Music Magazines: US v. UK

The United States has long enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with England when it comes to music. Both nations have birthed the most influential bands and movements in rock history: England can claim The Beatles, we can claim Bob Dylan; England has London in 1977, we have San Francisco in 1967, and the list goes on. With two countries so steeped in rock 'n' roll history, it follows that both America and England should have magazines that reflect their home country's attitude toward popular music.

The grandfather of the genre is Rolling Stone. Before RS came along, music magazines were associated with fan clubs and screaming teenage girls. Rolling Stone was not originally intended as a magazine strictly about music; their philosophy from the beginning was to cover not only rock 'n' roll, but the ideals that it embodies. While their coverage can range from music to movies to politics to a series of small-town murders in a single issue, they are still thought of as the preeminent music magazine in the United States. When they do focus on music, they have a vast array to choose from. Rolling Stone has not only been around longer than most music magazines, but most magazines in general, and have gathered many different kinds of readers along the way. They have a wide range of and interests to appeal to, so they bounce back and forth between new and old acts from all types of genres.

First in sales figures, but still second in reputation, is Spin. A generation apart, Spin is Rolling Stone's rowdy son. Spin posesses a lot of the same ideals as Rolling Stone, but is clearly aimed at a younger generation. Spin focuses more sharply on music than Rolling Stone, filling each issue with entirely music-themed coverage, except for a few movie/game reviews or other notes on pop culture. Where Rolling Stone has grown with its original audience, Spin has always served college-age music lovers by embracing the same journalistic sensibilities that Rolling Stone made a name for itself on. Spin focuses on younger, newer musicians, and writes about them in a professional manner, but with a little more attitude and style than a Rolling Stone journalist might. Spin leans toward contemporary rock and hip-hop, and is devoted almost exclusively to new artists. When they do cover older musicians or ones from genres far outside the mainstream, they are ones that have influenced the here and now of music.

Things are different across the pond. The two top music magazines, Kerrang! and NME, are still stalled at the 'fan magazine' stage.

Published in the U.K. since 1952, NME (short for New Musical Express) is a weekly music magazine. Though the content can lean towards the sensational, NME is still thought of as the U.K.'s closest answer to Rolling Stone. The magazine is printed on newsprint, and the design is bold and in-your-face, but stylish. The site looks similar to the physical magazine, and is constantly updated the latest music news and gossip. NME magazine is also part of a larger empire, with television channels, radio stations, and even clubs bearing the magazine's name and logo.

Kerrang! is another popular music magazine in England. Though NME has tried to distance itself from its tabloid past with recent overhauls of design and content, Kerrang! has embraced it's rag-mag reputation. The difference in editorial content between the two magazines is vast, but their personalities are similar.

Kerrang! began as a heavy metal magazine in the early 1980s. Though they have expanded their coverage since then, traces of its hardcore roots can be seen in their choice of cover stories. The types of music they cover now is a little more eclectic, but Kerrang! still focuses on rock bands with a harder edge, be it in sound or attitude.

When it comes to layout, the magazine is classic tabloid: lots of capital letters and exclamation points, oversized pull quotes, and a "cut-and-paste" look about it. The coverage takes itself far less seriously than NME or any music magazine in the states. K! relies heavily on gossip to fuel their features, which are often not very long. Kerrang! is also more locally-focused than NME: while NME branches out to cover both national acts that have made it big and international acts whose popularity has spread to England, K! is more likely to put a band only known in the U.K. on the cover. The writers and editors of this magazine know that their readers don't come to them for revealing and poignant retrospective on My Chemical Romance's career. Kerrang! is aimed toward young people who just want to rock out and have fun.

America is once again experiencing a British Invasion, much of which can be attributed to these magazines. Bands heavily featured in British music magazines, like The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys, have crept onto the hipster rader in the U.S in the last five years. Though they are miles apart in terms of philosophies, these magazines all have the same ideal at their core: good music can change your life, but only if you know about it.