The sounds a guitar kerashing into an amp makes (Kerrang!)

Name: HappyHour

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Product:	Kerrang!
Date:	14/07/02 (2274 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: get over you

Disadvantages: You drive me cray, up the wall

Kerrang, what kind of a name is that? I mean other magazines have names such as ?Rock Sound?, but ?Kerrang?? What relevance has it go to the type of music that it has inside it?

Despite its name, Kerrang is Britain?s best selling magazine, and with good reason. Its witty articles, brilliant reviews on the latest rock CD?s, and all topped of with a little bit of subtle humour.

To help decide whether I should tell you what Kerrang is about; put your hands in the air if you have never heard of this magazine before.

(30 hands go up in the air)

Ok then, you made me do it. Kerrang is an alternative music magazine, pure and simple. It covers Metal, NU ? Metal, and it even sometimes covers the odd rap artist, amongst others.

I have been buying Kerrang for the past year or so, and have currently got a subscription with them.

This is one major point about the magazine, the subscriptions. The magazine, by itself, cost £1.80 for the weekly edition. You can get 3 months (13 editions) subscription for £16, making a saving of just about £7. Plus, on top of that, you get a selected FREE CD. So, in total, you save around £20.

The magazine always has the newest and best bands in. It has had people like Slipknot, Marilyn Manson and Korn on the front page. This may not sound like a lot to you and me, but to get people like these to trust the magazine would be a hard job. I may not like any of the 3 mentioned above, but they are million selling artist, who have a huge fan base.

This is one of the main reasons Kerrang has become the best selling UK magazine. Not many other magazines can boast that they have people like that on the front-page week in, week out.

Its design is also an attraction to any alternative music fan that wishes to get up to date with the latest happenings. It has a picture of the subject of its main article on the front cover. This would be a big attraction to any fan of that b
and. Any other major band names also are put in big letters on the front. This pulls in fans of that band. One downside of that is it is usually just a small news piece, not the long, 4-page article that you were expecting.

Last week, Kerrang claimed to have ?changed there design? I saw very few difference, except for the font was a different style.

Now, to stop me talking in circles, I will give you a crawl through (I couldn?t call it a run, as it?s a bit slow) of the main parts that feature in the magazine every week?

NEWS

This is the part of the magazine where you find out all the latest news, surprisingly. It usually has the weird things that rocks stars do, and many times, it has competitions.

Just last week you could enter a competition to win the Bassist from Blink 182?s Bass Guitar. To get hold of a possession of a world wide star is a big thing, but to get rid of it in an un advertised competition is just stupid, and a tribute to how Kerrang rewards it?s readers.

The news part also contains information about festivals, and bands splitting up, etc. etc.

The Usuals?

These are things like interviews and what the front cover advertises. It usually contains massive photos, and long interviews with bands about what they?ve been doing.

One of the best things to read is when bands are on tour, or have recently finished one. They talk about what they did on tour, and who with. They usually tell of how the drummer managed to get stuck in the top tower of a church, naked, with only cocaine to keep him going all night.

There are also the one-page interviews with Swedish bands you?ve never heard of and most probably never will hear of. The bands are asked about 4 questions, and the rest of the page, that would be left vacant, is filled with a picture of the band.

Over recent months, it has also contained history of bands, most recently System Of A Down. These ar
e like ½ hour interviews that have been turned into 4 page reads, containing some interesting information on the band. If a band you like are under the spotlight in that edition, it is a must to buy the magazine.

Relatively new is a ?Hit List? part of the magazine, which contains the top 10 so and so?s chosen by somebody out of famous band. This week it was psycho?s, with Hitler topping the list, which was chosen by the singer from slayer.

Also, another new addition to the magazine recently was ?At Home With?, in which stars chose some items from their history. Two girls from ?Kittie? took the challenge this week, and chose stuff like teddy bears and candles, amongst other weird stuff.

