Popular Music Journalism: Topic 7

7. How do magazines like NME and Kerrang! reflect a) subcultures b) gender


A subculture can be defined as 'an identifiably seperate social group within a larger culture, especially one regarded as existing outside mainstream society' (Encarta, 2011). So within the world of the music press, NME and Kerrangs publications need to appeal to relative subcultures (their target demographic). The publications, much in the same vein of similar magazines such as Mojo and Q, look to create an identity that their supposed demographic are able to connect with, through use of imagery, fashion, and to some extent ideologies, in turn providing a sense of community for their readership. In other words, magazines look to represent their relative subculture, to some extent are responsible for not only their creation but sustained existance; 'media and commerce do not just cover but help construct music subcultures...subcultural capital is itself, in no small sense, a phonomenon of the media' (Thornton, 1996). Specifically, with regards to music publications, their choice of branding and select advertisements will be what they consider to be relative to their audience.

The representation of gender and sexual identity within the music press is a lot more defined than you would perhaps think. The music press and media in general play a large role in shaping consumers understanding of gender and identity; 'the media, as we've said before, gives us ideas about gender, and relationships, and ways of living. These ideas come over in TV, movies, magazines and pop music' (Gauntlett, 2006). However in this instance it is unfair to just use one or two publications as an example; a critical aspect to understand is the music press' influence on association by genre; that is to say - a sexing of the scenes. Over the decades we have seen a traditionally masculine approach taken by the music press to objectify women in music, and there is a definite trend to associate men and women towards particular genres. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but traditionally within these publications they continue to represent traditional gender sterotypes through use of branding, advertising, and of course writing. Even where female artists are the basis for a particular article, generally speaking there is an unncessary degree of emphasis given to the role she plays as a female; 'popular rock and pop criticism has traditionally presented its subject matter in a way that assumes writer and reader coexist in a phallocentric world in which women are peripheral' (Kruse, 2002). 

ENCARTA, 2011. Subculture. [online] [viewed 7 May 2011]. Available from: http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861716431/subculture.html

GAUNTLETT, D., 2006. Media, Gender and Identity; An Introduction. 3rd ed. Oxfordshire: Routledge

KRUSE, H., 2002. Abandoning the absolute: Transcendence and gender in popular music discourse. In: S. JONES, Popular Music and the Press. Philadelphia: Temple University Press

THORNTON, S., 1996. Moral Panic, the Media, and British Rave Culture. In: A. ROSS and T. ROSE. Microphone Fiends: Youth Music & Youth Culture. London: Routledge