EXPECTATIONS OF MUSIC MAGAZINE GENRES

POPCommon Dress: In most pop magazines you will find young, attractive boys usually wearing items of clothing

such as skinny jeans, bomber jackets and snap back hats/beanie hats. The girls in pop magazines are often

found wearing skimpy outfits, usually patterned or bright with elements such as sequins. There is often props

used such as microphones and handbags for girls. The magazine will usually feature quizzes and horoscopes

which appeal to girls aged 7-15 and various posters of female pop star role models and male pop stars that

they may find attractive. It is common occurrence to see male pop stars and female pop stars wearing a lot of

makeup in the magazines to make them look more attractive.

Speech: Pop magazines feature a lot of innocent “slang” and abbreviations that are commonly used by

numerous 7-15 year olds in daily life. For an example, “OMG” , “LOL” and “TTYL” are all commonly used in pop

magazines such as top of the pops. This is because the magazine wants to relate more to their readers, at the

same time reading abbreviations can make the readers feel a lot older which is something 7-15 year olds seek.

Pop magazines use words such as “WOW” and “WOAH” a lot for emphasis and to make their readers feel

excited, by feeling excited with the magazine the 7-15 year old readers connect to the publication more.

Colour: Most pop magazines publish publications that appear loud and dramatic through the use of a lot of

bright secondary colours. For an example, two common colours featured in pop magazines are pink and green

however, the pink is often bright and labelled as “HOT PINK” and the green is often softer and labelled as

“MINT GREEN”. Other colours such as bright sky blues and reds may be used as seen in the pictures provided

however hot pink of often the most common colour used in pop magazines. This is because the magazines are

targeted at your girls and it is an accepted concept that young girls stereotypically prefer pink. Pink often has

connotations with girls and princesses, also attracting parents to buy the publication for their children to make

them feel special.

Typology: The font used in pop magazines is often very shapely and in capital letters. This gives

the impression of shouting like a pop star might do on stage at a concert. It often has connotations happiness

and excitement, text is often colourfully decorated yet still readable and there is always limited text in pop

magazines and more pictures due to their readers being of such a young age and easily distracted.

ROCKCommon Dress: Common dress in Rock magazines often features a lot of dark, ripped clothing with little

attention paid to what might be in trend at that given time unless it is to mock it. Clothes are often well worn

and leather studded jackets are often present on famous rock stars. A lot of the time the covers of rock

magazines will feature famous bands looking expressionless, yet inside there will often be various

impressionable pictures of the stars with various expressions holding on to their instruments suggesting that

they are their music. Rock stars rarely wear hats and often have messy yet long hair cuts and will often be seen

with some type of heavy footwear such as Doctor Martin Boots or Military boots. It is also common to see rock

stars in rock magazines showcasing various “dark” tattoos, usually skulls or eagles with some sort of element of

death.

Speech: Rock magazines will rarely use abbreviations unless it is used for the name of a band. The articles

featured in rock magazines are often quite formal yet interviews may feature a lot of foul language and humour.

Rock can be viewed as an old genre of music due to the length of time it has been around when compared to

newer music genres such as rap, therefor, rock will often speak a lot of honesty within the magazines of their

genre. For en example, rock magazines rarely promote singles., they will promote and interview bands but they

rarely suggest that their consumers buy a song, speech in rock magazines is more about informing rather than

trying to sell a product.

Colour: The colours featured in rock magazines are often predicted to be dark and menacing. Whilst this is

commonly true, you can see from my third example of a rock magazine that not all rock magazines follow the

same idea that rock has to be seen as a dark genre of music. Although it is rare to see colours such as pink or

lilac used, colours such as yellows and greens are a common feature of rock magazines. The use of yellow and

green has connotations of loud music. Yellow and green can be seen as loud colours so by using them the

magazine is showing that rock is loud and out there.

