Front Cover Analysis 2

The rolling Stones magazine was started in 1967, Is owned by Wenner Media LCC and sells around 1.4million copies every 2 weeks.

I chose to deconstruct this front cover as it was hard to locate a local music magazine (Perhaps suggesting a gap in the market for this kind of product?) and that this magazine cover features one of the biggest bands at the moment on one of the most popular music magazine cover at the moment, I wanted to see the conventions RollingStone uses to help maintain its popularity.

The main focal point of the cover is easily the central image. This image is of the band Kings Of Leon, the Mese en Scene of the image shows the band wearing ‘western’ type cloths similar to the style ‘cowboys’ were from the south of America which is ironic because of the fact the band originate from that area. The banner near the bottom of the cover is in a western looking font as it has a button hole effect often associated with that area of America, all of which contributed to the western style of the cover.

The magazine’s famous masthead on this cover is layered behind the image of the band; this is quite significant as it goes against typical conventions of having the masthead big, bright and visible so that customers can quickly identify the text with a particular brand. This in my opinion gives the impression that the band Kings OF Leon is a bigger institution then the magazine itself and this is RollingStone’s way of finally acknowledging them after not featuring the band once during their 2 previous talent filled records. The main image is also on this occasion been taken outside of their studio which in relatively rare for a RollingStone cover which again could be perceived as suggesting this cover has a deeper meaning to it.

The Puffs on the cover are worded well and do a good job of advertising what is included in the rest of the magazine while fitting in the western theme, for example “The Dead On Tour” gives the reader an open imagery of a band roaming free on a tour of the land, again something that could be stereotyped with a western ‘cowboy’ style. “The God-Fearing, Booze-Swilling Rise of America’s Hottest Bands” is another very stereotypical feature on this western style cover as the ‘deep south’ of America is rightfully or wrongfully associated with religion, alcohol and old fashioned ethics, however “Rise Of America’s Hottest Bands” suggests once again that this band are very big, and are breaking this stereotype that surrounds their region of residence by setting a good example and becoming extremely successful.

In conclusion I believe that this cover of the RollingStone magazine’s mode of address is to display the Kings of Leon as a huge band, but not an unoriginal one. To many the Kings of Leon are only recognised for their newest to date multiplatinum selling album ‘Only by The Night’ and in my opinion this cover does well to convey KOL’s real background, their roots, influences and at the same time advertises their previous less known records that all have a noticeable modern country sound to them. Therefore to summarise, the conventions displayed on this cover are a mixture of conventional and unconventional, they blend together well to give it a great looks and bring across its mode of address very well, I will certainly use some of the features in the creation of my music magazine front cover.