For the past few days I've been looking at some of the frequent features that music magazines use on their front covers to advertise their product and it's content. I found Kerrang particularly interesting, they seem to grab the attention of the possible audience by putting big names in music on their front cover. I've noticed they've used Metallica, Muse, Slipknot, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Green Day and many more, which all have a massive fanbase and are well respected bands. This cover caught my attention with it's masthead: "25 years of Metallica: Inside the world's greatest metal band."

It's also frequent in most magazines that the title of the magazine can be almost completely covered by the band on the cover, because they know they are so well known they don't need the logo to be the focus of the magazine. Kerrang aims for a 'rough' look, using jaggered banners, with quotes and messgaes placed randomly on the page.

Metal magazines in particular are popular for being different. They appeal to people who like the music they advertise on the front page, whereas a majority of people may have never heard of them. The most important thing is that they do not use false advertising (like a lot of women's magazines) to appeal to a wide range of people. They clearly show what they are selling, and it is the audience's choice to buy or not.