Kerrang! Magazine is a worldwide rock, metal and heavy music institution. The British publication, which began life as a special spun out of Sounds magazine thanks to rock journalism legend Geoff Barton, quickly grew to be a bi-weekly and then weekly magazine for all things alternative, rock and metal music. It continued that way for almost 40 years (thanks very much Covid) and is still alive and well today. The Kerrang website reaches millions of alternative music fans a month and the print magazine specials, currently released several times a year, are enjoyed greatly by music fans and artists alike.
Who better then to chronicle one of the cornerstones of UK rock music media than its longest serving staff member, current Senior Editor and all around bad ass (of the nice kind) Nick Ruskell. One can only begin to imagine the amount of bands that have passed the ears of Nick, who has held multiple roles at Kerrang over a 20 year association with the mag and the wider brand as it now is. Kerrang! Living Loud: Four Decades On The Frontline Of Rock, Metal, Punk And Alternative Music is a bit of a mouthful for a title, but it aptly sums up the life of the magazine in one sentence.
The opening notes from Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich set the tone nicely. For multiple generations, Kerrang was (and still is) the musical bible. Getting featured in Kerrang was the holy grail for bands of our world – and its importance shines through in Lars’ words, full of enthusiasm. Early on, Geoff Barton’s editors column from episode 1 is a brilliant window into the origins of the mag while scene elder statesmen like Saxon’s Biff Byford and Scorpions’ Rudi Schenker talk avidly about the impact it had, particularly to have the magazine in colour. The story of the magazine’s evolution throughout the 80s is captivating. There are multiple strands of story expertly woven into a timeline tapestry; the magazine, the people behind it, the rise of various artists from Metallica to Motley Crue and Iron Maiden to Def Leppard, and what Kerrang was doing to document those happenings as they were occurring. With Team Kerrang, special affection is reserved for Malcolm Dome (RIP) and Ashley Maile (RIP), both in the tribute articles to them and multiple artists fondly remembering both.
Going weekly for the first time in issue 148 (and seeing GnR on the cover for the first time) was a significant moment, giving bands of our world even more chances to be noticed. Charting the rise of the likes of Metallica, Bon Jovi and Iron Maiden to superstardom, its also very interesting to see how albums we regard as classics weren’t necessarily taken so at the time from the album of the year lists (1984, Ride The Lightning called and said WTAF).
The 90s brought Lars Ulrich saying Metallica were bored of long songs, Kerrang falling out with Guns N’Roses (it wouldn’t be the last time the mag raised the ire of a big band) and the rise of grunge. Tales of Nirvana’s initial reluctance of both their fame and to deal with Kerrang and subsequent warming will interest many. Recaps of adventures with everyone from Ozzy Osbourne to KoRn and Metallica to Slipknot abound with the turn of the millennium. Nickelback give K! the Guns N’Roses treatment in another essential recollection. Going from the nu metal era to emo, with liberal doses of pop punk alongside both, and then the likes of Biffy Clyro and Bring Me The Horizon’s ascent in the 2010’s through the view of various editorial periods (Paul Brannigan, Phil Alexander, James McMahon and others) shows how Kerrang moved with the times. The love shown by everyone from Oli Sykes, Simon Neil, Jonathan Davis, Amy Lee and so many more to the magazine in new interviews included in the book shows that artists know what an important role it has played in their growth over the years.
As essential as all that comes before is the last section covering this current decade and what the Covid pandemic meant for Kerrang, reborn once again in its current digital / occasional print format. Kerrang dot com continues to go from strength to strength in the hands of Nick, current Editor Luke Morton and deputy Ed Emily Carter, and the section about Kerrang having invested more heavily in their website might be one of the most important of all; it means they are still here. As a result this excellent book is still talking about a living, breathing publication, rather than giving us a history lesson of another once great media outlet that died off.
If you were an avid reader of Kerrang as a weekly magazine from 40, 30, 20 or 10 years ago, or a new reader from the digital era, anyone with an interest in rock and metal, music journalism, the inner workings of the music industry or any / all of the above, this book is an essential purchase. It’s one part love letter, one part historical text and one part feeling like you’ve been privileged to sit at the bar and hear inside stories of the highest quality, all woven together superbly by Nick Ruskell’s extensive skill. Thanks to Kerrang, for many of us life has been loud, and we are all the better for it.
Kerrang! Living Loud: Four Decades On The Frontline Of Rock, Metal, Punk And Alternative Music is out now through DK. Buy the book from Waterstones, Rough Trade or Amazon right now!
