Spin Magazine

Spin, published by McEvoy Group, LLC, ISSN 0886-3032

Content Summary

                              Spin is a magazine dedicated to popular music, historically focusing on new and up-and-coming trends such as indie music and hip hop.  Classic music and rock legends are also paid tribute in the pages of Spin.  There are features on pop culture figures that branch outside of music, burgeoning musical scenes, and other popular phenomena that keep the magazine relevant and cutting edge.  This magazine is largely print content with accompanying photographs, but there is also plenty of advertising for music equipment, fashion, and alcohol.  Music reviews also make up a large part of Spin, so anyone wanting to keep track of what is next would do well to read this publication. 

Critical Analysis

                           Definitely geared towards younger readers and the culture of the new generation, Spin is not so young as to be isolating to other age groups.  The appearance of Spin is much less frenetic than a lot of magazines.  There is a clean edge to their layout, a squared-off orderliness that makes this magazine attractive and enjoyable to read.  The reviews of music are varied by genre, so although as previously mentioned this is a young magazine, it is not pigeonholed in any particular scene.  Rather, the thrust is what is next, what is current, what to watch for.  The photographs are highly stylized, professional, and reminiscent of fashion photography.  Features outside the realm of music appear in each issue, such as a holiday gift guide in the December 2011 issue.  Advertising is definitely present but not obnoxiously pervasive, and not the main focus of the magazine.  Overall this magazine is a well-executed guide to what is hot in the music world and pop culture today.

Why I Included This Magazine

                                                    Spin's history of pointing to what is next and featuring bands and artists that other magazines wouldn't necessarily take a risk on makes it a perfect choice for young adults, who are most interested in the up-and-coming.

Thrasher Magazine

Thrasher Magazine, published by High Speed Productions, ISSN 0889-0692

Content Summary

                             Thrasher deals mainly with skating, but also with teen pop culture, music, and fashion.  The magazine regularly reviews bands and skateparks, interviews professional skaters, and is known for high quality skateboarding photography.  The format is active and energetic with page after page of skateboard tricks shown in panels or full page spreads, advertisements for skater clothes such as shoes, and various gear for skateboards such as custom boards and wheels.   Other features include interviews with various pop culture figures such as a graffiti artist.  The professionals featured as well as the amateur kids set the tone for the magazine - scruffy, tattooed, and proud of it.

Critical Analysis

                           Thrasher is dedicated to skater culture, both the professional side and the high school kid side.  The format is slick but edgy.  The language is quick and offbeat, and though there is plenty of print content such as reviews, interviews, and articles, none of it is lengthy enough to eclipse the profusion of photography that dominates this magazine.  Shots of skaters flying through the air, wiped out, injured, suffering the scorn of bystanders, and so on are the heart of Thrasher.  There is plenty of marketing happening here, just as much as a girl's magazine actually, and most of it is fashion - namely shoes.  There is also a catalog of Thrasher products in the back of each issue (hats, t-shirts, hoodies, and girly products such as panties) and a list of stores that carry Thrasher products.  Also notable is the two page spread of photos depicting a girl who is as close to naked as possible without being naked in the September 2011 issue.  It is an advertisement for skateboard wheels, although no wheels are pictured.  The music featured is largely punk (such as an interview with The Dwarves), indie (an interview with Kelley Deal of The Breeders and The Pixies) and heavy metal (the logo for Slayer appears in one photo shoot).   There are also occasional random photos of odds and ends, such as pigeons pecking at what appears to be vomit - very appealing to teenage boys.  All of these elements make this magazine current, relevant, and absorbing to teens who skate or want to skate.

Why I Included This Magazine

                                                    Thrasher Magazine is very well respected and established.  It is also subversive, which makes it relevant to young adults. 

