shape of a heart is showing sadness over the war and how hearts are being destroyed in the war using weapons such as grenades and other weapons. The album is simple but very powerful with the message it is trying to convey. It is showing blood coming from the grenade shaped like a heart which feels symbolic of a broken heart. The hand is held in the way of the anarchist symbol so it could be talking about how there shouldn’t be a war but perhaps anarchy. This whole cover and album is very political in its overtones and can be read in many different ways.
The imagery is very violent with the bleeding and overtones of war and the message could be read as there wouldn’t be war with anarchy and people wouldn’t have to fight for a country in a war if the way government was structured was different. The way the heart is being gripped it looks like the hand is trying to pierce the heart and have the heart grenade explode. The colors are white and red so the bleeding and red colors really stick out on the album cover. There seems to be a lot of anger and rage being expressed through this artwork because red can be seen as a color of anger and bloodshed.