The document compares and contrasts the covers of two music magazines: Kerrang! and Top of the Pops (TOTP). Some key differences noted are that Kerrang! targets an older male audience with darker imagery and simpler layout, while TOTP targets younger females with brighter imagery, more organized layout, and sneak previews of articles. Both magazines use conventions of their respective genres (rock for Kerrang! and pop for TOTP) and feature artists that appeal to their target audiences.

1. Music Magazines
Presentation Task –
KERRANG! & Top Of The Pops
Scott Goodwin

2.  The background is just a simple plain white/pale grey backdrop, which means
there are no distractions from the subjects in the central image.
 As for the AC/DC members‟ clothing, only a few things are typical of the rock
genre, such as the ripped-arms on the black vest, and the black colours in
their clothing. Other than that though; suits and flat caps are not typical of the
rock genre, as a suit and tie connotes sophisticated music, while flat caps
suggest country music, and create the stereotypical image of a farmer.
However the misuse of the suit and tie could suggest a rebellious element to
the band, which of course is a typical convention of the rock genre. The body
language and facial expressions however do suggest a presence of the rock
genre, as the almost angry-looking face of Angus Young (left) connotes the
whole idea of being „extreme‟ which is usually associated with rock. Even the
laid-back facial expressions and folded arms of Brian Johnson, on the
right, have a connotation of rock, as these suggest rock ideas of being „cool‟
and a bit careless and reckless
 The style of language is quite simple and there isn‟t a whole lot of it; not
making the cover too complicated. This magazine is aimed mainly at a male
audience, so this is appropriate, as men stereotypically like things to be laid
out plain and simple. The text itself mainly consists of band names and buzz
words like „exclusive!‟ and „Free Posters!‟ and also uses a superlative- „The
world‟s greatest rock & roll band‟
Analysing Mise-en-scene &
Style of Language used

3.  Kerrang! seems to be trying to appeal to younger
audiences as well as older audiences. For example, having
AC/DC as the central (cover) image suggests an audience
of an older generation of approximately 30-50 years old or
maybe even above. However, featuring a younger band
such as „You me at six‟ widens Kerrang!‟s audience, and
lowers the age range to late teens (about 16/18) all the
way up to 50 years old.
 The colour scheme suggests a male audience, as red, black
and white are colours which are usually stereotypically
associated with males.
Who do you think the core target
audience is for Kerrang! ? Give
examples to support your ideas.

4.  From the cover, it is suggested that the core target
audience enjoys going to tours and seeing their favourite
rock bands play; for example- “Metallica UK Tour
Exclusive!”. There are also other mentions here and there
about tours and the variations in rock bands and
performers suggests the core target audience like a wide
range of bands and individuals of the rock genre
What information can you learn about
the lifestyle profile/interests of the
core target audience from the front
cover? Give examples to support your
ideas.

5.  There are plenty of rock conventions present on this magazine cover, one being the
colour scheme used; red, white and black are all colours which are usually
associated with the rock genre. The clothing in all of the photos appears to be black
too, and there are lots of dark colours used throughout the photos
 In a few of the photos, typical rock genre clothes are worn, such as a black ripped-
arm vest, and leather jackets.
 In several of the photos, the band members or individual performers have
long, messy hair which is typical of the rock genre
 The strange masks in the photo of Slipknot look menacing and rebellious which are
connotations which are usually associated with the rock genre
 The Masthead looks cracked and damaged which is another aspect of the rock
genre; being reckless and sometimes destructive. Also, the „cracked‟ masthead
emphasises the idea that the word „Kerrang‟ is onomatopoeia for the crashing sound
of a drum cymbal; the drums being a popular instrument for the rock genre.
 The layout isn‟t very organised, and some text is on a slant which supports the idea
of being messy and a bit careless; another connotation of the rock genre.
What music magazine genre codes
& conventions can you identify?

6.  When looking at other issues of Kerrang!, an aspect of the house style
which is consistent throughout each issue are the colours black and white;
the masthead is always black and white (although the background and
text of the masthead often alternate between black and white) and other
features on the cover such as puffs and buzz words are often black or
white coloured font. Other than black and white, the house style often
consists of a third and sometimes a fourth colour, but these alternate
every article and although red is used quite frequently; it isn‟t used on
every article, as the third and fourth colour can vary between
golds, yellows, blues and many other colours.
 The layout often has two or three smaller photos across the bottom, with
anchorage text just below them, and although the photos and text are
often in boxes, they are usually arranged quite messily and give the
„careless‟ appearance which the rock genre often connotes.
 The anchorage text for the main (central) image is usually the largest font
size (other than the Masthead) and is often tilted slightly to create
that, almost disorganised look, often associated with rock.
What elements of the house style
can you identify?

