Understanding
Genre in Music Magazines
Genre plays a major role in the colours, images and language
used in the different music magazines. There is hundreds of different music
genres used and created around the world, some of them include: emo, metal, drum
& bass, rock, pop, rap and electro. All of these different genres hold
different stereotypes within them about the artists and the fans and how they
are portrayed in the public eye.t
The
most obvious stereotype is within the genre punk. The stereotype of the fans is
that they wear black or leather clothes with metal spikes or studs glued onto
the clothing. This image bellow shows
the general perception of the punk fans, as you can see both leather jackets
have the studs and metal appendages attached to them. The hair style for men in
the punk scene is show very well in this image; they generally spike their hair
into very unique and interesting ways. The general attitude of the punk fans
and artists is to be rebellious and against the system. They achieve this with
their unique hair and variety of unusual facial piercings. The bands that play punk music also dress in
the same fashion and style as their fans, the bands give themselves the repel
image in the eyes of the media which also fits into the stereotypes of the
genre. 
The drum & bass genre of music does
not have any particular stereotype. This makes it hard for specific magazines
to be instantly noted as a drum & bass magazine. This genre doesn't rely on a style of fashion
or a rebellious look of the artists and fans, the genre isn't represented by
anyone style or brand. Most drum & bass magazines use computer generated
and graphically designed logos or images to put a picture to the genre. This is
a very unique way of portraying a music genre as it does not allow the fans to
fit in with the artists and style of their favourite genre. This image (right)
is a good example of how drub & bass artists portray and sell their music
to the fans.
The biggest culture surrounding a genre is pop. The pop genre
is the biggest because pop music is simply popular music and so it has the
biggest amount of fans. Pop music can’t be shown by an image or a stereotype of
fan, the entire pop culture is mainly stereotyped by young people. This isn’t
to say that only young people listen to the genre but that is the way it is
portrayed. The images used on album covers and magazines for pop music are
genially very big and bold, this is to make the genre seem very simple and easy
to be a part of again contributing to the popular music industry. The way pop
has not images to describe it is very unique in media; this is because most
genres have an image from the bands or artists that make up the genre. With pop
there is no one artist or group that sum up the
genre on their own, this adds a very personal feeling to the genre as
the fans don’t all just follow one look and stereotype.
Rap and r & b are two very similar if not the same
genre. The imagery of these two genres are generally relate to crime and drugs
as the main stereotype. These two genres also don’t have a symbolic image or
theme, the magazines that write about the genres use the artists themselves to
sell the magazines. The genre as a whole is widely listened to by young and old
people alike. The amount of different artists in the genre also helps to keep
the music very new and original and stops the genre from getting
repetitive.
To conclude there are hundreds of
different of different genres and artists within the music industry. Each genre
is different in their own specific way. Each genres fans and artists have found
ways of expressing the genres to others. The way in which the different genres
are so unique is because of the way in which people view the music and
statements made by the bands and artists in that genre. The biggest stereotypes
that come from genres are the fashions and ways of life that comes from the
different genres. 
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