Front Cover Textual Analysis 02

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This is the front cover of an issue of 'Kerrang!' magazine. This cover is particularly interesting, as it breaks away from what is normally expected of Kerrang!, making the cover more interesting, yet also keeps some of the original elements expected from the magazine, meaning that it still appeals to the main target audience of Kerrang!.

• The first notable difference of this issue of Kerrang! magazine when compared to most others is the fact that they have abandoned their normal colour scheme (consisting of a very bright yellow masthead, with black and less conventional colours throughout,) replacing it with the conventional music magazine colour scheme of Red, Black and White. This gives the magazine a more 'high-class' feel when compared with most other issues of Kerrang!.

• The magazine still manages to keep Kerrang!'s alternate, even 'anarchistic' (almost), feel to it, mainly by use of the font in the masthead. Placed, conventionally, in the top left hand corner, the masthead breaks Kerrang! tradition in the fact that the masthead is white and not one of the more alternative colours Kerrang! normally adopts (such as the bold yellow). This makes the masthead, just the colour scheme, seem more 'high-class'. The font however, is given an almost destructed look, (e.g. the edges seem chipped almost, and the font almost has the look of broken glass (connoting violence and even vandalism which are all somewhat negative association with the classical rock and roll music Kerrang! became associated with).

• The colour scheme itself (with the almost 'high-class' look) was, I believe incorporated into this specific issue of Kerrang! to fit in with the look of the main image, which in itself breaks many of the conventions of Kerrang!.

• The first way in which it does this is because the model is female, which isn't incredibly common in music magazine front covers today. This appeals to male audiences, because she is depicted as being very attractive and in the fact that she seems very confident (slight smile, eye contact with the camera,) female audiences would like this as they are showing her as very confident and strong.

• The shot is a medium close up (it shoes from the shoulders upwards,) and this, combined with her appearance , (the make up and black clothes) comes across as the sort of image you would expect on the front of a fashion or beauty magazine (such as vogue) and not what you would expect on Kerrang!. However, the fact that she is wearing black with the black make up and black hair, show that the almost Gothic image is being upheld.

• This would attract more female audiences as well, because it is reminiscent of magazines aimed at them. Also, while she may not be well known to a lot of people, to the particular audience of Kerrang! she will be very well known, which is why it is her dominating the front cover, and not other, more well known bands.

• This fact has however been considered because one of the secondary images is of a band called 'Green Day' who are a lot more well known in the U.K. This means that the secondary image will attract more people to buy the magazine, even if the main image does not. The other secondary image contains a picture of a live performance, which is a lot more typical of Kerrang! than some of the other elements.

• The main cover line relates directly directly to the main image as it is about the band in which she is the lead singer. It also refers to her as a "Metal Goddess", which, like the main image, keeps Kerrang!'s image (of a Metal magazine,) while having a non-typical portrayal of her, similar to that of a beauty magazine (describing her as a Goddess).

• Being a commercial product the magazine has a price and a bar code. The price of the magazine is around £2.50-£3.00. This is because the magazine is not very exclusive, as it caters for a wide range of people, but due to the specific nature of the music it features the price is slightly more than that of other magazines (such as television magazines, for instance,) which are consumed on a much larger scale.

• The rest of the cover lines, and the box and border around one of the secondary images all follow the red/black/white colour scheme, which I believe is very pleasing on the eyes and gives the magazine a very modern and more mainstream look, while still managing to please the target audience by sticking to the conventions Kerrang! upholds.

• There is also reference to the website and television channel near the bar code, which shows a lot more about the different institutions which make up Kerrang!, and shows how successful it is (as it has a website, radio station, television station and a magazine).