Music genre explanation

My chosen music genre is going to be focused on ‘Metal’ and any other sub-genres such as ‘Metalcore’ and ‘grindcore’.

The main cultural elements of this genre are its aggressive. Most fans who listen to this genre have long hair and are classified as ‘moshers’ or ‘metal heads’. Most metal bands create massive sound, characterised by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity. Black Sabbath and the many metal bands they inspired have concentrated lyrically on dark and depressing subject matter such as personal traumas.  It also covers self-explanatory issues which are in the songs 'War Pigs' and 'Hand of Doom.' Nuclear annihilation was addressed in later metal songs such as Black Sabbath's "Electric Funeral", Iron Maiden's "2 Minutes To Midnight", Ozzy Osbourne's "Killer of Giants", Megadeth's "Rust In Peace...” and Metallica's "Fight Fire With Fire". Death is a predominant theme in heavy metal. The more extreme forms of ‘death metal’ and ‘grindcore’ tend to have aggressive and gory lyrics.

Heavy metal songs often feature outlandish, fantasy-inspired lyrics, lending them an escapist quality. Iron Maiden's songs, for instance, were frequently inspired by mythology, fiction, and poetry, such as Iron Maiden's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", based on the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem. Led Zeppelin lyrics often reference Lord of the Rings as well as other mythology and folklore, such as in the songs "The Battle of Evermore", "Immigrant Song", "Ramble On", "No Quarter", and "Achilles Last Stand".

The usual basic stereotypical attire of metal fans is blue jeans, denim/leather jackets, boots and black t-shirts. T-shirts are generally covered in logos or any other images of favourite bands. There are other elements of clothing which is worn such as chains, metal studs, skulls and crosses, these articles of clothing are stereotypically worn by 'Goths'.

I’ve done some investigating into the representation of metal through things like Album artwork. However, one of the best sources I feel that highlights the distinct imagery is a video game known as “Brutal Legend” “ Brutal Legend” is, in itself, designed as a kind of homage or tribute to the classic view of Rock and Metal music, particularly as far as design goes. In the game, you are thrust into a world based upon the artwork ad themes of metal, such as a hellish underworld, gigantic stone swords jutting out of the ground, massive amps forming cliffs, dungeons filled with spiders spinning string of metal, and other such imagery from different sub-cultures of metal. A great deal of this can be anchored to specific album covers, like so: The idea of ‘ hardcore’ metal really stems from these mythical ideas, These ‘brutal legends’. Modern Swedish metal band ‘Sabaton’s’ latest album features songs that pertain to many significant battles and occurrences within the past 100 years, such as the Greco-Italian war, the Warsaw uprising, and the Holocaust as well as the Second world war in general. This puts a modern twist on the fairly old-style rooted nature of Metal. A lot of these types of images can be pulled from ideas like mythology, particularly Norse Mythology . The extreme types of satanic and gory images draw from the common factors in legends of blood and steel, or blood and metal . These can often be very gritty dark and brutal myths, such as Odin, the Norse god of death, war and battle, often seen astride his eight legged horse Sleipnir.




Battles and war often seem to be a prevalent part of metal songs and their representation. The idea of a battle against adversity to reach a goal, like a road or some such, is a very American idea. Nickelback’s Album “The Long Road” is one such example of this type of iconography. Conversely, going solely from the aspect of legend, the styles can expand into fantasy, such as with the covers of work by ‘DragonForce’ .




The Horns was a phenomenon of heavy metal subculture. Initially it was used by Ronnie James Dio so he could have a hand gesture in the same sense as one of his most respected Metal artists, Ozzy Osborne (Who often raised the ‘Peace’ Sign during concerts). Dio’s Grandmother used to make it to ward off the “evil eye”, a fairly old but traditional superstition, and he took it as his own, turning into one of the representative signatures of Metal. Metal Fashion is typical that of leather, or fairly large, silver or iron jewellery, such as the distinctive belt buckle shown. Glam Metal subcultures go much further, having the dramatically large hair, flashier, brighter clothes and more flamboyant nature, typically.


Magazines that are currently in publication which cover this genre are Metalhammer, Classic rock and Kerrang.

The features they have in their magazines, for example Metalhammer, are brutal. This is connoted by their aggressive facial expressions.


