For many, the artwork on the front of an album is taken as the "first impression" for the record, or for the band as a whole. The artists commissioned to design album artwork are certainly aware of this, as are the bands that put their names on the cover. The artwork should, ideally, represent the emotions contained within an album, as well as give an opportunity for the audience to expand on their feelings for the music. So, the artwork is usually the only visual representation for the entire album.

Green Day are considered by many (especially by us avid fans) to be a band that puts a higher-than-normal level of emotion into each and every song they release. After all, that's why we listen to them, isn't it?! We enjoy the fact that Green Day doesn't take any song or album lightly. In one of the mini-interviews on Bullet In A Bible, Billie talks about the thrill he gets when he sees the emotion that he puts into each song being reflected back at him by the audience at live performances. Since emotion is such a big deal to the band, I'd like to talk a little bit about each of Green Day's album covers, and what they mean with respect to the albums they symbolize.


1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours:

Green Day's first full-length release was, obviously, produced and coordinated on a very limited budget. Therefore, the album artwork isn't much, compared to the band's later albums. 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours takes it's cover art from Green Day's 1990 release, 39/Smooth. The cover art and photo were contributed by Jesse Michaels (of Operation Ivy), and Susie Grant. The cover photo depicts a girl (who looks fairly creepy, I might add) standing in a cemetery. Since most of the album contains indirect, blurry, and varying song topics, the eerie cover art seems to fit well.