Kerrang! Magazine is traditionally supposed to focus a heavy metal and glam rock although nowadays, it uses bands who have punk, emo, screamo and drum and bass influences. Also, it tends to use current artists on its front cover. For example, when it was first published in 1981, AC/DC were on the cover. Through the 80s and early 90s, it changed to feature glam rock artists, such as Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi and Metallica. Today, it has more contemporary artists such as Slipknot, YouMeAtSix and Paramore that have graced the cover. This is also the ideology of the magazine as this is reflected in the type of artists on the front cover as well as featured in the magazine itself.
The main image of the magazine is of The King Blues, a relatively unknown UK band. The band fits in with the type of ideology which is of heavy metal and rock artists that the readers believe in as although The King Blues are a ska band, they have punk influences. As well as this, the shot is a medium close-up so that the band has full eye-contact with the reader. This shows that they are confident and maybe intimidating and not afraid to speak their minds. This is shown via the main coverline “Finally! A Band With Something To Say…”. Regular readers will know that sometimes the articles featured can be controversial so by using this coverline, it’s as if that compared to other artists to feature on the front cover, they have not fully told their opinions and this is the band that they’ve waited for to finally tell all. Also, the use of the hammer and cracked glass gives an extra effect as if the magazine is made out of glass.
The other coverlines include bands that are regularly featured in the magazine, such as My Chemical Romance, YouMeAtSix as well as a feature on their own tour, K! Relentless tour that is extremely popular amongst readers. However, by placing them in the bottom half of the front cover, it shows that the main image takes priority over the other features.
The masthead on this front cover is partially covered because the title is instantly recognisable anyway. Kerrang! Has been around for quite a while so has already established itself within the market.
The dateline is in the bottom right hand corner along with the price, barcode and issue number. The price is always in small print because the magazine publishers’ are hoping that because if you pick up the magazine and like the look of the front cover, you will pay whatever price just because you want to read it. It is a weekly magazine which is why it costs £2.20, which is cheaper than some of the other music magazines which are monthly issues instead.
The institution of the magazine is Kerrang!. However, it is published by Bauer who also produce Mojo and Q as well as other magazines such as Empire, Heat, More and Match!. Their purpose is to make money as it is commercial. This means it contains adverts and the content is mainly music as well as posters. It sells different types of magazine, some popular and some not so, as well as specialist magazines. Kerrang also has a TV channel, radio statin and a website like Q as well as their own K! Relentless tour once a year.
The target audience are males and females in the 13-17 age group who have a middle income. This is why the bands on the front cover now are more up-to-date and ten to have members in who are just outside of their target market, such as over-20s.
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