Kerrang Magazine Analysis

Kerrang magazine is a weekly music magazine published by ‘BAUER MEDIA’, which sells at £2.20. The magazines title is also its logo, which is displayed at the top of the page taking up around a fifth of the total area. It subtly sits in the background – allowing the main picture to overlap it but does stand out as the black background contrasts with the white title. The main image on the front cover is that of the featured articles – in this case an exclusive interview with the Sheffield metal core band Bring Me The Horizon. This is a medium long shot (also known as an American or ¾ shot) showing from the knees upwards. Other features on the cover are a bar at the very top of the page showing one of the stories inside – in this case the return of My Chemical Romance and is accompanied by a picture. A red circle is used to replicate a sticker and contains text telling the reader about another story. There is another bar at the bottom stating the names of bands that feature inside the magazine before finishing with the barcode, which is placed inside a white box. The white box allows the barcode to stand out from the black background so it can be easily seen and therefore easily scanned when being brought. It also allows important information to be clearly displayed, information such as the prices, issue number, date and website. There is a lot of additional text, which therefore makes the page look very busy. The font size for the other stories is a lot smaller than that used for the main story, as the main story should be the one that grabs the reader’s attention. On the front cover the colour scheme appears to be black white and red. The red s used to make things stand out from the neutral black and white colours – as shown on the words ‘exclusive’ and ‘Bring Me The Horizon’. Once inside the magazine we see that yellow is also used, one reason is to add more colour to the magazine but it is used instead of red as it is less striking and allows the black text on top of it to stand out more.

The contents page is again very busy. A picture of Ozzy Ozbourne relating to the story introduced on the front cover takes up half the space. As it is only a single page and not a double page spread everything is cramped together. On top of the Ozzy picture is two smaller pictures showing the pages of two more articles, with the band they concern and the page number in a white box below. All other stories are listed in order of page numbers and are presented in columns. A whole column is dedicated to a message from the magazines editor. In her review she plugs the main cover story as well as informing readers about the Kerrang! Relentless Energy Drink Tour 2011. This column is accompanied by a picture of the editor so we can see what she looks like and enables us to put a face to what is being said. More images are used to highlight features in the magazine within the columns. A picture of Muse front man Matt Bellamy highlights the ‘Live & Loud poster special’ and a picture of Bullet For My Valentine front man Matt Tuck is used as his band take on the K! Quiz. A little advert in the bottom left hand corner is used to try ad encourage people to subscribe to Kerrang magazine. 27 pages are referenced on the contents page out of a total of 64 pages. All headings for sections of the magazine are in yellow text on top of a black box. Page numbers are red to make them stand out and text is in black. Most articles listed have a small sentence underneath them giving a very quick description of what they are about which in return makes you want to read that article. 11 double page spreads are used in the entirety of the magazine, 2 of these are for the gig guide alone.

Double page spreads appear to be used on articles featured on the front cover e.g. ozzfest has one, Pete Wentz has one, bring me the horizon has three. The third double page of the bring me the horizon article has 75% of its space consumed by pictures. After that stand out quotes are used and a little diagram telling readers three thing the band have learned take up another 10% leaving only 15% of the space left for text.  The text is arranged in columns starting at the top left hand corner and working its way across the page. The effect of the columns is that it breaks up the text making it more enjoyable to read but easier to read. If it were a whole page of continuos text then hard anyone would read it because it would be harder to skim read it and people would immediately not read it because of its length. The text is positioned in unusual positions. In most magazines the text starts at the top and works its way all the way down the page, however in this magazine the text starts a quarter of the way down the page and stops half way before moving on to the next column. This again makes it more fun to read and therefore more appealing to readers and its target audience. Pictures are also used in the column structure. Three pictures at the top fade in and sit level with each column. A picture and a stand alone text box takes up a quarter of the page and is placed in the bottom left hand corner to form a square shape allowing the text to flow across the top and the side of it. On the second page two small columns are again positioned in unusual positions being placed in the middle and on the right of the page. A big picture takes up half the page and a smaller picture is inserted in the top left of the page to completely fill all the available space. A quote is placed in a mall space top of the big picture. The quote is used to briefly summarize what has been said but to also entice people into reading the whole article.

The overall music genre that Kerrang magazine covers is rock music. Inside rock music there is a vast amount of sub genres but Kerrang seems to cover all of these from pop punk to black metal. In total out of the 64 pages of the magazine 21 are adverts, a relatively low 13%. The articles featured are all very different from each other. The bring me the horizon is a traditional magazine styles article with text and pictures in contrast to the gig guide which is a very long list in very small font with few pictures. Featured articles have at least one double page spread with some having two or more. The target audience for this magazine is defiantly that of a younger age ranging from 12 to mid 20. The high volume of pictures compared to text makes it easier to read and very quick to skim read. The bands featured are the one that appeal to the young audience as well, for instance Bring Me The Horizon would not feature on the cover of classic rock magazine, as they are not regarded as classic rock.  The way the magazine is written and styled gives it a friendly appeal. It talks in the same way a friend would, making jokes and not taking things too seriously. The language used is not formal which adds to this friendly appeal. The page numbers are always next to the word Kerrang and in the bottom corners of the pages. The little details such as putting glow on pictures to make them more appealing is very well done and isn’t noticed until analyzed thoroughly. This magazine is different to all other magazines as it focuses on rock music for a young audience. It gives bands such as Bring Me The Horizon who would never be considered for the cover of general music magazines such as ‘Q’ some acknowledgment for their achievements so far and some well deserved publicity.