Classic Rock
Front Cover
Photography
The picture of Pete Townshend is the only image on the front cover, and is used as the sole backgroud. Unlike many other magazines the image is not a studio image, with the image being taken during one of The Who's concerts. By using a live image, the magazine is reminding the readers that the feature is of a band that no longer has the original line up, and that are no longer in the charts - therefore unable to take a studio shot. Also by using this image the magazine is being symbolic of the genre it is based around - "Classic Rock" is all about old bands who created their own music and preformed live. By being the only image on the page, this photo is the sole focus of the reader, and therefore the article about The Who is clearly shown as the main feature in the magazine, and the one that the magazine is trying to sell to the public. The photo has been positioned so that the head of Pete Townshend covers the "O" in "Rock". By doing this, it is implied that Pete Townshend is an important figure in rock, and that his image and musical style/influence epitimises the rock genre - and that he is a leading figure and "belongs" with the genre. This is also supported by the fact the magazine has chose an image where Pete Townshend is placed so high up on the cover, with his legs at an angle which could represt a pyrmaid - and he is at the top. Keith Moon is looking up at him, which could be interpreted that he is literally a figure to look up to.
Colour Scheme
The colour scheme for this magazine cover is red, white and gold - these colours are traditionally used in magazines, which could possibly make the readers comftable and feel like they belong in the world of this magazine, as they are often used, the colours become a type of "social blanket" that help readers become familiar with the magazine. The mass head "Classic Rock" is in gold, which is a rich colour and is often assosiated with wealth and royalty. By using gold for the mass head it implies that the magazine is rich in its contexts - such as the people that feature in it are "rock royalty". The title "Maximum R&B" is in white - which starks a contrast to its background, making it stand out to the reader, but being in white it matches the outfit of Pete Townshend and therefore linking the two together as they match. This allows the reader to assosiate the band and the title together, which therefore allows the reader to create an idea of what the feature is about. The colour white often has connotations of saints and heaven - this could also be a underlying use of the colour white, giving an impression that the band and its music were "heavenly" which could easily be the opinion of the readers of this magazine. The minimum use of red also allows that idea to deepen - with red having connotations of danger and hell, however red has connotations of passion, and as the only use of red that can be seen is of the name of the reporter, it could be seen as that this is a passion of the reporter, which could be matched by the readers and therefore by having just the reporters name in red it gives the readers a chance to relate to them.
Fonts
The mass head "Classic Rock" uses a serif font, which allows the mass head to be taken literally - with the font being quite classical, it is a denotation of a classical era and type. It also allows for the reader - who on average will be male and possibly working class, who is around the age of 40 plus - to see that this magazine takes reporting on older bands serious, and that the magazine covers stories that will be important and relate to the reader - classic stories of classic bands. By using a serif font, it is serperating itself from other magazines who don't often use serif fonts therefore highlighting how that this magazine is different from the others on the market and promoting how unique it is. Along with the mass head being a serif font it is also bold and dominates the top part of the cover, which allows the reader to notice it quite easily (with the mass head also being gold, it allows for an even bigger scale of dominance). To keep in the theme of being a "classic era" magazine the sub heading underneath reading "high voltage rock and roll" is also in a serif font, despite this phrase being quite colloquial it is again seperating itself from modern magazines that write about rock music, showing that even though they may have a similar genre to write a about, "Classic Rock" is writing about the original rock artists. The rest of the text is in sans serif fonts - this shows the reader a stark contranst between the two texts, it shows that the magazine is serious about the niche market it is writing for, and the san serif fonts shows that the readers still listen to these artists in the modern day despite the fact the bands havent released new material in many years. The faded style on "Maximum R&B" is a reminder that they are actually an old band - and faded from todays music society.