Typology: Typology in rock magazines rarely differs from publication to publication. Mastheads will usually be

defined and sharply edged whereas other text on the page will feature different designed such as the impression

that the words are dripping or are jagged and torn. This related to the hard impression of rock society has, rock

can be seen as a hard and dangerous genre of music due to the sounds produced and reputations of past and

present rock stars.

HIP HOPCommon Dress: Common dress in Hip Hop magazines often features a lot of American brands. Clothes

can often be described as “baggy” and are often dark colours. Head wear is common among people

working in the world of hip hop, from snap back caps to bandanas and five panel hats. Jewellery is also

often common with a big feature on gold and untraditional jewellery such as heavy gold chains and

diamond encrusted mouth pieces known as grills. Shoes are important in hip hop magazines, brands such

as Nike are often advertised especially trainers such as Nike air max and Nike Jordans. This is because

both shoes are common with rappers, and a lot of people that follow rap artists inspire to be more like

them then people who may follow people in a different genre of music. Brands and jewellery is important

in rap since modern rap is often about bragging about your possessions, by doing so you are creating the

impression that you are rich and live a very materialistic lifestyle. Women in rap are often half dressed

and sexualised for entertainment.

Speech: Speech within rap magazines is often very rude and slang based. For an example, in the UK the

word “Wavey” is used to describe someone heavily intoxicated with alcohol. Over the last year or so

numerous British artists have produced music featuring the word. Speech in rap magazines is very

modern and some may describe it as “in the moment”, rap magazines are rarely formal and will rarely

use abbreviations such as pop magazines. The language used in rap magazines often perceived as a

warning, for an example if you heard someone in daily life use language mainly found in the genre of rap

you may become a little cautious since rap can often be about violence. Words can also often be

shortened in rap, for an example “is Rihanna Prego”,.

Colour: the colour used in rap magazines is often primary. This suggests that the simplicity of rap is the

key to its success, a lot of rap music features a single artist rapping over a beat produced by someone of

a different genre of music.

Typology: Test used in rap magazines is often block capitals, its also often plain allowing other features

of the page to take more attention. Furthermore, artists featuring on the cover of the page will also often

obstruct the masthead. This can have two reasons, firstly is that the magazine is so well known that you

do not need to see the name to know what it is and secondly is that the artist obstructing the masthead is

so well known that just by seeing them you can conclude the theme and purpose of the magazine.

JAZZCommon dress: Common dress in rap magazines is often very formal and men will be seen

wearing waistcoats and suites whereas women will be seen wearing evening dresses and small

heels. Hats are also a common feature for men, and they will always haver an instrument prop

most definitely their instrument that they play professionally. Women will often take on a 1940s

theme with simple makeup, curled hair and dresses and their shoes will often be small and

feminine. The overall theme for dress in Jazz magazines is classy and classic giving readers the

impression that Jazz is a sophisticated hobby which can also be views as a luxury.

Speech: Jazz magazines will never use common slang words or abbreviations since the jazz

world has a list of their own. For an example, jazz magazines may talk about two similar artists

having a “jam” which simply means that they played their instruments together for fun.

Furthermore, jazz magazines will often use the word “improv” for a shorter version of

“improvisation”, using these words help jazz magazines relate with their readers more as jazz is

not a common music type and the fact that these words exist can make their fans relate to

eachother more.

Colour: colours used in jazz magazines are often very simple such as whites, greys, blacks and

reds and a lot of jazz magazines will have a black and white or sepia affect for an old fashioned

feeling. Jazz was widely more popular during the 40’s and 50’s and has always remained in

touch with that time.

Typology: the typology of two jazz magazines will never be similar, from magazine to magazine it

differs. Some magazines feature typology with sharp edges and block capitals whereas others

feature a brighter typology with effects on the mastheads and a more curved appearance. For an

example, on the jazz improv magazine masthead, the text is positioned in a way that wakes it

seem as though it is moving along waves. This has connotations of travelling and could

represent travelling moving notes.