Here are some artists that I feel represent the genre well:

Music genre: youtube videos that are a part of the genre. on Prezi

Music magazine front cover analysis - LIIAR

This is a niche music magazine and from the front cover I can tell that there will a lot about bands and music inside.

The main target audience for Kerrang magazine are 15-19 year olds who are interested in rock/punk/grunge/indie music etc. I get this impression because of the bands listed at the bottom of the cover who will be inside the issue and because of the central image of the magazine.

The main image is a picture of a man who is being tattooed by a woman. They are both heavily tattooed and the picture is quite dramatic. It is obvious to readers that the man is the main focus of the central image and he is looking at readers with a direct mode of address.

The expression on his face is not that welcoming. You kind of get the sense that he is being very protective and is saying stay away…back off. But even though he is doing this it is evident that he wants readers to read about him and to buy the magazine.

The anchorage text says: “Under the skin of Matt Heafy TRIVIUM”
the anchorage text is referring to his tattoos. Some people might get the idea that he is quite tough because of his many tattoos and this portrays the idea of him being rebellious.

People who have “alternative lifestyles” e.g. Goths, punks etc. are being represented in this magazine. They are represented as people who enjoy the “alternative lifestyle” and everything that goes along with it. i.e. hard core rock music and tattoos which are the usual stereotypes.

The design of the block title connotes that the magazine is quite edgy. This is because the title looks like it has been smashed.

The title in particular gives me a lot of information about the entire magazine. From the title “Kerrang” The magazine has something to do with music because of the evident use of onomatopoeia. The word “Kerrang” sounds like a guitar being strummed and again links back to the theme as it is a music magazine. I can also tell what image is trying to be portrayed. An image of roughness, edginess, and uniqueness is being portrayed in this magazine. And the style of the magazine is very dark but at the same time very vibrant.

There are puffs on the front cover and they tell me that there will be free posters inside, and tells me about the bands/artists being interviewed inside. Because of the types of bands mentioned I can see that the magazine is being targeted to maybe teenage girls because the bands are mostly young males. Also because the names of the bands are listed at the bottom of the cover I it will help readers because they can see exactly what will be in the magazine.

The slogan of this magazine is…..LIFE IS LOUD. Again it links back to the musical attributes of the magazine and is linked with sound, noise and gives the image of being live. It might help to attract readers because from the slogan they can tell that it will be a music magazine and one that is quite edgy, loud and typically ‘rock and roll’.

The colours used on the front cover are quite dark, there is a lot of black and the colours reflect the stereotypes of this type of music. Surprisingly I do find the colours attractive but other might not agree. The fonts used are not to complex or fancy but they are all bold and thick which again gives an idea of toughness. The cover of “Kerrang” magazine always has a range of rock sub-genres so that it attracts as many of the audience as possible.

The magazine uses a prize to help entice readers into buying such as posters. They do this to keep the current readers satisfied and might even do special offers such as free CD’s, stickers and calendars etc. to help attract new ones.

The target audience for this particular magazine are young males who are interested in musicians and bands such as ‘Trivium’, ‘Madina Lake’ and other bands of this nature. I can tell this because both of the bands that I mentioned are featured on the front cover and these bands take up all but one of the puffs on the front cover. The magazine is looking to attract readers who are into this “pop-rock boy band” image, people who enjoy this type of music and take pleasure in going to gigs and festivals to see these musicians perform.

The cover image is of a band named You Me At Six and the way in which they are addressing the audience is in quite a cool manner and reflects their ‘pop punk’ persona. They are all looking directly at readers but the lead singer is making a face. A face that looks as if he is screaming in shock, which again adds to their persona and gives the band an edge.

Also the anchorage text leads me to believe that the band is quite new on the scene because of the phrase: “Rocks New Hotshots You Me At Six Doing It Their Way”

This also leads me to believe that they are quite edgy because it says that they are doing it their way which means they must be different from other bands. Also the band have a very strong base and the editors know that these fans will buy the magazine because the band are on the front cover, so in turn they most probably will help to boost magazine sales.

The message that the band are sending out is a message of happiness and they are quite welcoming. They are connecting with readers because of them looking directing at the audience and the smiles on their faces. Their poses also portray them as quite laid back and are showing them in a positive light.



There many other anchorage words on this cover such as ‘new’ and ‘hotshots’. This adds life to the cover and makes the band seem more exciting. I think that the use of many buzz words on this page is very clever as it draws readers in when they glance at the cover.