7.  Like in Kerrang!, the central image for Top Of The Pops (TOTP) has a plain
white/pale grey backdrop, which means nothing is distracting the reader from
the subject in the central image, or from the puffs and articles laid out on the
cover
 The clothing in the central image is brightly coloured, and consists of colours
stereotypically associated with the female gender, which is very different to
Kerrang!‟s central image which consists of very dark colours, and mainly black;
which stereotypically, is associated with males. Bright colours are also very
typical of the pop genre, while dark colours are generally colours associated
with rock.
 Britney‟s appearance in TOTP looks very clean-cut and styled in a specific way
which is often how pop stars are portrayed in the pop genre, while AC/DC look
slightly rugged with their long hair, and Brian Johnson‟s ripped-arm black
vest, and this is a look which is a consistent convention of rock which many
rock stars use.
 Britney‟s body language and facial expression is slightly seductive; and despite
pop stars being typically sensible and supposedly role models for children, this
seductive pose is something which female pop stars in the pop genre seem to
do quite frequently. Her gentle-looking facial expressions and small smile
connote innocence which is juxtaposed when looking at the facial expressions
of the AC/DC members; menacing, laid-back but quite tough looking.
Similarities and
differences between
Kerrang!’s and Top Of The
Pop’s mise-en-scene

8.  The layout for TOTP is much more organised than Kerrang! and this supports the typical conventions of the pop genre;
as pop is usually neat and styled. The articles listed on the left hand side are in a column layout, and fall in quite an
organised-looking way below the masthead. Although the anchorage text for the central image is slightly slanted
which is quite similar to Kerrang! as the rock genre is typically a bit rough and careless, it slots quite neatly in the
centre; again supporting the typical conventions of the pop genre.
 There is a lot more content on the cover of TOTP, as TOTP‟s core target audience are girls aged about 8-14; and
children prefer to see lots of interesting things rather than a scarce amount of articles on the cover; as children buy a
magazine based on appearance much more than teenagers and adults do. (Teenagers and adults usually buy a
magazine based on the articles themselves and who they involve. Children do too, but appearance plays a much
bigger part on a children‟s magazine). Kerrang!‟s cover consists of not as much content as TOTP, but still a fair
amount, just less writing about the article content and mainly only the mentioning of band names. This works well for
Kerrang!‟s core target audience, as males stereotypically like things to be laid out plain and simple and to the point;
they don‟t need sneak peeks of what the article is about on the cover to make them buy the magazine; they just need
to know which band is being interviewed. Kerrang!‟s layout is much less organised than TOTP‟s, and is quite „messy‟
which is a convention typical to the rock genre; often careless, quite disorganised and sometimes a bit rough.
 TOTP gives you much more information on the cover about articles inside than Kerrang! does and this is appropriate
for TOTP‟s core target audience, as the readers would be intrigued by these „sneak peaks‟ and „teasers‟ and this would
be a large selling point to the magazine. While Kerrang! only mentions band names and who‟s interviewed inside along
with mentions of tours and „Free Posters!‟.
 TOTP uses alliteration in the anchorage text for the central image „Oh Behave, Britney!‟ and uses a few buzz
words, like mentioning several „free!‟ things which come with the magazine, as well as a slang word which could be
considered a buzz word – „It‟s a whopper!‟
 The mode of address used in TOTP isn‟t very clear from the style of writing, as little of the anchorage text or other
pieces of text used on the cover seem to address the reader (eg- „you could win…‟ etc). There are however, rhetorical
questions asked on the cover, for example, “Which pop star was a school misfit?” and this creates a direct mode of
address, as the magazine appears to be personally asking the reader a question. Another point which supports this is
Britney is giving a direct gaze on the central image, which suggests the mode of address is direct to the reader.
Kerrang! is very similar in that sense, as the text itself does not seem to address the reader at all; as most of the text
is just band names. The images on the cover such as the central image of AC/DC and the image below of „You Me At
Six‟ however all have direct gazes; which connotes a direct mode of the address once again to the reader.
Layout, style of language
& mode of address

9.  TOTP complies to many of the typical pop music genre conventions, one of
which being the colour scheme used. The colour scheme consists of very bright
colours; which is a convention commonly used by the pop genre.
Specifically, the colours used are white, variations of pink, purple, and yellow.
Although these are all colours stereotypically associated with the female
gender; pop is mainly aimed at a female audience, and TOTP‟s core target
audience appears to be mainly young females (aged 10-15 years old) so these
colours are very appropriate for the magazine and its core target audience.
 The central image of Britney also fits many of the conventions of pop, as pop
stars typically are very stylised to make them look a particular way, they also
are very neat-looking and clean cut to create the look of „perfection‟ and
innocence. Both of these conventions agree to Britney‟s central image in
TOTP, as her clothing has been styled to look bright, bubbly and also connote
confidence, whilst Britney herself has been made to look innocent and very
clean-cut.
 Oddly; Britney‟s facial expressions and body language suggest an almost
seductive nature about them; which is surprising for a young girls‟ magazine-
as the BBC is meant to be trusted to send out a good message, and give
children appropriate role models. Although you‟d think that this doesn‟t fit
conventions of the pop genre, it is quite common for female pop stars to be
shown in this way; therefore this magazine cover fits another pop genre
convention.
 The masthead for TOTP is very rounded, and quite clear and bold; and this
could be suggested to comply to a pop genre convention; as the very rounded
font could suggest the idea again of „perfection‟, whilst the neat boxed-layout
of the masthead could fit the pop convention of being very stylised.
Music Genre Conventions

