Controversial music magazine covers

Kanye West - Rolling Stone - 2006
A quote from an article on Christianmusic.com said 'When I saw the cover, I was outraged. My first thoughts were, "How dare he?" and "Who does he think he is?" Jesus is more to me than just the central figure of Christianity. He's my personal Saviour. The one who died for my sins. The magazine cover mocked that and was a slap in the face to me as a Christian.'  Which I suppose is why this cover is so famous, the controversy that surrounds it makes it a massive talking point and is a good way for rolling stone to raise their sales. More people that see it and hear about will buy It to read the article to have something to complain about.

Britney Spears - Rolling Stone - 1999
This shoot was deemed controversial due to how young Britney was in the shoot. She appeared on the cover when she was 17 years old in a bra and shorts however what made this cover even more shocking was that she was a child star on mickey mouse and is seen clutching a teletubby to her side, this cover made people realise her maturity and in terms of readership attracted a younger demographic. 

One Direction - Wonderland - 2012
Although not necessarily controversial, the One direction lads appear in this sickeningly sweet cover that supposedly resembles an 'awkward family photo' It clearly focuses on a specific demographic, however the image isn't striking and the headline is virtually non existent. Its a cover you'd be embarrassed to buy unless you were 8 years old and does the total opposite to them than what rolling stone did for Britney. This demonstrates how men in pop must be a boy next door type while a female must be over sexualised to be taken seriously.

Miley Cyrus - Rolling Stone - 2013
'Child star' Miley Cyrus appears nude on the front cover of rolling stone, which gained a massive amount of criticism from the media. While a lot of the media were slating every move she made it gained her incredible publicity from others, defending and hating her.   





Effects of colour

Colour is a big influence to the world of marketing. Most of the theories on colour are based on personal experience. There's no real factual evidence or reasons why some colours mean one thing and others mean something else however, colour does play a part in why people buy items. If the colour fits what is being sold more people are likely to buy the product, the colour of the product must reflect the personality of the product. For example if you buy a Harley Davidson motorcycle no one would buy them if they didn't get the feeling that Harleys were rugged and cool which is why a sparkly, pink motorcycle may not be a good move

 

               

 

 

Representation of colours

 

Red    - Energy

       - Increases heart rate

       - Often seen in clearance sales

       - Passion, desire and love

 

Pink   - Romance and love

       - Friendship

       - Femininity

       - Used to market products to young girls and women

 

Orange - Aggressive

       - Creates a call for action, subscribe, buy or sell

       - Joy

       -   Sunshine and the tropics

       - As well as enthusiasm, fascination, happiness

                          and happiness

  Green  - Associated with wealth
         - Used in stores to relax
         - Colour of nature and fertility

  Blue   - Creates a sensation of trust and security
         - Often seen with banks and businesses
         - Symbolises trust, loyalty and wisdom
 
 Purple  - Used to soothe and calm
         - Often seen in beauty and anti-aging products
         - Associated with royalty
         - Symbolises power, nobility and luxury
         - As well as magic and mystery

  White   - Associated with light, goodness, purity and innocence
         - Usually used to advertise high tech products
         - And also shows cleanliness and can be associated with
                          doctors and hospitals

 Black   - Powerful and sleek
         - Used to market luxury products
         - Associated with fear and death
         - Black denotes strength and authority

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Effects models for music magazines

The hypodermic needle model:
                             The intended message is directly and wholly received by the receiver, this is an outdated view of the media. Its a form of propaganda used in the 40's and 50's with the idea that the media directly influenced the people. This could be used by music mags as it puts people into a certain group and shows how this group must dress, act and look like.

Two-step flow:
              The people with most access to media and highest media literacy explain and diffuse the content to others. 'Cool' people will often be the opinion leaders, showing people how to behave and what will gain them social acceptance. Then the 'uncool' people will follow these opinions. This then means that the mass media influences what the 'cool' members of society think.

Uses and gratification:
                       People are not helpless victims of mass media but use the media to get specific gratification. This basically means that the audience has control over what they consume and how they interpret it rather than being brainwashed by the media

Reception theory:
                 The meaning of a text is not inherent within the text itself, but relies on the readers cultural competence and media literacy. The way we may view certain media texts depends on are upbringing, gender, social status, the location or even the mood the audience is in.
                  Post-modern theory:  Postmodernism says that there is no real truth. It says that knowledge is always made or invented and not discovered. Because knowledge is made by people, a person cannot know something with certainty - all ideas and facts are 'believed' instead of 'known'
                 
                  Death of the author theory: This means that the opinions of the author should not influence the reader. The work is what is important to the reader not the authors individual opinion. It also shows that even if you claim to be the author everything you say and write has already been written somewhere else before - no ones ideas are completely original.
                