The title of the magazine is written at the top of the page and it has a kind of broken glass effect. This could be interpreted as the smashing of a glass or mirror maybe by a guitar which links back to the rock and roll lifestyle that this magazine is trying to portray.

The title is black which is a neutral colour and because the artists are placed over the title it shows that the magazine is quite popular, because it can still be identified without the title being in full view. Also the magazine builds up its image as it uses the same colours on every cover which is black & white.

The puffs on the front cover are all involving white males who are the target audience for this magazine. They suggest the magazine will be solely about these types of boy bands and music of that particular genre.

On the front cover a wide range of colours are used but black is the colour that stands out most. This is typical because this colour is associated with males and is seen as quite a hard and rough, colour. This again shows that the magazine is targeting towards males. There are other colours that are on the page such as yellow, green and red which could be seen as them also trying to attract people that are not necessarily part of their target audience.

The magazine uses competitions such as “free posters” to help attract readers to make them feel like they are getting more for their money. Using this strategy is very clever as some people might even buy the magazine just so that they can get the free posters.

NME is a niche music magazine and from the front cover this is very evident. This shows readers that there will be information about new bands and new music being delivered very fast to people who will to read the magazine.

The target audience of this particular magazine are young people who are interested in new up and coming rock/indie musicians & bands such as Kaiser Chiefs and the Arctic Monkeys who are featured on this particular cover, males in particular. I can tell this because in one of the puffs on the page it is featuring a new band and telling readers that it is their very first interview.

The cover image features the Arctic monkeys and the way in which they are addressing the audience is quite friendly & approachable. The lead singer is looking straight at readers and the rest of the band look quite laid back and are smiling. This shows that they want the readers to like them and they want a good connection with their fans and readers of the magazine. This may be due to the fact that the Artic Monkeys found fame from Myspace so they do have a dose relationship with their fans. Also the picture of the band is in black and white which is associated with the past. This could be interpreted as the magazine trying to show that the band have almost become classic and are like the great bands of the past years.

I think that the magazine editor chose to have the Arctic Monkeys on the front cover because they represent what NME is. They were new and up and coming on the scene until now. Now they are well known and quite a successful indie/rock band in the UK. They appeal to the target audience who buy this magazine and by having them on the cover it could also boost sales as they are the band that everyone wants to read/ know about at the moment.

They are connecting with readers although they are not all addressing them directly because of their laid-back attitude and the smiles on their faces this message is still being projected.

In this magazine a certain group of people are being represented. A group of people who are interested in rock/indie music more specifically white males. The magazine represents them as glad and laid-back and are showing them in a positive light.

There is anchorage on this cover which is “kicking off” which makes the band sound more exciting and adds a sense of danger.

The title of the magazine is written in bold and is does not really blend in with the rest of the font and text on the cover. It stands out. This shows that they want the title to be noticed by readers and even though there is a cover image to be focused on the title is still very important. Also the colour red shows vibrancy and again can also represent danger which gives the magazine an edge. This links to the readership of the magazine, people who are edgy, vibrant and unique.

On the front cover a wide range of colours are used but pink is the main colour that is noticeable. This is unusual because of the fact that the target audience for the magazine are young, white, males. But this also shows that the magazine might have done this to maybe attract people who are from other backgrounds and females as well. All the colours on the cover are quite vibrant, lively and are quite pleasing to most people. All the fonts used are bold and again this shows vibrancy and energy.

The magazine uses phrases such as “their first interview” and “backstage at the UK’s hottest tour” to help attract readers. Doing this makes readers feel that they are getting inside information. The latest news and can really help to attract more readers.

Convention terms of a music magazine cover

Left Third: they're graphics that take up the left third of the magazine.


Cover line: A caption on a magazine cover


Masthead: The title of a newspaper or magazine at the head of the front.


Sell lines: It's a method of selling: to attractive buyers and be popular on the market.


Barcode: is the small image of lines and spaces that is affixed to retail store items. The code uses a sequence of vertical bars and spaces to represent numbers and other symbols.


Dateline: A phrase at the beginning of a newspaper or magazine article that gives the date and place of its origin.


Splash: The whole front cover


Credit: A line acknowledging the source or origin of a news dispatch, published article, or other work.


Kicker: A message that 'kicks' the user from page to page. 


