Textual analysis of KERRANG!

Kerrang! is a indie/rock music magazine which is published in the UK by Bauer Consumer Media. The title of the magazine in onomatopoeic as it sounds like someone playing an electric guitar. It was first published in 1981 and focussed on new hard rock bands. Throughout the years the theme of the magazine changed whenever a new band became popular, for example, it was primarily dedicated to new emo band 'My Chemical Romance' for several weeks following the success of their album. The target audience is 16-25 year olds who listen to rock music, however, in recent years the age of readers has dropped and the magazine is now more focussed at the younger part of the target audience to to the types of bands featured being less heavy metal and edging towards the emo crowd.

Front cover

There are many features of the front page of 'Kerrang!' which will appeal to it's target audience. Firstly the masthead is easily recognisable as it is the same on every issue, so this will catch the eye of regular reader's of the magazine as they know what to look out for. It's all in capitals which makes it easier to read, and in a different font and colour to the rest of the magazine, the black writing on a white background makes it stand out from the pictures and cover lines. The font chosen looks like it has a worn effect. This is what gives the magazine it's brand identity. Even the word 'Kerrang!' is appealing to the target audience of rock music fans as the exclamation mark at the end makes it sound louder and more in your face.

Another thing about the masthead is that it is partially obscured by the picture. The picture is of the Lostprophets, an alternative rock band, who at the time of publishing were very successful. They are arranged so the lead singer is standing in the middle of the photo so we can tell he is more important. The picture is cropped right down to the tops of their heads, except for the lead singer Ian Watkins who is set in the foreground of the photo, and who's head hasn't been cropped, resulting in him covering a section of the masthead. This picture is appropriate as their success will make readers more interested in their lives and it is important to have a popular band on the cover as having someone who wasn't well known could put people off.

The general colour scheme of the magazine is quite dull. Although this wouldn't stand out to me on a shelf, it appeals to the target audience, as rock/emo fans tend to fashion darker clothing and aspire to the bands. The picture covers he whole of the front page underneath the masthead, and the background colour is also dull. The only bright colours used are red, white, and a dark yellow colour used for text and cover lines. This is to make them stand out and easier to read.

The headline of the magazine is 'Lostprophets' which is positioned as a banner below the heads of the band. This has the biggest font on the page and relates to the main story. It indicates what the main feature of this issue is about, and is very important in attracting the audience. The magazine uses a large white font and is all in capitals similar to the title, making it contrast to the dark colours on the picture. This is followed by a quote from the story "People talk so much bullshit about us.." This gives a sneak peak for the readers of what the story is about and will make people want to buy it to find out more.

The language is relating to the target audience by trying to attract them using swear words, similar to what the readers would in every day life, and has a bigger impact as they will want to find out what the article is about.

The exclusive offeres of the magazine are in red, such as 'FREE!' and 'PLUS!'. These are followed by pictures of the posters that are free inside, and is positioned at the bottom corner of the page so it doesn't steal focus from the main picture and headline. The pictures overlap each other which not only saves space, but it attracts attention as the pictures are at abstract angles which draws attention to them. They are outlined with a white border to distinguish them from the background. 'PLUS!' is in a banner at the bottom of the page which includes the names of the other bands featured in the magazine.

The overall layout is not to cluttered, as it shows clearly what the main feature of the issue is about with the picture and the main heading large and central on the page. There is a lot going on in the bottom corner of the page, but the overlapping of photo's makes it seem more fun and differentiates those pictures from the main one.

Contents

The first thing that strikes me about the contents page is that it also uses a dark theme similar to on the front cover. The background is black and two thirds of the page is taken up with a picture of the band '36 crazyfists'. This is one of the main feature's in this particular issue which is why it takes up the majority of the page.

The title 'contents' uses the same font as the masthead 'KERRANG!' and is unique to this magazine. It's in the colour white so it stands out from the rest of the page. Again, all the text on the page is white or red to carry on the theme and make is recognisable to the readers. The red fonts show the different headings of what is featured in the magazine, for example 'news' and 'gigs'. It is in a larger font than the page references.

There are three pictures at the top of the page so the readers will know what is featured in this issue at a glance without having to read the whole contents. They are outlined in white to make them stand out more, and not get confused with the main picture. I think these pictures are chosen because they are popular, well known people in the rock industry and will be more appealing to the target audience than less well known acts. The bottom corner also features a discount for regular readers of the magazine to try and promote it, and has a picture of a pile of different issues. In the top corner, there isa letter from the editor and a picture of him. This makes the magazine come across as more friendly as he is addressing the audience directly and giving his own overview of what is featured in that issue.

Double page spread

The double page i'm going to analyse is from the 'News' feature of the magazine. The background is a dark blue colour and is a mid close-up of Biffy Clyro's Simon Neil on stage. This is used because this particular band is popular at this time and the audience will enjoy finding out that they have a chance to go and see them at the upcoming event. He is positioned in the middle of the page so the focus is on him and not so much on the smaller pictures lined up along the bottom of the page of various other bands. These pictures are all joined together so they create a sort of collage at the bottom of the main picture. They are all long shot's of band's who will be appearing at 'Download 2007'. There is a bold cover line across the main picture which uses white writing on a red background which tells the audience who is in the photo and what the article is about.

The text only takes up the smallest proportion of the pages, the rest using a main picture and a collage of smaller pictures. This is because seeing a whole page of text will put a reader off as pictures are more eye catching and can save time. The article is talking about the line-up to the event 'Download 2007', and there is a box at the bottom of the page which gives all this information at a glance.

The purpose of this double page spread is mainly to show the reader about this event by using pictures of what bands are going to be there. The lack of text shows that there is only a brief amount of information to give, as a lot of text will seem daunting and the reader might be put off by this.