Kerrang Magazine front cover analysis

•           A VERY busy front cover with no negative space, which is pretty typical of kerrang’s house style. This is done to appeal to their demographic, which I would suggest is males, aged between 16 (mid teens) -25 (mid twenties). Their is also the choice of celebrity chosen to appear in the feature article photo, as this would be a key incentive to who will buy the magazine and why. Kerrang is a rock mag, so to put a pop or jazz band on the cover would be not only unconventional but completely outside their demographic. 
•           Cover photo in front of masthead with all plugs again flush left and flush right, 5 colours on this front cover (unconventional) red, blue, yellow, black and white. The key colours are used here as they are completely in contrast to one another, this helps build up that every growing sense of anarchy and tension on the page.
•           The background is very busy, yet image is candid which is unconventional for other mags yet not at all for Kerrang! This again reinforces why it would appeal to their demographic.
•           Running head seems to squeeze the entire cover together, this gives it a sense that the mag is about to implode upon itself, then theirs the masthead, the font used seems as though it has shattered under the ‘pressure’. This style will appeal to their demographic as we can clearly see that the type of people who would buy this magazine what the chaos that accompanies it. They do not care how the older generation see them, and if nothing else, they are proud of that. Their music is their lifestyle. 
•           To contrast the ‘chaos’ is a very interesting cover photo of a rather chilled out looking ‘Gerald Ways’ a man well known by music critics for his very dark, deathly and in some cases suicidal lyrics. This would explain the plug ‘the music that saved Gerald Way’s life’. For anyone with knowledge of that, this would instantly become an interesting mag to pick up and read. Although it is a risky move to make by Kerrang as it would be reasonable to assume that it was not at the for-front of any newspapers and so in many ways narrows their monthly demographic.
•           Denotations- younger man, looking straight into the eyes of the reader, lying upon a bed of records. Feature article photo is in front of masthead, and nearly all plugs and puffs.
•           Connotations- crazy, intense and pressurized, this magazine clearly knows its target audience and aims it directly at them. This is viable for kerrang as few other magazines has such a well-known, yet niche style. To contrast this ‘craziness’ is the very relaxed looking figure in the feature article photo, which creates a dramatic contrast, naturally making it very eye catching.