Teller:  the subheading that informs the reader what the article's about.


Skyline: A line above the masthead.


Flash: advertising free CDs for example.


Graphology: The study of handwriting, especially when employed as a means of analyzing character.


Anchorage: Fixing of meaning


Colour scheme: The colours which are used within the magazine.


Vocabulary: Words used to attract buyers.


Screamers: A catchy headline.


Images: the pictures used in magazines to attract the buyer. Helps to make the page more interesting. It can add understanding of a story.

The brief - music magazine

Main task - the cover page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by myself - minimum of four images. The presentation of the research, planning and evaluation may take the form of any one, or combination of two or more of the following: a presentation using slide show software such as PowerPoint, blog and a pod cast.

Ideas for online version

GoAnimate.com: Ideas for magazine online version by Dan.T

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Promoting the launch of my magazine.

GoAnimate.com: How you would promote the launch of your magazine by Dan.T

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LIIAR evaluation of my own work

Language - My college magazine uses the following conventions which are: Anchorage. This is shown by the text "Psychology student aces test" This brings the audience's member to the student who is holding the psychology texts back and makes them wonder what the student could have possibly done to be featured in this article. The student holding the psychology book is the main brand image on this college magazine cover. He is dressed in a sophisticated smart manner. For example, he is wearing a leather jack which gives off the sense of high class. I have chosen what the model wore for this carefully. In the picture he is wearing a scarf which ties in with the autumn term. I choose psychology as it's a really academic subject which reflects Wyke's high expectations.

I have positioned the headline at the top (which is where it usually is in typical magazines) and made the main headline stand out from the other tellers by using the colour purple which is the house style of Wyke college. I have used an thumbnail image which is the Wyke asterisk, I decided to use this as it's used in other Wyke products such as the prospectus and it keeps a house style. There is a mini lead which is the UCAS article, the 'UCAS' is in capitals to emphasise how important a successful university application is and how it must be constructed correctly to get into their desired university.

The mast head 'Wyke college' is placed at the top (as per usual in traditional magazines), it is the original Wyke title which is featured in all of it's publications and I thought it would be best to use this as it keeps consistency, people can easily recognise it and it keeps the house style. It is purple and this colour represents wisdom, these connotations reflect the attitude and characteristics needed from a student at Wyke and which is why I choose the original title.

The revision posters are a insentive to possibly purchase the magazine too as it may help with their revision schedule, it could be classed as a teasing content as it's placed along the bottom. The text 'revision techniques' is a puff which promotes the revision poster inside. There is slight intertextuality usage which is the 'back to reality' text which is originated from the phrase 'back to school', I decided to use this as it marks another year at wyke.


Institution - The magazine would be made by Wyke college. Because it would be improving performance such as the revision content which is inside and it informs the audience the lastest news.


Ideology - The message which is conveyed through this magazine is that Wyke is a  college which takes it's subjects seriously because it wants people to succeed. This is shown by the revision material which is offered. It has sophisticated values which is shown by the student wearing the leather jacket and by him smiling which reflects his postive attitude to learn. Because it wants to show off the best, to compete with  It's conveys the message that students can have fun whilst studying there which is shown by the New York trip because it's important to balance studies and social life so that the student has a good life at college.

Audience - The target audience for the magazine will be 16-19 year old students within the college. The magazine is aimed at students at demographic E level which is students who are working to be somebody in life. I aimed to attract the audience by offering revision posters, they may be looking for ways to revise and this will intrigue them as it may help the audience. Another way in which I use to attract the audience is the New York trip, it's a chance to go abroad and they be intrigued by this opportunity. It could be aimed at seperate audiences, such as one side who are finding out about trips, social events such as the freshers party and the other side could be just looking at it for educational purposes, such as the revision.


Representation - My magazine represents what a stereotypical male student would look like. He's wearing a leather jacket which is rather stylish and gives off the impression students at wyke dress well. It represents a positive view as the model is smiling in the picture. The student appears to be reading a Psychology book which represents the studying and so from this the audience can create a mental picture where lot of students revise and study during their spare time. Psychology is a high demanding subject which represents the academic levels at Wyke, you have to own the right grades to succeed. It sort of represents students in a negative view as you can see a earphone wire embeded in the scarf. Stduents aren't supposed to be listening to music during studying. However, if they're quiet and get on with their work; it's acceptable.