Obstinate audience theory:
                          There is a complicated relationship between producer and audience. The audience actively selects what messages to pay attention to. The media respond to the audience by seeing what they like and then give them what they want. This means that the media follow the publics ideologies. There's no point making a product that no one wants or likes the ideas of. There's a fine line between being unique and being unnecessary.


Drip Drip Drip effect/ Cultivation differential:
                                                The mass media affects our attitudes through the repetition of messages that gradually change our world view. For example we believe that certain things are desirable because of the constant reinforcement. In this way a music magazine could encourage people to like a certain band or song and dislike/ have competition with another similar magazine






 

Are magazines doomed?

In some ways, yes, magazines are dying out. With the rise of technology and digital download, the need for a physical copy is decreasing as years go on. With many people instantly finding out what they need via the internet. With the increased use of smartphones a magazine or newspaper can be easily read in just one tap of a finger along with this it becomes easier to multitask this with other activities in day to day living.

The number of magazines being made itself has dwindled. The purchase of women's weekly mags have dropped by 24% in 2015.

On the other hand Cosmopolitan has grown its circulation by 57% year on year however, this is believed to be the growing number of free pickup copies and dropping their price from £3.80 to just £1.00. This tactic of free copies has also been followed by esquire magazine and seems to have boosted sales.

£2 billion worth of magazines were published and are read at some point by 87% of the population.
Why would anyone pay for something you can get for free? Well, in reality, reading magazines online isn't necessarily free. They're more likely to ask you for a monthly subscription whereas when buying a magazine it can be a one off purchase because you like the cover.


Statistics from the last 6 months of 2015:(from http://www.pressgazette.co.uk)                   

 These are the top 5 magazines in regards to sales in the UK

Title		Total	Y/Y % change
The National Trust Magazine		2,165,142	3.1
Good Living (Asda), previously Asda Magazine		2,042,940	3.5
Tesco Magazine		1,955,811	0.4
TV Choice		1,268,265	0.2
What's on TV		997,160	-5.8

One reason the purchase of magazines has dwindled is the steep price of the actual magazine, some even climbing to £5.00 for a weekly mag. Which the majority simply cant afford to pay. Another thing that may put people off is the paper usage. Even if this is a pedantic reason, there's a large push on recycling and being environmentally friendly, consumers could be put off buy large amounts of paper that'll be thrown away after one use

Music magazine purchase has fell dramatically since 2013. Bauer's biggest magazine NME declined a massive 23% in the last 4 years. At their most popular they would sell 300,000 copies which has now dwindled to under 15,000. The same has happened for a lot of other music magazines:

Kerring! - down 13.7%
Metal hammer - down 11.3%
Mojo - down 4.7%
Classic rock - down 6.2%
We love pop - down 6.1%
Q - down 18%

However rock sound has increased by 2.2% since 2013

Riot grrrl

 Riot grrrl is an underground feminist hardcore punk movement that originated in the early 1990s in Washington. Riot grrrl bands often address issues such as rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, racism, patriarchy, and female empowerment.
Many women found that while they identified with a larger, music-oriented subculture, they often had little to no voice in their local scenes. Women at the punk-rock shows saw themselves as girlfriends of the boys, so they took it upon themselves to represent their own interests by making their own fanzines, music and art.

There were two bands linked to the formation of riot grrrl (although regularly denying full credit for it):

Bikini Kill:
                   an American punk rock band formed in Olympia, Washington, in October 1990. The group consisted of singer and songwriter Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail. Bikini kill were known for their radical feminist lyrics and fiery performances. The band  encouraged a female-centric environment at their shows, urging women to come to the front of the stage and handing out lyric sheets to them. Male concertgoers would often verbally and physically assault Hanna during shows when the tickets were still inexpensive. Hanna would  dive into the crowd to personally remove male hecklers. However, the band's reach included large male audiences as well as young women.

