Front Cover Textual Analysis

The magazine cover consists of a photograph of Gerard Way, front man of My chemical Romance. It is a long shot showing his whole body - head to toe and bit of his surroundings. He is looking into the camera and leaning towards us a bit, the background seems quite bland as if the photographer was trying to emphasize the subject and to help the masthead and coverlines stand out.

The masthead 'NME' is original and distinctively recognised with the magazine. It is always in the same font, font size and position on the cover of the magazine although it's fill can be changed to suit the cover but this is quite rare - it is more often than not red, black and white. As the masthead is quite basic it doesn't suggest any cultural or musical genre preference, which does suggest that is open to all readers. Below the masthead it says 'NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS' which clarifies if you didn't already know that 'NME' stands for 'NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS' which doesn't link itself to any specific genre and gives the impression that it is a magazine about 'New Music'.

The cover photograph is of Gerard Way, front man of a well known band called My Chemical Romance. The photograph links to the main coverline which is about the bands comeback and new image. The way he is standing is almost like he's revealing himself to the readers, lifting his head to say 'hello - this is the new us'.
His costume isn't very 'costumey' as it is something he might wear anyway, quite casual rock clothing kept simple. The lighting is quite normal as the photograph, I think was meant to look as if it were inside with average lighting. As mentioned earlier, the setting/background is quite simple and bland so it doesn't take away emphasis from the character or coverlines.

The main cover, relating to the character also has a quote 'NO MORE ROCK OPERA' which is the genre of music they were tied to with their most recent album before this interview where they sang about death and pain, physically and emotionally; this is them telling everyone about they're change of direction.
Other coverlines, ranging from 'VAMPIRE WEEKEND's uk tour, 'KID CUDI', 'GORILLAZ' to the death of musician'JAY REATARD'. With the amount of music variation on the cover alone there should be something to incline all sorts of music lovers.

The target audience for the magazine as was just mentioned would be music lovers or people that really appreciate music - of all kinds. Therefor they're is no targeting gender or age, it would be based on the person's knowledge, opinion and appreciation of music.