History of music magazines: Kerrang! magazine

Kerrang! Magazine is a rock music magazine that first appeared in 1981 as a piece in the newspaper sounds. Initially devoted to the British metal scene, it has since changed to fit the market of popular rock music of the time, going through the thrash, glam, grunge, industrial and metalcore sub-genres to become what it is known as today.

The magazines name is meant to be onomatopoeic of the sound that is made when power chords are played on a guitar, as these sort of chords are normally used in the type of music in the magazine.

Contents

Within Kerrang! magazine there is a large range of information. There are reviews of new album releases from bands that the editors think the reader would be interested in. There are also reviews of the latest live concerts by bands, and interviews with bands or specific members of them. There are also poster pages for fans of bands, which may help convince people to buy the magazine if a band they like is in the poster section.

Typical Reader

Kerrang! magazine is generally aimed at a younger audience, and shows this with their change in focus on types of music over the years. To stay fashionable to younger audiences they have supported different sub-genres of music more than others at different times. They would also probably advertise this magazine to a more male audience, as the images on the front cover can be very vivid or angered, causing women to probably not buy the magazine as much. This idea is mirrored in the NRS data for the magazine. The NRS shows that 321,000 people aged 15-44 buy Kerrang! magazine, while only 39,000 people aged 45+ bought the magazine. There was also a large split between males and females buying the magazine, as 222,000 males bought the magazine in comparison to 137,000 females buy the magazine.

House Style

Although the colours on the page and the placings of the story can vary with each weekly release, there are certain areas that are kept the same every week, to promote continuity and make it easier for the fans of the magazine to find it. One of these is the masthead, which is placed at the top of the page in large, bold font which normally has lines going through to give it a 'shattered' effect. this effect is instantly recognizable, making it easy to find if on a shelf with other magazines. Often the main image on the page goes over the title of the magazine slightly, but in some cases the title is put in front, as is shown in the images above.