10.  In TOTP, the artists featured are Britney Spears, Eminem, and S-Club. Britney Spears (at the time
this magazine was released) was very popular with many young girls (pre-teens to teenagers)
which makes Britney a perfect artist to use for the central image; as the core target audience of
TOTP is young girls aged 10–15, meaning in theory; they would be the right age group and gender
to be big fans of Britney. Eminem is a bit of an oddball for TOTP‟s core target audience; as you
wouldn‟t expect to see him on the magazine – he isn‟t exactly the best role model for the children
reading the magazine, especially as he is known to swear in most/all of his songs, which is even
suggested by the anchorage text below the image, “Another [BLEEP]-ing Eminem interview”. The
audience Eminem appeals to doesn‟t exactly mirror the audience which TOTP appeals to; as you
would expect Eminem‟s audience to consist of mainly males ages 15-25; which certainly isn‟t the
target audience for TOTP magazine. S-Club suits the target audience for TOTP well, as they both
have a similar audience they appeal to. S-Club‟s target audience consisted of children both female
and males of about 7-13 (Maybe even a bit above) and despite S-Club having a slightly lower age
range and a mixed gender of audience, S-Club are still appropriate for TOTP, as they are a pop
band, but are also good role models for the children readers (as opposed to Eminem).
 As Kerrang! has a very different core target audience to TOTP; their range of artists featured are
almost the opposite of the artists featured in TOTP. The artists featured consist of AC/DC, You Me
At Six, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. AC/DC have a very wide age range in their target audience, as
they were very popular in the past, but they have also made a comeback recently; making them
more popular with younger audiences. AC/DC appeals to an audience of mainly males aged 30-50,
but also many fans aged 16-25 which widens their target audience from ages 16-50; this fits
Kerrang!‟s target audience well, as there is such a wide range of fans of AC/DC. You Me at Six
appeal to quite a young audience, and the target audience‟s ages certainly don‟t go as high as 50
years old. This tells me that Kerrang! is trying to appeal to all ages; featuring both older bands
and younger bands. Red Hot Chili Peppers, like AC/DC, also have a wide age range for their target
audience; as they were formed 29/30 years ago. The audience Red Hot Chili Peppers appeal to are
mainly males aged 15-45; which fits the wide age range that Kerrang! already has.
Music artists featured and the
audience they appeal to

11.  Both TOTP and Kerrang! come with „free‟ items. TOTP came with „Free pop badges‟, whilst Kerrang came
with „Free posters‟. These could be considered special features to the magazines, as well as selling
techniques to make you buy and read the whole magazine just for the free badges or posters. TOTP‟s
articles on the cover give hints to what the articles inside are about; and tempt the reader into reading the
complete magazine, whilst Kerrang! only mentions band names on the cover, and who they‟ve interviewed.
Although Kerrang! doesn‟t use the same techniques to make you read the whole magazine as TOTP, only
mentioning band names rather than story hints appeals to males more (Kerrang! being a mainly male
audience of readers) as males stereotypically like things plain and simple, and the little information and
detail on the cover appeals to the male eye more than cheesy story sneak peeks, and lots of information
about „what‟s inside?‟
 Many of TOTP‟s articles on the cover give little sneak peeks into the stories inside without giving too much
away. This really tempts TOTP‟s target audience and makes them desperately want to find out more about
the articles. Often, the article stories on the cover aren‟t always the same as the stories inside; as they‟ve
been cleverly worded to intrigue you, when in fact; there really was no interesting story at all, or the story
turned out to be some misunderstanding. The rhetorical questions on the cover, “Which pop star was a
school misfit?” and “What‟s given Jon S-Club the hump?” create a direct mode of address to the
reader, making them feel more involved with the magazine, and again; making them want to read on.
 As for Kerrang!‟s techniques used to make you read the whole magazine; they are very different from
TOTP. There aren‟t any real sneak-peeks on the cover to tempt you to read the whole article, only the
mention of band names (who they interviewed). The mention of band names is certainly a selling point for
Kerrang!, as the bands are quite popular; especially with Kerrang!‟s target audience, therefore the reader
would be eager to find out what one of their favourite bands said, in the interview. The puffs and smaller
images on the cover and the use of popular band names are Kerrang!‟s main techniques used to make you
read the whole magazine. There are other techniques, such as the mention of free posters; but also the
mention of tours – as readers would be eager to find out the dates for the tours; as most of the readers
would be eager followers of the bands in the magazine; so seeing them on tour would be ideal for them.
Special features & articles
& Overall techniques used
to make you read the
complete magazine