Writing Style
The cover has minimum writing, the picture is the main dominance and the picture is a way of speaking to the audience: it is an iconic image so it clearly states who the article is about and the bits that the picture does not tell are filled in with the small amount of text. By having a little amount of text it is appealing to its audience: when The Who were popular they would have been many interviews and studio images of the band, so now readers want to relive live concerts and performances of the band, and this is what the image gives them. Also the cover does not state anywhere who the image is of - therefore by leaving this out they are using a technique to appeal to the true fans of the band. The writing has a medium register - it is not too formal, which would not relate to the audience it is intended for, but it does not use many colloquialisms which would again take it away from the audience it is intended for. The main headline is part of the title of a previous album from The Who, this implies that the audience could already have an idea of what the peice is about, however it is only a part of the albums name, and therefore it could be a simple declarative: The Who are Maximum R&B, or a simply a play on words. This is supported by the fact the explanation of what the report it about is not about this, but about a seperate recording and album itself. The small introduction to the peice does not give much information away, it allows the reader to be intrigued and want to read more, all by simply stating the general idea of what is to come.
Text/Picture Ratio
The cover is dominated by the picture, with the ratio being around 1:2. The front cover focuses on one article in the whole magazine, and despite not using any other pictures, the text is drowned out in comparison. However given the genre of magazine and its inteded audience, this is a positive thing. It allows the reader to bask in the iconic images of bands they love; which in itself could be enough to sell the magazines as there isn't many magazines which cover such bands. The text is minimal and direct to the point - it relies on the image to promote the story, with this particular audience often wanting more pictures than text as they will have read most stories about the bands from these era's - new stories about them are very minimal, so iconic images are often more popular.
Overall
Overall the front cover depends heavily on the image, and hidden connotations and meanings that a younger audience may not pick up. The dominance of the picture and the picture used is important to this as it is likely to mean something to the intended audience, whereas this personal connection would be completely lost to a person outside the target market looking at it. By simply using very few words it will attract readers, as the words used will also again strike up knowledge to the audience. By this I mean "Live at Leeds" is a well known live album that is quite iconic to the fans of The Who, where as people who are unfamiliar will not find this as interesting. Overall the cover uses a combination of dominant pictures and bold colours to grab the attention of the readers, with the text and the style of it then adding to the attraction of the magazine.
The picture of Pete Townshend is the only image on the front cover, and is used as the sole backgroud. Unlike many other magazines the image is not a studio image, with the image being taken during one of The Who's concerts. By using a live image, the magazine is reminding the readers that the feature is of a band that no longer has the original line up, and that are no longer in the charts - therefore unable to take a studio shot. Also by using this image the magazine is being symbolic of the genre it is based around - "Classic Rock" is all about old bands who created their own music and preformed live. By being the only image on the page, this photo is the sole focus of the reader, and therefore the article about The Who is clearly shown as the main feature in the magazine, and the one that the magazine is trying to sell to the public. The photo has been positioned so that the head of Pete Townshend covers the "O" in "Rock". By doing this, it is implied that Pete Townshend is an important figure in rock, and that his image and musical style/influence epitimises the rock genre - and that he is a leading figure and "belongs" with the genre. This is also supported by the fact the magazine has chose an image where Pete Townshend is placed so high up on the cover, with his legs at an angle which could represt a pyrmaid - and he is at the top. Keith Moon is looking up at him, which could be interpreted that he is literally a figure to look up to.
Colour Scheme
The colour scheme for this magazine cover is red, white and gold - these colours are traditionally used in magazines, which could possibly make the readers comftable and feel like they belong in the world of this magazine, as they are often used, the colours become a type of "social blanket" that help readers become familiar with the magazine. The mass head "Classic Rock" is in gold, which is a rich colour and is often assosiated with wealth and royalty. By using gold for the mass head it implies that the magazine is rich in its contexts - such as the people that feature in it are "rock royalty". The title "Maximum R&B" is in white - which starks a contrast to its background, making it stand out to the reader, but being in white it matches the outfit of Pete Townshend and therefore linking the two together as they match. This allows the reader to assosiate the band and the title together, which therefore allows the reader to create an idea of what the feature is about. The colour white often has connotations of saints and heaven - this could also be a underlying use of the colour white, giving an impression that the band and its music were "heavenly" which could easily be the opinion of the readers of this magazine. The minimum use of red also allows that idea to deepen - with red having connotations of danger and hell, however red has connotations of passion, and as the only use of red that can be seen is of the name of the reporter, it could be seen as that this is a passion of the reporter, which could be matched by the readers and therefore by having just the reporters name in red it gives the readers a chance to relate to them.
