Kerrang! – Kerrang! is a weekly rock magazine published by Bauer Consumer Media in the United Kingdom. Kerrang! was first published and distributed on June 6h in 1981, since then the weekly magazine has taken the country by storm and has become one of Britain’s most iconic rock magazines. Current surveys show that the average total circulation of Kerrang! is approximately 70,000.
Kerrang! heavily focuses on modern rock and heavy metal which mostly consists of “emo” bands such as My Chemical Romance, although sometimes it can feature some heavier more “gothic” bands such as Slipknot.
Title – Kerrang! is a rather unusual name for anything let alone a magazine, so what possessed the creator to choose this name and what is the meaning behind it? Well as quoted from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerrang) “The magazine's title is onomatopoeic and derives from the noise made when smashing an electric guitar”. Basically the word Kerrang! sounds like the noise made when you smash an electric guitar, this fits in with the genre of the magazine as rock is all about electric guitars and “rocking out” which can consist of smashing things up. This is quite a clever name and I think it works well and it certainly makes Kerrang! unique.
Font – The font used for Kerrang!’s main logo is very bold and has a lot of emphasis on black and white. The font is sans-serif which makes it less sophisticated looking, and in my opinion it makes it less intimidating because most magazines/newspapers that use serif fonts are usually serious and are more focused on the text heavy approach, therefore Kerrang! is more likely to be less serious and more image based, also the vocabulary used will more then likely be simpler and easier to read. The font has a ragged and cracked look; this is usually a typical style for rock and heavy metal bands. They try to make the font look distorted, eroded or damaged to give it a more sinister and horror like feel. Rock and heavy metal bands like to be rebellious too; therefore some of the fonts used are based on violence and war which matches the attitudes and their overall style (such as blood splatters or bullet holes). Kerrang!’s logo is more of a damaged font more than anything else, it has cracks going through it, however it does have some erosion around the outside of the letters. I think the logo is very well suited to the whole look and feel of the magazine, the effects on the logo are good and the placement and size is suitable.
Colour – Rock and heavy metal bands like to stick with dark colours which nearly always consists of black. Black is usually portrayed as being the colour of death and hatred, it is the most rebellious and outrageous colour someone could pick. Kerrang! uses a lot of black in their magazine, however they use a lot of white too. Their main logo is a mixture of black and white, while the background is generally black, the text is made white as it stands out more than any other colour (as black and white are opposites).
Use of Language – As Kerrang!’s style isn’t as sophisticated as The Times for example, it is more likely to use informal language such as slang as its main target audience and more likely to be young people due to the overall presentation of the magazine. Most informal magazines like to use a lot of puns, alliteration and abbreviations too. On this cover of Kerrang! it is hard to spot any of these features, however there are many other pages in their magazine that do. Most of the language used on the front cover of this magazine is straight to the point and can come across as assertive; this helps to make it stand out and makes it easy for readers to find out what they want in an instant. It mostly advertises the bands that are featured in the magazine; this certainly gives you the impression that the magazine has knowledge of the subject area.
Target Audience – After analyzing the style of Kerrang!’s cover, I can mostly say that it is aimed at teenagers due to the rebellious look and feel. Teenagers are often referred to as being rebellious and having a rebellious attitude, this magazine tries to capture the teenage trend and does a good job, and it associates with them very well. The magazine mainly focuses on modern day rock and heavy metal which is generally aimed at young people (from everything to do with the song lyrics to the dress style and attitude of the band). Most bands in fact are formed of young people so they will be better at communicating with teenagers because they know what is hot and what is not in this world today. Also they have more sex appeal, because teenagers are going through many hormonal changes, they start having sexual urges, the bands and songs are usually more sexually orientated to make the teenagers want them and like the more. Kerrang! features many bands that would have sexual appeal as well as the rebellious attitudes. The front cover displays this very well with young man without a top on looking quite menacing (trying to look angry, violent, rebellious etc). He also has some tattoos which are quite rebellious looking. There is also a girl behind him who has lip piercings and has very black hair and make-up. The magazine will appeal to both genders due to music not really being gender specific. Also the fact that there are men and women featured in the magazine also shows this and shows that there is something for both girls and boys. The age range will most likely be mid-teens to mid 20’s. Nationality does really come into this as many nations are into rock or heavy metal. As for class types, it will most likely be the middle class and some lower classes such as C1, C2, D & E. This is because the magazine is rather cheap and is distributed weekly. The magazine’s paper is basic and has no special qualities that other magazines have such as Q. This means it is affordable for most people, while the upper classes still may buy it, they may prefer to buy a more expensive magazine that has more things in, or they may find other ways to find out the latest information which lower classes may be unable to afford.
Image – The main image on the Kerrang! cover I analyzed had a band member from Trivium, from my knowledge I know they are a very successful rock/heavy metal band who are very popular at the moment. They tick all the boxes such as sex appeal, rebellious attitude etc. Therefore it is no surprise that they are on the front cover. The difference with this issue’s cover is that instead of having a picture of the band, it instead has only one band member with a girl behind him. As the main headline suggests, it is a feature about the band member rather than the band itself, this person is most likely to be the lead vocalist as they always get the most attention and are well known. The photo is definitely posed as the man is looking straight towards the camera and he is putting on a serious/angry expression. Like I have mentioned before, most bands try to look tough and rebellious as that’s what modern day rock and heavy metal is. The image shows the man lying on his stomach with his arms folded, he is topless and shows off his tattoos. Straight away this shows you attitude and sex appeal, to make things more effective they have put a women in the picture who seems to be topless too but is hiding behind the male (as if she is massaging him). She has very black hair and make-up and has a lip piercing. I think this image is very suggestive yet very effective too. Kerrang! uses both genders on it’s cover, as long as they tick all the right boxes, it doesn’t matter what gender the band members are, having said that most bands featured are all males. Kerrang! also features bands from other countries, as long as the band is popular and ticks the right boxes then it will be in it.
Main Sells – On this front cover there aren’t the usual “main sells” such as competitions and freebies, in fact the only main sell is the list of bands that are featured in the magazine, if you like one or more of the bands then it will attract you and make you want to buy it. There are possibly some competitions in the magazine; however they are not advertised on the cover because they are not as important as the bands themselves. As for freebies, I think Kerrang! thinks they’re a bit gimmicky and it might make the magazine look tacky or childish (most freebies only come with magazines for children). They do however have a mini box which says what else is inside such as posters (which most magazines have).
Other Information – Other bits of information included on the cover include the barcode, issue number, price of the magazine, issue date. These are all common pieces of information that reside on most magazine covers. All of these are very important for the reader and the shop selling the magazine, this is so it is easy for the reader to know how much it will cost them to purchase the magazine and how up to date the magazine is.
How Many Pages – Around 70 A4 pages which are mostly image based but it also has a fair amount of text. This is a decent size magazine; it has just the right amount of pages.
Main Flash Story – The main flash is the story about the Trivium band member Matt Heafy. It says “Under the skin of Matt Heafy” this could mean many things. The image of the man topless goes well with the main headline (quoted above). It’s obviously something about Matt Heafy, skin and Trivium. If you are interested in him or the band then it will make you want to read the magazine and find out what it’s all about. Other than that the main flash doesn’t really give too much away, however it provides enough information to make people want to look in the magazine and find out what’s going on.
