1. Single Cover Analysis
Green Day - Longview
This is the single cover for the song Longview by Green Day. The
songs main theme is boredom and smoking drugs. The narrative of
the song is shown straight away in the single cover as it has the dogs
smoking “dope” and lazing around. The fact that it is a dog can fit
with the cartoon played on the TV in the video or could be a figment
of the imagination due to smoking hallucinogenic drugs. The
typography of the title is like graffiti and again fits with the implied
mindset of Billie Joe, the lead singer. This style of writing can again be
apart of the theme of boredom and the punk attitude that the song
belongs to. The way that the band name is set out is in the clouds,
suggesting the drug use that the band name was originally based on.
The cat on the roof is again looking like his whole existence is
desperately mundane; this therefore shows the other side of the
drugs. For example the dogs are excited and the cat is “spaced out”.
The composition is minimalist showing the state of mind of the band
and the boredom that holds them. The ideology that is being
portrayed by the various images within the cover is represented in
the theme of the song and is demonstrated by the characters in the
image. There is a contrast between the bottom of the cover and the
upper parts. This could be the ambitions of the band but they could
feel like their ambitions are clouded by society as the plane shows
the separation between the band and their goal and this song I their
rebellious retaliation.