Rocksound magazine - issue 141 analysis

Magazine Analysis Rocksound magazine- issue 141
Front Cover

This magazine is called Rocksound which has connotations of loud, angry teenagers. The text is big, black, bold and written in capital letters which implies a perhaps more masculine audience. The text is surrounded by a jagged, white edge that could be considered and angry effect and therefore again more masculine. Thought the white tones down the black a little bit more and helps bring the text forward. The headline is mounted on the blue background which has connotations of a male audience. I think that the magazine would appeal to 15-19 year olds.

The magazine is promoted by one band ‘A day to Remember’. This band’s genre is heavy, scream metal that appeals to a more male audience. However, the attractive picture of the all male band might attract a female audience too. The magazine relies on this one band to sell the magazine as it is the main article, this suggests that the magazine is successful and independent. The shot is a medium long shot which mainly focuses on the faces of the band, this helps promote the band and their music as well as sell the magazine. Whilst the lower half of the image has been shadowed to black to focus on the faces of the artists. The men are screaming with hands in the air implying eccentricity and excitement, again, relating to the mainly male audience. The image shows that the band is all about having fun and not taking themselves too seriously.

The cover lines suggest a younger audience. ‘Dick kicks ass’ and ‘gang fights and surfing’ these are things that would appeal to a teenage audience that might have violent, aggressive personalities or are into aggressive music. It also has sexual connotations; ‘Dick kicks ass’ points towards a more male audience. Again, the text is written in a blue font and white accent which suggests a mainly male audience.

The language on the magazine is chosen carefully to try and sell the magazine. The phrase ‘free posters’ is offering extras which you might not get with other magazine, it makes the offer seem exclusive and you might not find the same posters again if you don’t buy the magazine. This appeals to the audience because you are getting more for your money £3.90. ‘The sound of now’ in bold letters makes it current and suggests a younger audience because younger people will want to keep up with the latest trends and tunes more than someone that may be middle aged, say 30 years old. At the bottom of the page, bands like ‘Slipknot’, ‘Cradle of Filth’ and ‘Every time I die’ suggest that the audience have a more aggressive personality and are interested in ‘hardcore’ music.

Finally, the magazine offers the 3 free posters just in case the rest of the magazine has failed to attract you. The magazine advertises this offer by putting ‘3x’ in big bold letters on a pug in the shape of a splatter. This pug suggests that the audience might have artistic, messy personalities or perhaps musicians themselves.

Magazine Analysis Rocksound magazine- issue 141
Double page spread

There are only 2 pictures of the double page spread, one take up a whole page. It’s of the lead singer of Weezer. Weezer are a band that choose to dress themselves as ‘geeks’, polo shirts and nerdy glasses don’t suit their style of music which is of an indie/rock genre. The main image is focused on Hurley’s face which shows the iconic ‘nerd’ glasses. I think this image has been used to grab the reader’s attention, it give you a massive clue as to what the article will be about and will appeal to fans of Weezer as you can use the image as a poster. The colours used are mainly green/grey which show that the fans of the band will probably be male, though the main picture may be attractive to a female audience. The smaller picture is on the article side of the double page spread and the text is wrapped around it to keep the page neat and tidy rather than chaotic, this might imply that the audience is interested in getting all the information in one place rather than having to dash around reading little bits, this then also implies that the audience is intelligent and wants to get a lot of information out of the article.

The layout of the magazine is very neat. The information is in 2 columns, one is slightly wider than the other, which suggests that the most important bits of information will be in the wider piece of text. Text is wrapped around the images carefully to keep each thing separated and to make it look a lot less messy. The pull quote on the left hand page is in a blocked/computerised style font which links in with the dress sense/image of the artist- the typical ‘computer geek’ look. The headline is in the same font, but quite a lot larger and has a blocked white border around it which brings the text forward and presents the band in a dramatic way, this helps draw your attention to the article after looking at the main picture for a while. All of the text is white on this article, which stands out from the dark green background but is also neutral and fits in with the natural colour scheme; the font is Veranda, which is easy to read.

The headline of the article is ‘smiling eyes’ which links to the happy expression on the artist’s face, it has connotations that the article is about how the band has progressed and built up their career to a point where they are happy with what they are doing. We also get this impression from the sub-heading; ‘Behind that enigmatic grin is a man who knows his band is kicking ass and taking names once again. We caught up with Rivers Cuomo to find out who it feels to be on top of the world again, and how ‘Hurley’ has been 12 years in the making…’ The headline is positive, which will appeal to people who are fans of the band, the purpose is to please the readers/buyers of the magazine so that they might buy it again. ‘Engimatic grin’ relates to the main image and the ‘Smiling eyes’ headline. It also adds a personal flare to it by referring to Rivers as his nickname- ‘Hurley’.