Bratmobile:
           Bratmobile formed when University of Oregon students Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman. At first, Wolfe admitted that they were "a fake band" because they did not play instruments, but they had written some songs which they performed a cappella.

After confessing that they were not in a band in an attempt to get out of a gig. They sought the help of 'Some Velvet Sidewalk' member Robert Christie. Christie let Bratmobile borrow rehearsal space and equipment and advised them to listen to the Ramones for inspiration. In response to that advice, Wolfe states that "Something in me clicked. Like, okay, if most boy punk rock bands just listen to the Ramones and that's how they write their songs, then we'll do the opposite and I won't listen to any Ramones and that way we'll sound different." With five original songs, the band played its first show as a two-woman act at Olympia's North Shore Surf Club on February 14, 1991, with Neuman and Wolfe sharing duties on guitar, drums, and vocals.


Culture:
            Riot grrrl culture is often associated with third wave feminism. The movement of third-wave feminism focused less on laws and the political process and more on individual identity. The movement of third-wave feminism is said to have arisen out of the realization that women are of many colours, ethnicities, nationalities, religions and cultural backgrounds. The riot grrrl movement allowed women their own space to create music and make political statements about the issues they were facing in the punk rock community and in society

"[Riot Grrrl is ...] BECAUSE we girls want to create mediums that speak to US. We are tired of boy band after boy band, boy zine after boy zine, boy punk after boy punk after boy... BECAUSE we need to talk to each other. Communication/inclusion is the key. We will never know if we don't break the code of silence... BECAUSE in every form of media we see us/myself slapped, decapitated, laughed at, objectified, raped, trivialized, pushed, ignored, stereotyped, kicked, scorned, molested, silenced, invalidated, knifed, shot, choked and killed. BECAUSE a safe space needs to be created for girls where we can open our eyes and reach out to each other without being threatened by this sexist society and our day to day bulls**t." - Bikini Kill flier answering the question 'what is riot grrrl?'

"We're not anti-boy, we're pro-girl."
 Riot grrl bands would often actively invite members of the audience to talk about their personal experiences with sensitive issues such as sexual abuse, pass out lyric sheets to everyone in the audience, and often demand that the mosh boys move to the back or side to allow space in front for the girls in the audience.

David Carson

David Carson is an American graphic designer best known for creating innovative and 'grunge' covers for the magazine ray gun. He became the art director of Transworld Skateboarding magazine in 1984, and remained there until 1988, helping to give the magazine a distinctive look. By the end of his time there he had started to develop his signature style, using "dirty" type and non-mainstream photographic techniques.

He was then asked to design covers for a quarterly magazine 'beach culture'. Even though they only published for 6 quarters, it allowed Carson to really make an impact in graphic design.

In 1992 he was hired by ray gun, a life and music alternative style magazine. In one issue, he notoriously used Dingbat, a font containing only symbols, as the font for what he considered a rather dull interview with Bryan Ferry. The covers have a way of making the reader have to really look and take in whats going on. However sometimes this did not work and could look unprofessional, but when done well the covers have a huge impact on the reader.



I think his covers are really unique and different which is what makes him so renowned and clever because no one would dream of doing this as it completely throws out the rule-book on effective cover design. Of course there can be some occasions where it is taken too far but when it works it works extremely well. I feel like this wouldn't work for a lot of mainstream genres but work well for more edgy genres like indie. 



History of Mojo

Mojo magazine debuted as a magazine in 1993.The magazine, in the words of founding editor Paul Du Noyer, was for something “that had the sensibilities of a fanzine and the design values of Vogue.”  It was published by a company called Emap (who published 'Q') they wanted a magazine that focused on classic rock (however it does feature some newer and 'left-field' acts). It was also the first magazine to cover the white stripes as much as older music and the magazine usually  has a free cover CD. Mojo now belongs to bauer.

 

This is the first cover of  Mojo. Its about the complicated relationship between Bob Dylan and John Lennon

 

Some other mojo covers

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like that mojo have a strict colour scheme on every cover. The covers look professional and not totally over-the-top like kerrang! but isn't incredibly risky like rolling stones most famous covers are although, for Mojo, this could be a negative in that they have little publicity for creativity on their covers and aren't as memorable

 

 

 

Punk: Subculture

The ideologies of punk:

Punk is frequently associated with left wing, progressive views. It has a reputation of being anarchic and anti-establishment, with many views being what, in modern society, would be deemed morally right. For example, being anti racism, anti sexism and anti homophobic. Along with this, other notable trends included vegetarianism, veganism, animal rights, socialism (common ownership; the resources of the world being owned by the entire global population), individualism ( stresses human independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty), anti-statism (opposition to state intervention into personal, social, and economic affairs), anti-militarism, anti-capitalism, anti-nationalism and environmentalism.