Fonts
The mass head "Classic Rock" uses a serif font, which allows the mass head to be taken literally - with the font being quite classical, it is a denotation of a classical era and type. It also allows for the reader - who on average will be male and possibly working class, who is around the age of 40 plus - to see that this magazine takes reporting on older bands serious, and that the magazine covers stories that will be important and relate to the reader - classic stories of classic bands. By using a serif font, it is serperating itself from other magazines who don't often use serif fonts therefore highlighting how that this magazine is different from the others on the market and promoting how unique it is. Along with the mass head being a serif font it is also bold and dominates the top part of the cover, which allows the reader to notice it quite easily (with the mass head also being gold, it allows for an even bigger scale of dominance). To keep in the theme of being a "classic era" magazine the sub heading underneath reading "high voltage rock and roll" is also in a serif font, despite this phrase being quite colloquial it is again seperating itself from modern magazines that write about rock music, showing that even though they may have a similar genre to write a about, "Classic Rock" is writing about the original rock artists. The rest of the text is in sans serif fonts - this shows the reader a stark contranst between the two texts, it shows that the magazine is serious about the niche market it is writing for, and the san serif fonts shows that the readers still listen to these artists in the modern day despite the fact the bands havent released new material in many years. The faded style on "Maximum R&B" is a reminder that they are actually an old band - and faded from todays music society.
Writing Style
The cover has minimum writing, the picture is the main dominance and the picture is a way of speaking to the audience: it is an iconic image so it clearly states who the article is about and the bits that the picture does not tell are filled in with the small amount of text. By having a little amount of text it is appealing to its audience: when The Who were popular they would have been many interviews and studio images of the band, so now readers want to relive live concerts and performances of the band, and this is what the image gives them. Also the cover does not state anywhere who the image is of - therefore by leaving this out they are using a technique to appeal to the true fans of the band. The writing has a medium register - it is not too formal, which would not relate to the audience it is intended for, but it does not use many colloquialisms which would again take it away from the audience it is intended for. The main headline is part of the title of a previous album from The Who, this implies that the audience could already have an idea of what the peice is about, however it is only a part of the albums name, and therefore it could be a simple declarative: The Who are Maximum R&B, or a simply a play on words. This is supported by the fact the explanation of what the report it about is not about this, but about a seperate recording and album itself. The small introduction to the peice does not give much information away, it allows the reader to be intrigued and want to read more, all by simply stating the general idea of what is to come.
Text/Picture Ratio
The cover is dominated by the picture, with the ratio being around 1:2. The front cover focuses on one article in the whole magazine, and despite not using any other pictures, the text is drowned out in comparison. However given the genre of magazine and its inteded audience, this is a positive thing. It allows the reader to bask in the iconic images of bands they love; which in itself could be enough to sell the magazines as there isn't many magazines which cover such bands. The text is minimal and direct to the point - it relies on the image to promote the story, with this particular audience often wanting more pictures than text as they will have read most stories about the bands from these era's - new stories about them are very minimal, so iconic images are often more popular.
Overall
Overall the front cover depends heavily on the image, and hidden connotations and meanings that a younger audience may not pick up. The dominance of the picture and the picture used is important to this as it is likely to mean something to the intended audience, whereas this personal connection would be completely lost to a person outside the target market looking at it. By simply using very few words it will attract readers, as the words used will also again strike up knowledge to the audience. By this I mean "Live at Leeds" is a well known live album that is quite iconic to the fans of The Who, where as people who are unfamiliar will not find this as interesting. Overall the cover uses a combination of dominant pictures and bold colours to grab the attention of the readers, with the text and the style of it then adding to the attraction of the magazine.
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