Seventeen Magazine

Seventeen Magazine, published by Hearst Magazines, ISSN 0037-301X

Content Summary

                              Seventeen Magazine is a magazine for real teenage girls.  While it is true that most of the articles, advertisements, and features involve beauty and fashion, these items are geared not towards a perfect ideal but towards actual girls and their actual bodies.  Regular girls are frequently featured for their style, talents, and so on.  Plus-size or curvy models are almost as common as thin models.  Finding a sense of style that fits the reader's respective body type is emphasized rather than diet tips or advice on how to change the way you look.  The layout is fun and energetic and there are features on relevant topics such as prom and quinceaneras, again with tips on how to find a dress that suits your unique personality and body type.  There is also a definite concentration on what is affordable and accessible for the average teenage girl, as far as clothes, beauty products, and accessories.  Readers of this magazine will come away informed and, most of all, entertained.

Critical Analysis

                           Seventeen Magazine, although definitely a beauty and fashion marketing blitz, is more down to earth than most other fashion magazines.  The overall message is that you are beautiful the way you are - now here is how you can keep up with trends and enhance your natural beauty without breaking your wallet.  Most advertisements include a plus-size model along with the standard skinny ones, and the real girls who are featured actually look like regular girls with realistic teenage bodies.  There are features and articles on relevant and uplifting issues, such as the one in the November 2011 Seventeen about a group of high school girls who fought back against a so-called "smut list" published on Facebook rating them by their body parts.  Other articles from recent issues include a story about a girl who was held hostage in her school, advice on how to get through the first year of college without drama, and a piece on teenage girls who go missing and how to protect yourself from dangers like this.  There are also several nods to anti-bullying through advertisements for various products, interviews with stars, and other little touches.  While it is true that the most prevalent message in this magazine is how to look pretty, there is a tone of self-acceptance and nonconformist beauty that is pervasive, and overall makes for a more substantial experience than some other fashion magazines.

Why I Included This Magazine
                                                    Seventeen Magazine is a classic with a long reputable history behind it.  It is geared towards the average young girl so it hits as wide an audience as possible.  This made it a no-brainer to include in my collection.

Teen Vogue

Teen Vogue, Published by Conde Naste, ISSN 1540-2215

Content Summary

                            Teen Vogue, basically a junior version of Vogue Magazine, is chock full of fashion tips, advertisements, what's up and coming, reports on the stars and what they like, and more.  There are blurbs that can be read in mere moments, tons of full page ads providing guidance on trends in the fashion world, interviews and articles, and goodies such as perfume samples galore.  Teenagers will find hours of content to pore over in this thick, slick magazine published in a slightly smaller format than the parent magazine, Vogue.  There is a maturity evidenced in the content and tone that will remain relevant to teens right into college, perhaps owed to the fact that the infamous Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, is the editorial director of Teen Vogue as well.  Teens looking for a magazine that is mature enough for adults but geared towards teen interests and trends need look no further.   

Critical Analysis

                           This magazine fairly vibrates with frenetic energy.  The pictures are close-up, filled with action and movement, offset at angles, so that the skinny, beautiful models and dizzying array of products seem to throb upward off the page.  The articles, interviews, and editorials are so short and unobtrusive that in flipping through the pages, this seems almost to be a magazine of nothing but advertisements and marketing towards teenagers.  Beauty products reign this publication: nail polish, make-up, hair care, clothes, and tons of perfume.  In addition to sometimes racy perfume ads, there are several different perfume samples per magazine, the result being that they mingle and the magazine emanates a nose-tingling indeterminate sweet scent.  There are articles of some depth hidden in and among the glossy ads, however, such as one involving parents who are neglectful or absent in the September 2011 issue.  Francis Bean Cobain's struggles with her famously wild mother Courtney Love are the touching off point for this piece, followed by stories from real life teens who have had this issue with their own parents.  Others article topics in recent issues include one on sibling rivalry involving Pippa and Kate Middleton, how to deal with feeling left out if someone unfriends you on Facebook, and a designer who found inspiration through the loss of her father.  Without a doubt, though, the main thrust of this publication is beauty and fashion, so readers who are looking for something to flip through in an airport or during other downtime will be satisfied, whereas readers looking for something with more weight will want to search elsewhere.

Why I Included This Magazine
                                                    This magazine is a very slick, professional, up-market publication geared towards young girls who are interested in being as adult as possible.  As this constitutes a large number of young girls, I felt it was an obvious addition to the collection.