Two punks - 1980's

For some punks, their body was a symbol of opposition, a political statement expressing disgust of all that was supposedly normal and accepted in society. The idea was to make others  question their own views. This made gender a popular factor to be played with. Men could look like women, women could look like men, or one could look like both or neither. In some ways, punk helped to tear apart the normalized view of gender. Punk created a new cultural space for  all kinds of gender expression.






However, some individuals within the punk subculture held right-wing and  neo-Nazi views. This was known as Nazi punk which was the same as punk-rock but with racist, sexist and homophobic lyrics in their music. However, some punks wore the swastika primarily for shock factor rather than anti-Semitic views.











Fashion:

Early punk fashion included ripped clothing which was held together by safety pins or wrapped with tape; ordinary clothing was customised by embellishing it with marker or adorning it with paint; a black bin liner became a dress, shirt or skirt; safety pins and razor blades were used as jewellery. Also popular have been leather, rubber, and vinyl clothing.

Some would wear tight "drainpipe" jeans, plaid/tartan trousers, kilts or skirts, T-shirts, leather jackets (which are often decorated with painted band logos, pins and buttons, and metal studs or spikes), and footwear such as Converse sneakers, skate shoes, brothel creepers, or Dr. Martens boots. Hair was often in Mohawks and included bright,unnatural colours.



Lifestyle:



Punks can be from any walk of life and of any class. In terms of its ideology its very equal in terms of gender 

Drugs are sometimes associated with punks and, in some cases, was true - inhalable solvents being a notable form of drug abuse. 'Glue sniffing' was a cheap high and adult disgust and hostility fuelled the use of substances as a shock factor. Furthermore, punk was also known for its abuse of alcohol and promiscuous sex reinforcing the idea of rebellion and against the mainstream majority.

On the other hand, punk introduced 'straight edge' It's adherents would refrain from excessive drugs, alcohol and in some stricter cases even promiscuous sex, caffeine, meat and prescription medicine - All stereotypical (and often truthful) aspects of punk.

History of Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner. The first issue was released on November 9, 1967. In the first issue, Wenner explained that the title of the magazine referred to: the 1950 blues song, "Rollin' Stone" recorded by Muddy Waters, the rock and roll band the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan's hit single "Like a Rolling Stone".

 

During the 1980s, the magazine began to shift towards being a general entertainment magazine. Music was still a dominant topic, but there was increasing coverage of celebrities from television, films and the pop culture of the day.

Just by looking at the covers you can tell that Rolling Stone have caused a lot of controversy and have come up against a lot of criticism yet still remain one of the most well recognised, famous and influential magazines available worldwide.

Examples of rolling stone covers :

                                   

First edition of rolling stone magazine

                                                           





 

 

 

 

I like how the rolling stone makes the cover image the centre of focus and the person in the image looks directly into the camera because I feel like this would entice the audience and be more visually striking than if they were looking away. On all of these front covers the people have serious looks on their face and I feel like this reflects the tone of the whole magazine. Rolling Stone isn't just about music and features serious political articles and it would be misleading to feature smiling, bubbly images like some younger magazines feature.

This is the 2016 readership of rolling stone. As shown, the magazine is mostly read by men of 25-34. The readership itself isn't extremely high for the big reputation it has a magazine. This may show that the use of magazines is decreasing and once popular magazines are ultimately suffering amongst the majority of young people. However the average physical sales of Rolling Stoner has decreased but digital downloads are on the rise

 

 

 

 

 

social identity theory

 Henri Tajfel (1979) proposed that groups which people belonged to
were an important source of pride and self esteem.

In order to increase our self image we enhance the status of the group we belong to and make any other group seem inferior through discrimination or prejudice.

There are three mental processes involved in evaluating others as "us" and "them"

1) Categorization - We categorize things to understand them. We do the same with people. They can be useful in identification such as a police officer.

