Kerrang - a pleasant surprise (Kerrang!)

Name: cswann

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Product:	Kerrang!
Date:	02/05/02 (110 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good balance between music, humour and gossip, Good coverage of album releases, gigs

Disadvantages: Biassed towards the heavier music

I hate to admit it but I’ve only just bought my first copy of Kerrang. I had this preconception that it was only interested in heavy metal, or bands like Megadeth, Metallica, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot – spandex-wearers and bands that think turning the volume up to 11 (these categories may not be mutually exclusive). Which, I suppose I should explain, are not my cup of tea, musically speaking.
Well, I bought the 20th April 2002 issue, due to the inclusion of a free Hives-related CD (16 tracks chosen by The Hives), and I have to say I was wrong about Kerrang.

Yes, it’s subject matter is “rock” but it is certainly not restricted to heavy metal and its many sub genres.
The issue I bought includes features and about The Hives (natch) and Garbage, and a live review of Ryan Adams,
The appearance of Faith No More, Motorhead marks the respect for the more ‘popular’ side of metal, and yes there are plenty of pieces on new bands, who largely do fall into the ‘heavier’ side. But that’s what Kerrang is for, and it is an area that tends to be ignored, or at least played down, by the rest of the music press. Now, this kind of music is not my cup of tea, but I do like The Hives, Garbage and Ryan Adams. So what I’ve realised is that by bypassing Kerrang in the past I might have been missing out somewhat.

The free CD is great value – only £1.80 for the magazine (which certainly compares well to the monthly magazines in the £3.00 and over category, such as Q, Mojo and Uncut. With Kerrang, I really felt like I was getting a free CD. It’s a brilliant collection, too – I already own the best track on it (Flamin’ Groovies’ Slow Death) but there are several others, by artists that were totally new to me, that are already firm favourites. So well worth it.

I hadn’t expected there’d be much in the magazine to interest me, but what I found was
a bonus. Reading the it, I found the writing to be intelligent, as well as knowledgeable about music. Of course there are the cheap headlines (“The sickest video ever?” on a December Wolves video) and the titillating pictures of females, or even bands pictured with their trousers down (but complete with very clean-looking underwear, in Faith No More’s case), but it all seems quite self-aware and, probably, is unlike to offend anyone.
The record reviews are brief, but useful with ratings out of 5. At first I thought they tended to be on the generous side, not noticing any with less than 3 stars (or K’s), but then discovered that there’s a ‘short cuts – rest of this week’s albums’ section, where it isn’t unusual to get only 1 star.
There are details of clips of songs on the Internet, which are great if you want to check the songs out for yourself.
A weekly publication, Kerrang is well placed to promote concerts, and has a 7 day gig guide, as well as lots of ads for upcoming tours. There’s also a charts page, which doesn’t feature any details of Will’s or Gareth’s progress, I promise.
There’s a sense of humour pervading the paper, which I like – for instance the on the cover you get “Cardboard: what is it?” See page 6”, which leads to a tiny article on very mundane things about… you guessed it… cardboard! ??? No musical link whatsoever.

To sum up, I don’t really like metal, but I do like good music – Kerrang is fulfilling a valuable role and it isn’t as narrow in scope, or as precious about metal, as I’d thought.
I’m never going to want to get it every week, but I’m going to keep an eye out for future issues that feature artists (or CDs) that could be my kind of thing.
As it says on the front of Kerrang - Life is loud – and this means powerpop (like the Hives) as wel
l as death metal and all the rest.

You don't have to be a headbanger or a mosher to enjoy Kerrang - honest.

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