Kerrang!

About Kerrang!

The word is onomatopoeic — the sound of a guitar being struck with force — and for more than four decades it has been the battle cry of British rock fandom. Kerrang!, the British music magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal, was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off "Heavy Metal Special" supplement to the weekly music newspaper Sounds. The issue was so popular that it became a monthly magazine, then a fortnightly, then — from 1987 — a weekly, going on to become the best-selling British music weekly in 2001 when it overtook the NME. After 1,818 weekly issues the print edition was suspended in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but the brand survived online and the print magazine was revived on a quarterly basis in December 2021. Published today by Wasted Talent Ltd from London, Kerrang! remains the loudest voice in British rock journalism.

History and Founding

Kerrang! was founded in 1981 by Alan Lewis, the editor of the weekly music paper Sounds, who suggested that his writer Geoff Barton edit a one-off heavy metal special. Barton, a champion of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, assembled an issue devoted to the NWOBHM phenomenon and the rise of hard rock acts, with Angus Young of AC/DC on the first cover. Named after the onomatopoeic word for the sound of a distorted power chord, the special sold so well that it was turned into a monthly magazine. It began to appear fortnightly in 1982 and went weekly in 1987. The original owner was United Newspapers, which sold the title to EMAP in 1991. During the 1980s and early 1990s the magazine put thrash and glam metal acts — Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Poison and Venom among them — on its covers, before pivoting to grunge acts such as Nirvana as musical fashions changed, a pattern of reinvention that readers have both celebrated and criticised over the years.

Editorial Focus and Audience

Kerrang! covers rock, punk and heavy metal in all their forms. Its musical emphasis has shifted several times across its forty-year history: from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and hard rock of the 1980s, through grunge, nu metal, post-hardcore and emo, to the alternative rock and metal of the present day. The magazine's audience is young, passionate and intensely loyal — famously characterised as among the heaviest music consumers in Britain, buying more albums and attending more gigs than the national average. Its readership has historically skewed young, with a majority aged between 15 and 24, and the magazine has cultivated a community identity — its readers are "the Kerrang! generation" — built on shared devotion to loud guitars and the culture around them.

Ownership and Publishing

Kerrang! is published by Wasted Talent Ltd, the company that also owns the electronic music publication Mixmag, which has owned the title since 2017. The magazine's ownership history traces the consolidation of British music publishing: founded under United Newspapers, sold to EMAP in 1991, it later passed to Bauer Media Group before its acquisition by Wasted Talent. The current editor is listed as Luke Morton, succeeding editors including James McMahon, with a staff of writers covering news, reviews and features. The brand is based in London.

Print Editions and Frequency

Kerrang!'s frequency has changed with the eras of its life: monthly from 1981 to 1982, fortnightly from 1982 to 1987, weekly from 1987 to 2020, and quarterly from its revival in December 2021 to the present. In its weekly heyday it was a powerhouse of the British music press: in 2001 it became the best-selling British music weekly, overtaking the NME, and its circulation was reported at 42,077 in July 2012. After publishing a total of 1,818 issues, the weekly magazine ceased publication in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, continuing as an online publication with digital "cover stories". In December 2021 the print edition was revived as a quarterly magazine, a format that allows for longer, more lavish features suited to the collectable end of the music magazine market.

Digital Presence

Kerrang! operates as a music webzine at kerrang.com, publishing news, interviews, reviews and its signature digital cover stories. The website hosts the brand's online shop, podcasts and video content, and the magazine maintains a strong social media presence across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. During the suspension of the weekly print edition from 2020 to 2021, the website carried the brand, proving that Kerrang!'s identity could survive the loss of its print rhythm. The digital operation continues to break rock news and to publish the long-form interviews that have always been the magazine's hallmark.

Iconic Features

The Kerrang! Awards, held annually since 1993, are among the magazine's most famous institutions — recognised by the now-defunct Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums as one of Britain's most notable music awards events, presented by major music celebrities and attended by stars from inside and outside the industry. The magazine's cover stories have launched and defined countless bands, from the thrash and glam acts of the 1980s to the nu metal and emo bands of the 2000s. Its posters — free giant posters were a beloved coverline of the weekly era — adorned a generation of teenagers' bedroom walls. The brand has also extended into Kerrang! Radio, launched by EMAP as a digital station in 2000 and relaunched as the regional station Kerrang! 105.2 in Birmingham in 2004, and into Kerrang! TV and the Kerrang! Tour, making it one of the original multimedia music brands.

Notable Contributors

Geoff Barton, the magazine's founding editor, remains its presiding spirit — the writer who gave the New Wave of British Heavy Metal its name and its bible. Alan Lewis, the Sounds editor who conceived the title, is credited as its founder. Over the decades the magazine's editors and writers have included many of the most influential voices in rock journalism, and its staff writers have conducted definitive interviews with generations of rock stars, from the metal giants of the 1980s to the alternative bands of today. The magazine's masthead, with its distinctive jagged logo stretched across the full width of the cover, has been a constant through all its changes of ownership and frequency.

Cultural Impact

Kerrang!'s cultural impact is inseparable from the history of British rock music since 1981. It championed the New Wave of British Heavy Metal at the moment of its birth, gave thrash metal its British press home, rode the grunge wave, and carried the banners for nu metal, post-hardcore and emo in turn — each time introducing a new generation of teenagers to heavy music. In 2001, by overtaking the NME as Britain's best-selling music weekly, it symbolised the triumph of rock and metal over the indie orthodoxy of the 1990s. Its awards ceremony, its radio station and its tours made it a genuine multimedia youth culture brand before that term was fashionable. For millions of readers, Kerrang! was not just a magazine but an identity: the weekly proof that loud guitars mattered.

Awards and Recognition

The Kerrang! Awards, established in 1993, are the brand's own major contribution to music awards culture, honouring the most successful bands in the eyes of its readers across categories that have included best newcomer, best album and best live band. The magazine's achievement in becoming the best-selling British music weekly in 2001, overtaking the NME, remains a landmark in British music press history. Its covers and journalism have been widely recognised within the music industry, and the brand's longevity — more than four decades in print and digital — is itself a remarkable record in the volatile world of music publishing.

Recent Developments

The most dramatic recent chapter in Kerrang!'s history was the suspension of its weekly print edition in March 2020 after 1,818 issues, a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic's devastation of print distribution and the live music economy. The brand continued online with digital cover stories, and in December 2021 the print magazine was revived on a quarterly basis under Wasted Talent Ltd. The quarterly format, with recent covers featuring bands such as Metallica, positions the magazine as a premium, collectable product for rock fans in an era when weekly music print has all but vanished. More than forty years after Geoff Barton edited that first heavy metal special for Sounds, Kerrang! remains the loudest and most enduring voice in British rock journalism — still devoted, as its name promises, to the sound of a guitar being struck with force.