Drawing inspiration from Chinese communist propaganda art, Green Day recruited artist Chris Bilheimer to create a cover that reflected the political themes on the record in 2004. After listening to the new music on his computer, Bilheimer took note of the lyric “And she’s holding on my heart like a hand grenade” from “She’s a Rebel”. Influenced by artist Saul Bass‘s poster for the Man with the Golden Arm, Bilheimer created an upstretched arm holding a red heart-shaped grenade.