Reviews

In this part, the do reviews on things like CD?s, Concerts, and TV programmes. There is one main review of each thing, with several mini highlighted reviews in the CD section

These may not be up to CIAO standards (much like this opinion), but it gives you a good insight into what is what.

The rating system is done in K?s, Like so:

K ? Bollocks
KK ? Average
KKK ? Good
KKKK ? Blinding
KKKKK ? Classic

The words used are Kerrang?s own, not mine.

Feedback

This is a part where you send your letters in, and the best get published. These 2 pages are my favourite in whole of the magazine by a long way, which I will explain fuller later. Many of the letters are concerning questions and complaints from earlier magazines.

Pub Talk

This is not a new part of the magazine, just something that has changed its name. It was formerly known as ?A Day in the Life of...? or ?24 hours with...? It was one of them two; I just can?t remember which one.

Basically, this is an interview with a member of a band from a few episodes ago (well, it usually is) and it asks what that person does during a normal day. This is another favourite part of the magazine, b
ecause, us being British, we like to nosey into other peoples business.

Now for my favourite parts of the magazine, which are dead certs to be read.

Pandora

This is a little cartoon on the ?Feedback? section of the magazine. It always has something to do with last week?s episode. 9 time out of 10, this is humorous. The other time it is only funny if you know the band well.

Pandora is a cool rock chick, with red hair. May of the people who write in to Kerrang confess to be addicted to Pandora, and many say they have dreams of an, erm, damp, lets say, nature, which include her.

Look-alikes

This is often very funny, and I am surprised that the readers still manage to come up with stars that look like other stars. My favourite has to be Fred Durst looking like an arse. (If any of you have ever seen Fred Durst, you?ll know what I am talking about)

This Issue was made with the following stimulants?.

This is often weird, and you have to do some guesswork to know what they are going on about. This is about a 50-word thing on the bottom right hand corner of the inside of the back page.

For instance, would you have a clue what ?Mint Cakes meets Angels,? means? This is what draws me to read this part every episode, knowing what they are getting up to.

Now, as if I haven?t already talked enough, some other things that I think you should know about that are in Kerrang:

Swag

This shows some rip off merchandise that can be got from over the web, from a band site, or won in a Kerrang competition.

Many of the things featured are rip offs. For instance, I have seen a little sex pistols doll, available over the web, priced at over £60. On top of that I have seen things like 7 inch? evil doll figurine being sold for around £32.

There are some good competitions that you can enter for the price of a phone call, though. For instance, you can win a ?Si
mpson?s ? Back Stage Pass? DVD by simply answering this question?

What?s The Name of Mr. Burn?s Henchman?

Phone: 09065 615 122

Adverts

The adverts in Kerrang are, for once, a highlight. This is because most of the adverts are for up coming gigs, so anybody wishing to go to a concert anytime soon, Kerrang is the place to look.

This is one place where I will thank Kerrang. They gave me one of the best days of my life. Thanks to an Iron Maiden concert being advertised in there, I got to go, and get 3 days off school! GO ON!

Charts

These are NOT the real charts, but rock charts. There are 3 for you to look out for:

Kerrang TV Chart
Rock Singles Chart
Rock Album Chart

The Kerrang TV chart is the top 20 songs requested on Kerrang TV, a digital music channel (see you operator for details).

The Rock singles chart is the top 40 rock singles that have been sold for that week. In this chart, songs that get to number 40 in the real chart can get in the top five. Fabulous.

The Rock Album Chart is exactly what is says on the tin, the top 20 albums sold that week.

There are also what the people at Kerrang have been listening to, and what readers have been listening to as well.

Well Kerrang has been going for 17 years now, and it is going stronger than ever. If your looking for a weak ass pop magazine, and are scared to face the obvious, do not buy this. If you?re a freak, like alternative music, and have a different way of thinking, this is the magazine for you.

And as the tag line suggest, with Kerrang, Life always will be Loud.

Mad35

www.Kerrang.com

The official Kerrang website, which includes nothing to do with the magazine.

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