Does anyone still buy Kerrang!?

[Philly Q]

Kerrang! was once my bible.... I bought the first issue in 1981 and carried on buying it for over 20 years, from the NWOBHM to thrash, hair metal to grunge to nu metal.  I got increasingly pissed off with it during the '90s as the interviews became less about music and more about drugs, partying and getting lashed (and the magazine became more full of pictures and less full of text).  I finally gave up when they started featuring more pop-punk and emo bands than metal ones.  And they kept putting that tw@t Ville Valo from HIM on the cover - does anyone actually listen to that tripe?

For a couple of years I carried on buying the Christmas issue, then I gave up on that too but my brother still buys it, just to see the critics' Top 20 Albums of the year.  Years ago, I would probably have owned 15 or 16 of that top 20, but this year I have precisely 2.  Even worse, I've never even heard of many of the other bands.

I realise, of course, that Kerrang! isn't aimed at people my age (or anywhere near).  But it is weird to have finally reached the point of being quite definitely "past it", even though it must happen to us all eventually.  Maybe I'd be more comfortable being into dad-rock if I was actually a dad....

Anyway, are there any other past or present Kerrang! readers out there?  Any fond memories?  Does it actually represent the rock music "the kids" are listening to today, or is it just trend-following rubbish?

[SG Thrasher]

I'm 17 and I think it's awful.

It's just following the latest trends, aimed at people who are buying into said trends, as that's what will sell the magazine.

[Stevepage]

I'm only 22, so it wasn't too long ago I was buying Kerrang! every now and again. But once I turned 16 it became very predictable and boring. Same old generic pop/punk, emo, hardcore and for some reason Eminem?. It hasn't changed much I think. It really is aimed at the naive teenagers who think Bring Me The Horizon are original and ground breaking (ha!)

Their gig reviews are ok, but it's usually the same bands just in different countries.

I don't bother with those kind of magazines anymore. I just stick to Guitarist and Guitar Techniques. If I want to read band interviews, I'll look on the bands website/myspace and get all my info from there.

[Crazy_Joe]

I'm 18 i probably haven't bought a copy since i was 15.

[JDC]

I never bought it, but my local rock DJ did so I'd just read his

more money to be made from trends, does anyone think these emo bands all sound the same? it makes me wonder if I've listened to so much metal that I can hear the difference in it but to an emo person metal all sounds the same?

I know an obsessive HIM fan, she only ever used to wear HIM merchandise and talk about Vino

[Philly Q]

If I want to read band interviews, I'll look on the bands website/myspace and get all my info from there.

That's a good point.  When I was your age there was no internet, so music papers and magazines had much more significance.  There was nowhere else to find out about new bands or read reviews, so Kerrang! and Sounds were actually things to look forward to every week.  Now everything is at your fingertips.

[Antag]

Anyway, are there any other past or present Kerrang! readers out there?

Yep - bought my first in 1984.  Regularly bought it in the early 90s until I realised that I disagreed with almost all the reviews (most reviews of concerts I'd actually been to left me wondering how the reviewer could even claim to have been in the same room), hated all the grunge cr@p it was full of & hated reading about bands I loved getting bagged week in week out...

Any fond memories?

The Doro Pesch pull off out poster :)

Does it actually represent the rock music "the kids" are listening to today, or is it just trend-following rubbish?

Isn't that the same thing?  Yes to both IMHO... :)

[99_not_out]

Used to read it religiously too in the late 80's and early 90's, it did gradually go down hill didn't it, and then attempted to embrace Brit Rock and Indie to revive its fortunes. Frankly if I wanted to read shitee opinionated interviews about Indie bands I'd have been reading NME ...

Fond memories of Pandora Peroxide though, and overuse of the letters K and R whenever possible :)

[Johnny Mac]

I read it up until 1991.

There are lots of mags for us older lads out there.  :)

[nfe]

It has featured almost no one I have any interest in for at least a decade. So no, but I did buy a few copies then.

Now, it's Zero Tolerance, Terrorizer, websites and occasionally Rock Sound if I'm getting on a bus/train/plane and have already read that months Terrorizer and Zero Tolerance.

[Simon D]

Bought my first one in 1994 - Jon Bon Jovi was on the cover -  and haven't bought one now for several years (I'm now 27).  I still pick it up every week and leaf through in WH Smiths on my lunchbreak, just to see if by miracle it's got any better, but it never has. I still buy Metal Hammer, because they have some decent writers, and Classic Rock every now and then, but my main read is Guitarist - plenty of musical variety.

[dave_mc]

i never bought kerrang...

i actually like the HIM song funeral of hearts... a couple of their other songs aren't too bad either. but i'd agree that kerrang is probably cr@p, the couple of times i've leafed through it in wh smiths or easons...

EDIT: i should add that i stopped buying total guitar (several years back) for similar reasons to why you stopped kerrang. when i started playing, it seemed to be aimed at intermediate players... then when i got to the intermediate stage, it was more aimed at beginners. kind of annoying. plus it went cr@p about 2 months after i took out a subscription, so that sucked. :lol:

[Philly Q]

I have bought Metal Hammer off and on over the years, it's far preferable to Kerrang! but again I'm feeling out of touch with the bands they cover nowadays.  Zero Tolerance and Terrorizer are too extreme for me....

Classic Rock is probably the closest to my musical tastes, but I don't actually buy it - there's almost too much in each issue.  I end up wanting to buy half the stuff they review, even new albums by dodgy old bands when I know they haven't done anything good for 25 years.

I still get my 4 guitar mags every month, but it's nice to read reviews from a non-guitar perspective sometimes.

[Transcend]

I only buy it if theres an appalling cd coming with it like the masterof puppets anniversary and maiden heaven.

Also if theres a cover story on a band i love i may read it in the newagents :P

[hunter]

Once I read it a bit when I was over in UK for a few days. But then it felt a bit unsatisfying to read about music and not be able to listen to it right away. I think I also lost the patience for this since the internet has come up. However, it's a bit of culture that goes amiss when we're losing these mags, as it used to be nice to imagine a record and look forward to hearing it. Total information in www has made this kind of redundant ... unfortunately?