Rock Sound

For the district in the Bahamas, see Rock Sound, Bahamas.

Rock Sound

April 2011 Issue
Editor	Ben Patashnik
Categories	Music magazine
Frequency	Monthly
Circulation	15,005[1]
Publisher	Freeway Press Inc.
First issue	1999
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Website	www.rocksound.tv
ISSN	1465-0185

Rock Sound is a British magazine which champions rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, whilst also giving coverage to more well known acts. It generally focuses on the pop, punk, pop-punk, emo, hardcore, post-hardcore, heavy metal and extreme metal genres of rock music, rarely covering indie rock music at all. The tag-line "For those who like their music loud, extreme and non-conformist" is sometimes used. Although primarily aimed at the British market, the magazine is also sold in Australia, Canada and the United States.

History [edit]

The British edition of Rock Sound was launched in March 1999 by the French publisher Editions Freeway. The magazine was bought out by its director, Patrick Napier, in December 2004. The magazines offices are in London. Separate titles with the same name have been published under the same umbrella company in France since 1993,^[2][3][4] and in Spain since 1998.^[5][6]

The magazine is well known for including a free CD in most issues, which has tracks from bands' new albums that have not been released as singles. These are now normally called '100% Volume' or 'The Volumes', but in the past compilations were also called 'Music With Attitude', 'Bugging Your Ears!', 'Sound Check' and 'Punk Rawk Explosion'.^[7] Buyer reaction has been very negative when there has been talk of turning the CD compilation into a digital compilation. Sometimes whole albums are included with the magazine, particularly from bands wanting to gain exposure, including Futures' debut album The Holiday in March 2010, and Burn The Fleet's debut album The Modern Shape in May 2012.^[8]

The first issue was published in April 1999. Issue 2 featured British band Reef on the front cover, whilst issues 3 and 8 featured Terrorvision and Foo Fighters respectively. In July 2011 a host of "Through The Years" articles were written to celebrate the 150th issue of the magazine.^[9]

Audience [edit]

The magazine had a circulation figure of 15,005 from January to December 2010 auditored by ABC. This includes 10,162 sales in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and 4,843 from Other Countries.^[13] The same auditing body said the magazine had a slightly lower circulation figure of 14,227 from January to December 2011, with sales of 10,053 from the United Kingdom and Ireland, and 4,174 from Other Countries.^[14] The majority of sales come from newstrade, with some coming from subscriptions.

The main rival to the magazine in Britain is Kerrang! because of the similar types of music both magazines cover. However Kerrang is released weekly and doesn't tend to provide as much coverage to more alternative bands, to new and upcoming bands, nor to the British rock scene.

Album of the Year [edit]

At the end of every year the magazine lists their favourite 75 albums released in the previous twelve months.

• 1999 - Filter - Title of Record^[15]
• 2000 - A Perfect Circle - Mer de Noms
• 2001 - System of a Down - Toxicity
• 2002 - Isis - Oceanic
• 2003 - Hell Is for Heroes - The Neon Handshake
• 2004 - Isis - Panopticon
• 2005 - Coheed & Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
• 2006 - The Bronx - The Bronx^[16]
• 2007 - Biffy Clyro - Puzzle^[17]
• 2008 - Genghis Tron - Board Up the House^[18]
• 2009 - Mastodon - Crack the Skye^[19]
• 2010 - Bring Me the Horizon - There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret^[20]
• 2011 - Mastodon - The Hunter^[21]
• 2012 -The Menzingers - On The Impossible Past

Hall Of Fame [edit]

Occasionally Rock Sound adds a new album to its Hall Of Fame. The main criteria is thought to be influence - even within a particular genre - and for that reason many of the albums have been commercially successful as well as critically successful because they have then gone on to influence large numbers of bands or the music scene. Thus this differs from the Yearly Top Albums lists which do not take influence into account. In each article there is normally an interview with band members, a commentary on the albums release, a look at its initial success, and reaction from other musicians as well.

Album	Artist	Nationality	Year	Issue	Guest Writer
The Shape Of Punk To Come	Refused		27 October 1998	#136, June 2010[22]
Jupiter	Cave In		2000	#138, August 2010[23]	Jacob Bannon of Converge
Weezer	Weezer		10 May 1994	#139, September 2010[24][25]	Gustav Woods of Young Guns
Smash	The Offspring		8 April 1994	#140, October 2010[26]	Frank Turner
White Pony	Deftones		20 June 2000	#142, December 2010[27]
Jane Doe	Converge		4 September 2001	#145, March 2011[28][29]	Winston McCall of Parkway Drive
Queens Of The Stone Age	Queens Of The Stone Age		22 September 1998	#146, April 2011[30]
Hello Rockview	Less Than Jake		1998	#149, July 2011[31]
Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation	Funeral For A Friend		20 October 2003	#151, Summer 2011[32]
Tell All Your Friends	Taking Back Sunday		2002	#152, September 2011[33]
Relationship Of Command	At The Drive-In		12 September 2000	#153, October 2011[34]
From Under The Cork Tree	Fall Out Boy		2005	#155, December 2011[35]
New Found Glory	New Found Glory		2000	#158, March 2012[36]
The Artist In The Ambulance	Thrice		2003	#159, April 2012[37]
Good Mourning	Alkaline Trio		2003	#160, May 2012[38]
Start Something	Lostprophets		2 February 2004	#161, June 2012[39][40]	Aled Phillips of Kids In Glass Houses
Ideas Above Our Station	Hundred Reasons		20 May 2002	#162, July 2012[41][42]	Rou Reynolds of Enter Shikari Frank Turner
Suicide Season	Bring Me The Horizon		2008	#164, Summer 2012[43]	Sam Carter of Architects
A Fever You Can't Sweat Out	Panic! At The Disco		27 September 2005	#165, September 2012[44]	Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy Mike Ferri of We Are The In Crowd
The Used	The Used		25 June 2002	#166, October 2012[45]	Chris Pennells of Deaf Havana
The Young And The Hopeless	Good Charlotte		30 September 2002	#167, November 2012[46]	None
Alive Or Just Breathing	Killswitch Engage		21 May 2002	#168, December 2012[47]	Matt Heafy of Trivium

See also [edit]

• Kerrang
• NME
• Metal Hammer
• Alternative Press

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Official website
• Facebook page
• Twitter page
• YouTube channel
• Flickr page