Kerrang Front Cover Analysis

Kerrang is a rock magazine that's first issue was 7 June 1981, edited by Geoff Barton. The name "Kerrang" is onomatopoeic, resembling the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar. This in turn reflects the genre of the magazine, as electric guitars are often related to Rock music. The font of the title also impacts the genre of the magazine as the distressed and cracked font connotes rock music due to the distressed and cracked nature of the music.

The front cover has a colour scheme of Black, White and Blue, however other issues of Kerrang often feature Yellow as a part of the colour scheme. This shows that Kerrang regularly alternative the colour scheme, yet normally in keep the colour scheme of black, white, yellow and blue.

The main image on the front shows the front men/women of different rock bands. The image is wrapped around the large pug in the middle, stating: "150 KILLER TRACKS AS VOTED BY YOU!" The use of the word 'Killer' is significant as it relates back to the genre of music and has connotations of being harsh, yet can also suggest the music is so good that it will kill you, in a modern interpretation. The Font of the "150" also ties in the font of the magazine title as both look faded and distressed, therefore continuing a house style. The sentence underneath this pug; "The ultimate 21st Century Playlist" is formatted to be on a banner, which traditionally is used for celebration, so suggests that this is a momentory article, encouraging the reader to buy the magazine to read about it. The writing, then goes on to show which artists are starring in the magazine; Greenday, Slipknot, Linkin Park, My chemical Romance, Paramore, Metallica, 30 Seconds to Mars. These artists are all from the same genre, Rock and Punk, so creates a target audience for the magazine, and limits who the magazine is suitable for, as not everyone likes the same genre of music. The font on the front cover is all in bold, capital letters, to attract the readers attention, and also fits with the genre of the magazine, as it apears to be a loud and in-you-face font.

The cover also has 5 images along the bottom, showing the free posters that are included inside the magazine. Free gifts are used as an incentive for the reader to buy the magazine, so showing on the cover what is included in the magazine, is done to encourage the reader to buy it, if it has artists the reader enjoys. The pictures are shown against a blue background that's border has a torn effect, tieing in the colour scheme and distressed appearance. The pug over the images states "5 POSTERS!" and is also in the eroded style, which continues the house style of the edgy magazine. The images of the 5 bands, are all boy bands, all also from a similar genre; this appeals to girls who'd put boy band posters on their bedroom walls, yet doesn't close the target audience to boys as it is still likely that they'll like the genre of music and the artists featured.