Music Magazine Research

Firstly, I am going to do some research on NME magazine, the New Musical Express has featured countless iconic bands and artists on its cover over the years and I am going to look at how the bands are portrayed, what coverlines are used which makes the potential buyer want to read the article and what kind of photography is used. One thing that I noticed about NME, is that when it features a band on its cover, it tends to photograph only the members of the band that are recognised and the most famous.

On this cover of NME, all members of the Foo Fighters are featured in the photograph, however the lead singer, Dave Grohl, is featured in the foreground and allowed more space than the other members which establishes him as the front man. All of the members are featured on the cover because of the history of the band, they are infamous for having changed not only the number of members but firing and hiring new members on a regular occasion, the members that are on this cover are established as the final Foo Fighters group and have been this specific band for years, it is for this reason that they are all featured on the cover. The coverlines on the magazine make references to Grohl's previous band, Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, this would intrigue the reader about what Grohl would say about the late Cobain.

similarly to the Foo Fighters cover, all of the members of The Wombats are featured on this NME cover. Because there are only three members in the band, it is easy for them to be remembered and established as the whole band, however, also like the Foo Fighters cover, the lead singer of the band is given the central space in the photograph. The coverlines are illustrated by the picture, "why britains gone silly for the lords of the indie dancefloor," the photograph shows this by having a 'silly' picture to show that the band is spreading their infectious immaturity through their music.



Unlike the last two covers, this Oasis cover follows the conventions of most magazine covers that feature bands. NME have photographed the two members of the band that are recognised by the public and featured just them as opposed to featuring the whole band in the photograph. This would suggest to the reader that the interview is going to centre around the Gallagher's specfically as opposed to the whole band; the other members arent there to contribute to the discussion. The Gallagher brothers gained a lot of media attention for their antics on stage, the arguments they had and their famous disputes, it is also for this reason that they have been chosen to feature on the cover; people are more likely to pick up the magazine if they recognise the people on the cover and are interested in the news that surrounds them.

Similarly to the Oasis cover, this Kasabian cover also has the two easily recognised members of the band on the front. Like all of the covers that I have looked at, the singer is given the foreground space to establish him as the front man. Although Serge Pizzorno isnt the singer or  the front man of the band, he is easily recognised by the public because he writes all of the songs and is recognised for his stage presence. The coverlines on the magazine and the profanity that is used "little sh*ts" establishes them as a rock band, similarly to the way that profanity is used in the coverlines of the Oasis magazine cover.





 As well as looking at the covers of the New Musical Express, I am going to look at some covers of Q magazine, more so than the magazine NME, Q magazine tends to feature only the front man of bands on its cover almost all the time. On this cover featuring the Foo Fighters, the main picture is of Dave Grohl, it is only at a closer look that you see the rest of the band - featured really small - in the front man's mouth.
The coverlines of this particular cover are red because this compliments the image of the fire and adds more to the element of rock and roll about the page.

Similarly to the Foo FIghters cover that we just looked at, the lead singer and front man of the band Muse - Matt Bellamy -  is the only member of the band that is actually photographed for the front cover of the magazine. This is because it is the front man of the band that is the person that is recognised the most by the public, not only this, but Matt Bellamy is married to Kate Hudson, and their relationship is high profile, this means that people who dont even know the band, but might be fans of Hudson, may be attracted to buying the magazine to read the interview.