Kerrang!
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:Infobox Magazine Kerrang! is a weekly music magazine published by EMAP in the United Kingdom.
Contents |
Origins
Kerrang! is a British music magazine. The magazine’s title is onomatopoeic and derives from the noise made by playing a power chord on an electric guitar.
Kerrang! began life in June 1981 initially as a one off supplement in the Sounds newspaper devoted to the burgeoning New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene and the rise of other hard rock acts such as AC/DC (who adorned Kerrang!’s first cover).
During the 1980s and early 90s the magazine placed many glam metal acts on the cover, before completely discarding them as Grunge acts such as Nirvana arose to fame; readers often criticise the magazine for repeating this process every time a new music trend comes in.
However Kerrang!’s most successful period came at the turn of the millennium with the advent of nu-metal. In 2002 bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park saw the magazine over take rival New Musical Express to become the biggest weekly music magazine in the world. But when the nu-metal bubble burst in 2003, Kerrang!’s sales went slowly into decline.
In May 2005 the editorial focus of Kerrang! was restructured to be both more musically diverse and to also draw from the magazine's own rich history. The following nine months saw such stylistically varied new acts as My Chemical Romance, Him, Trivium, Mastodon and Bullet For My Valentine sitting alongside old favorites like Iron Maiden, Nirvana, System Of A Down and Green Day.
According to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures, published on February 15 2006, Kerrang! has overtaken New Musical Express to become the biggest weekly music magazine in the UK, and is a mere 600 copies behind the NME in global sales.
Raw Magazine
Raw Magazine was a biweekly metal magazine and EMAP's rival to Kerrang!, in the days when it was published by the people behind Sounds. However when the publisher of Sounds and Kerrang! decided to concentrate on trade papers such as Music Week, the Kerrang! brand was sold onto EMAP who decided it was the stronger brand amongst Metal fans. Due to this Raw Magazine was relaunched in the mid 1990s as a biweekly sister magazine to EMAP's monthly Select, with it's musical focus shifted from that of metal to that of Britpop. However this relaunch did not do the magazine any favours and just confused longterm readers of the brand, so the magazine did not manage to survive into the 2000s.
International Editions
Kerrang! Australia
Emap launched Kerrang! Australia in the late 1990s. Unlike its weekly counterpart in the UK, the Australian edition was published monthly. Due to stiff competition from free, local music publications, Kerrang! Australia was closed in 2004.
Kerrang! Spain
There is also a Spanish edition of Kerrang! magazine.
Spin-offs
Kerrang! Radio
In 2000 Emap launched Kerrang! as a digital radio station. On June 10 2003, Kerrang! 105.2 was launched as a regional radio station in the West Midlands. During the day the Kerrang! radio network broadcasts mainly mainstream acts who have never featured in the magazine such as Oasis and Kaiser Chiefs. However in the evening and at weekends they have a number of specialist programmes dedicated to the many subgenres of rock music.
Kerrang! TV
In 2001 Emap launched Kerrang! TV. As with the radio station, the TV channel covers the more mainstream side of the rock music as well as classic rock bands like Aerosmith, Guns N’ Roses and Whitesnake.
Controversy
Kerrang! caused controversy among their readers in the mid 1990s, when they decided to place The Prodigy on the cover and start covering the band in the magazine. This was seen as a controversial choice due to their roots in the dance and rave scenes.
Following on from ongoing Prodigy debate, Kerrang! also caused yet more outrage when the magazine decided to start featuring controversial rap star Eminem in the late 1990s.
Both issues seemed to polarise the readers of the magazine at the time, with a reported 50/50 split in opinion on whether they should have been featured or not.
See also
- Paul (editor)
- Malcolm Dome (journalist)
- Daniel Lane (journalist)
- Scarlet Page (photographer)
- Ian Winwood (journalist)