2) Identification - we adopt the identify of the group we categorized ourselves into. Meaning we do things they do and stick to their social norms

3) Comparison - we then compare our group with other groups. To maintain our self esteem our group must be the best against the
others

Some popular social identities 


MODS

 

A subculture that began in the UK in the 1960's, famed for their use of Vespa scooters, smart dressing, amphetamines and 'The Who'. They had extremely famous rivalry with a subculture known as 'rockers'. Mods rejected the class system and did not care for specific gender roles. They also believed a woman did not have to be attached to a man, a minority view at the time. 

 

 

ROCKERS

Their development was credited to the 1950's teddy boy style. Rockers wore heavily-decorated leather motorcycle jackets, often adorned with metal studs, patches and pin badges with levis and t-shirts. They were not widely welcomed into bars due to their style of clothing. They 'damaged the UK'S look on motorcycling' because they dropped out of mainstream society.


There is an extremely famous rivalry between the Mods and the Rockers with numerous brawls in seaside towns.. Newspapers at the time described the mod and rocker clashes as being of "disastrous proportions", and labelled mods and rockers as "vermin" and "louts".Newspaper editorials fanned the flames of hysteria, such as a Birmingham Post editorial in May 1964, which warned that mods and rockers were "internal enemies" in the UK who would "bring about disintegration of a nation's character". The magazine Police Review argued that "the mods and rockers' purported lack of respect for law and order could cause violence to "surge and flame like a forest fire". When newspapers ran out of fights to report,writers  began to associate mods and rockers with various social issues, such as teen pregnancy, contraceptives, amphetamines, and violence.

Skinheads

 



 

Skinheads had two waves, originally in the 1960s and then again in the 1980's. Some wore button-up shirts or polo shirts by brands such as Ben Sherman or Fred Perry, sweatshirts or V-neck sweaters, T-shirts ( usually plain or with designs related to skinheads ). They're often shown as a violent and racist subculture, mainly to do with media portrayal. Ironically, skinheads originally were into black and Ska music.

 

 

 

In the 21st Century it would be easy to see that strong adversity to people of other groups has deteriorated and the rules of each group have been significantly blurred. Now just by looking around its easy to see that there is very little hostility to other groups but there's also the decline of social groups in general, there are very little rules to how you must dress or be to belong to a social group, which may be accredited to the mainstream view of acceptance amongst all different groups of people. However the media still try to box people into categories even with the blurring of these culturally lines and society itself still has issues with the way in which someone's appearance affects there ability to work hard or be a good person. For example, there is a large stigma around the professionalism of tattoos and piercings and for people with these to be violent and scary people.

 

 

 

 

Analysis of Rock Sound & Top of the Pops

Rock Sound

The cover conveys its genre firstly through the actual name of the magazine but then the way that the photo is taken also portrays this in that the band are all in black with some tattoos on show. They aren't overly groomed and this shows the 'I don't care' ideology of the rock genre.

The cover is fairly masculine with mostly photos of men on the cover and this shows what it views its typical audience as. Although it could be argued that men on the front of magazines could attract women however the image doesn't support this argument as its shows no bare skin showing the magazine is serious and for music fans rather than crazed fans.

There is also mixture of new and old bands showing how the rock genre appeals to the 50 quid bloke side of rock music because the bands supposedly have a longer 'shelf life' in the industry compared to other genres. It's also important that magazines include newer bands as well to introduce new fans to their magazine, the genre and ideologies.

Top of the Pops





However, in Top of the Pops magazine, it has a very strong feminine vibe. Its also very immature in comparison to rock sound. This reflects the themes included in the magazine for example, the main image is a typical boy-band aimed at young females shown in that it says " are you their dream girl?" however, their could be some penumbra in that older fans of the band or some males may buy the magazine. Also the magazine isn't just about music, it includes popular figures at the time. Artists in pop music are generally ephemeral which means fans are often interested in what the band are up to at present. Furthermore, the articles have little information about their careers and more about they're personality.

The added images of the multi-coloured hearts also implies a childish, immature readership. It is clear that very little, if any, stories in the mag are serious. This is suggested by the cover lines on the mag which include words like "work experience" and "kissing confessions" not typically affiliated with adults and, also, do not correlate with other music magazines. Strangely, top of the pops would be a more memorable brand name to those of the older generation who remember the television programme and it being mostly bands playing music that was in the charts. The brand itself has changed audience and purpose over the years.