| Product: |
Kerrang! |
| Date: |
18/10/06 (667 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Informative, often well written and generally entertaining
Disadvantages: Occasionally gives more credit than should be to passing fads
Kerrang! has been at the forefront of alternative-music journalism for over 20 years, covering genres that include, (though are not specifically limited to) rock, indie, metal, punk and in recent years emo. This certainly isn't a magazine that would appeal to your average 'Top 40' fan. Having since become a radio station, an MTV-type music TV channel, as well as creating the world-renowned 'Kerrang! Awards', the magazine is where it all began.
Kerrang! is published every week on a Wednesday and has reviews of gigs and albums, interviews with bands or individuals, as well as news of general going's on in the alternative-music world. It also has letters from the readers, a section at the back for small ads, (where people can advertise for pen pals, anything they have for sale, etc.) and it has also in recent months started doing posters. The price is about £2.
The design of the magazine is very reader-friendly, often with clear headings informing you of exactly what section you're reading. The album and gig reviews are sectioned off well so it's easy for your eye and I've never found myself wondering which text applies to which picture, etc.
The gig reviews are often a good way to read about how good (or bad) a band is live and generally the reviews are balanced, though depending on who attended the gig the writing is sometimes a little biased in one direction or another. Generally speaking though, the reviews are objectively written and informative. Using a rating system called K's, 1-K is a poor rating, whilst 5-K is the best you can achieve, (though I have once seen a gig reviewed with 10-K, a testament to how passionate the writer was about performance). Sometimes the rating can be down to the writer's personal taste, but on the whole the ratings are consistent and you can get a good idea for whether or not you'd like to watch a band live by combination of reading the review and rating.
Equally, the reviews of albums are very useful. Using the same K-rating system, they typically give you a breakdown of the band (especially if it's a debut album) and then of the album itself. Some of these reviews can be a little short, but this is made up for by providing a 'Download' and 'For Fans Of' section at the end of every review. The 'For Fans Of' is a good (though not always perfect) way of determining whether you'd enjoy the music, but the 'Download' bit I've found invaluable as it gives you a chance to listen to particular tracks to make your own decision on the matter. With these handy-hints I've been able to get into some very good bands I probably wouldn't have otherwise of come across and I've found it a great way to expand your music collection.
The interviews can be a little hit and miss, depending on how interested you are in the bands/people being interviewed. They won't always appeal to everyone, but there is normally a range of other articles that will appeal to most people. I like the balance they strike between 'new' and 'established' acts and, for example, one week the interview could be with 'Paramore', (a relatively up and coming band at the time of writing), the next week it could be with 'Metallica', or 'Me First And The Gimmes'.
The posters probably won't appeal to everyone, but they generally are very good shots and a good way to adorn your walls with pictures of your favourite bands. Probably of more interest to the 'younger' generation of readers than those with kids of their own, I still think it's a good freebie and must admit that my walls are plastered with Kerrang! posters.
With a wide range of contributor’s the writing style often varies from writer to writer, but the overall content and flow of the magazine is generally well edited and always easy to read. Quite often the writing is humorous and entertaining too; I've never felt like I'm being spoken down to as the language is quite casual, more the way you'd normally talk to your friends about the music that interests you both.
The appeal of the content depends very much on your personal taste in music; generally speaking the magazine does cover several genres and you can typically find a few things worth reading. One of my personal favourite sections is 'Six Things We Didn't Know Last Week', which gives you random bits of trivia about bands, people or records. Whilst perhaps not of interest to everyone, I find these are often quite amusing and sometimes even quite insightful.
Occasionally they also include free CDs and DVDs, which I've always found to be of a high and entertaining quality. This doesn’t affect the price of the magazine, so they are genuine 'freebies'. A particular favourite of mine is 'Re-mastered', a 20th anniversary reworking of Metallica's classic metal album, 'Master Of Puppets', where the entire album has been re-recorded by new bands as a tribute to Metallica. Generally their CDs are a collection of songs from different albums and yet another great way to discover bands you haven't come across before and the same applies for their DVDs.
One criticism I have is that the magazine can sometimes jump on bandwagons. For example, when Charlie from 'Busted' left the band to go into rock music, Kerrang! was one of the first to slate him and poke fun in his general direction. Since 'Fightstar' have established themselves as a reasonable band, (not a great band, but acceptable) they're now among the first to sing his praises. In this particular instance the magazine has held its hands up and admitted it was wrong to begin with, but there are other examples of complete U-turns that they make without so much as batting an eyelid. In my opinion the magazine can sometimes give a little too much credit to passing fads, so it's important for the reader to try and use the magazine as a guide, not as gospel. There's a great saying that I think applies here and to any other magazine/newspaper, which goes: "If you believe everything you read, best not read." You probably won't always agree with some of the comments made in Kerrang!, but on the whole I think they're pretty accurate in their accounts and are usually fair.
As I've said, Kerrang! won't appeal to your average pop fan. Equally, if you're a little restricted in your musical taste then perhaps dedicated magazines would be more appropriate. If you don't mind the occasional interview that won't appeal, then I think Kerrang! is excellent value for money and always worth a read. I'd recommend to it any fan of the "alternative" music scene.
Summary: A great way to read news, reviews and other trivia about alternative-music.
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