Analysis of Magazine Album Advertisements.

THE HORRORS Magazine Advertisement:

This is an advertisement for the album Strange House, by The Horrors. The band is the main focus point, seated in the middle. The majority of them are dressed in black. The clothes seem related to quite a darker indie style, with skinny jeans and blazer like jackets also adding a sense of safistication. However there is one wearing white, making him an outcast to the others, suggesting that he is possibly the lead singer, having more of a lead role amongst them as he is in contrast to them. The set of the photo appears in a house, relating to the album name 'Strange House'. It is quite poshly furnished. They are seated on a sofa with curtains either side draped near enough identically.

The curtains look silky with patterns decorated over them giving a glamurous appearance.

The animals head hung up in the center emphasises the symmetry in the composition of this image. This object indicates possibly wealth, having these head stereotypically seen in grand houses, hung above fire places etc. Also I feel it adds more of a vintage look combined with the curtains and the tone of the photo. Whilst briefly researching the music videos for this bad to get an idea of the type of music they play, I noticed this animal head is included in their video for 'She is a new thing'.

The photo is black and white, seeming gloomy and washed out. The texture is grainy making the image seem hazey. The fact that the colour is monotoned, with the decor being quite vintage and old fashioned with the subjects also dressed in black, with big volumized hair and thick eyeliner, creates this gothic appearance. The title of the band and the album name is enlarged above the image. The size of this font is bigger than the rest because it is what the advert is advertising. This is the same for the album release date also standing out along the bottom, this is so we are likely to read it. Below this is a small collection of positive reviews for the band, specifically chosen to make the album look good and help to persuade you to buy it with high ratings such as '10/10' and '4/5'. This font size is smaller because it is not as important where as getting across the album and the release date is the main priority of the advert, the reviews just make the band look better. Other than advertising the albums release date, they also add along the bottom the months they are touring and a website where you can access tickets. As well as this is their myspace page.

NIRVANA Album Magazine Advertisement:

This is advertising Nirvanas Live At Reading Album. This advert contains no specially set up photoshoot for the albums promotion like the previous. It is a shot taken from their Reading performance and is the same photo which is used as the album cover, linking the advert to the album which is presented at the side. The effect of this familiarises us with the appearance of the album which therefore lets us know what to look for when searching for the album, we will then recognize this image. It shows Nirvana on stage, with Kurt Cobain in mid air, jumping with his guitar, representing their stage presence as being wild and eratic, reflecting what is seen in their live performances with actions such as throwing around guitars and jumping on equipment, therefore really engaging into their music. This is emphasising the nature of the band but also a feel of the type of performance they give and what we are expecting to be seeing if we purchase this DVD/CD. This type of image of a band performing is quite a common convention of the rock genre. When we think of rock we are automatically expecting to see the band playing at one point.

The main over powering colours of this advert are black and yellow. The reason for this is because black and yellow are the associated colours of Nirvana, it is like their trade colours. The bands logo is placed on the left. This narrow thick font is also associated with Nirvana. This font is used below the image for the availability and the release date as well as the title. I noticed that in the description, the words 'legendary' and 'pristine' are used to make the album sound better, to make it look more appealing. There is also a hmv logo placed in the corner showing us where the product is available.

Fall Out Boy Album Magazine Advertisement:

This is advertising Fall Out Boy's album 'Believers Never Die'. An album combining all of their greatest hits, the reason for this is because the band split up, so their most successful hits is put into one album as a kind of celebration and collection. The album name 'Believers Never Die' representes the fans and believers of Fall Out Boy always being devoted to the band and also their music living on despite the fact that the band are no longer together. The art of the advert is illustrative. It's a drawing of two skeletons laying down on the floor together. This could represent the seperation of the band, how the group has in a way died, even though Fall Out Boy came to an end, their friendship and remains still excist. The fact that the bones are in entwined possibly reinforces how close their frienships were but also possibly the connection with their fans. Even though they are no longer together their excistance lives on through their music. Their music is all that remains, and what is left behind are bones, portraying the end of Fall Out Boy. Surrounding the skeletons are objects such as converses, guitar and a record. These are musically associated instruments and having the guitar and converses enforce this connection with the band, being stereotypical items owned in a rock band. The poster is coloured in blue, creating quite a sad, gloomy atmosphere which relates to the fact that the band have split up and the mood likely to be felt by their fans. I noticed that this advert is simular to 'The Horrors' in the fact that above and below the image is faded into black, also with the Nirvana advertisments background being black. This shows that the colour black is quite a common typical convention in rock genre. The text is white, contrasting to tthe background which makes it stand out. There is the use of bold writing for the bands name, date of release, the rating by Kerrang, it is also bigger than the rest giving it more importants. This advertisement is different from the rest because it also includes a small variety of the songs included in the album, these are probably the bands most well known tracks.