''Rock Sound'' is a British
magazine
A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
that covers
rock music
Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...
. The magazine aims at being more "
underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to better-known acts. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, emo, 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
The British edition of ''Rock Sound'' was launched in March 1999 by the French
publisher
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
Editions Freeway. The magazine was bought out by its director, Patrick Napier, in December 2004. The magazines offices are in London and Paris. Separate titles with the same name have been published under the same umbrella company in France since 1993, and in Spain since 1998.
The first issue was published in April 1999. Issue 2 featured British band
Reef
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...
on the front cover, and later issues 3 and 8 featured
Terrorvision and
Foo Fighters
The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...
respectively. In July 2011 a host of "Through The Years" articles were written to celebrate the 150th issue of the magazine. 2017 witnessed the first annual Rock Sound Awards where £1 from every magazine bundle sold was donated to the One More Light Fund in memory of
Chester Bennington
Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various po ...
.
The magazine was known for including a free CD in most issues, which had tracks from bands' new albums that have not been released as singles. These were called '100% Volume' or 'The Volumes', with other past compilations named 'Music With Attitude', 'Bugging Your Ears!', 'Sound Check' and 'Punk Rawk Explosion'. Sometimes whole albums were 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.
In more recent years, exclusive artist merchandise including t-shirts have been sold alongside the magazine via the Rock Sound web store.
In 2023, Rock Sound became part of WhyNow media group and a special edition magazine was published in partnership with Slam Dunk Festival featuring headliners Enter Shikari and The Offspring on the cover. A weekly digital cover feature, The Album Story, was also launched on ROCKSOUND.TV.
Rock Sound's 300th issue was published in September 2023 with Fall Out Boy, Corey Taylor and Motionless In White appearing on the cover. The magazine will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2024.
Audience
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.
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.
The majority of sales come from newstrade, with some coming from subscriptions.
The main rival to the magazine in Britain is ''
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...
'' because of the similar types of music both magazines cover.
Album of the Year
At the end of every year the magazine lists their favourite 75 albums released in the previous twelve months.
* 1999 –
Filter – ''
Title of Record
''Title of Record'' is the second studio album by American rock music, rock band Filter (band), Filter, released on August 24, 1999, by Reprise Records. The album's earlier sessions were marred with slow progress due to lineup changes and frontma ...
''
* 2000 –
A Perfect Circle – ''
Mer de Noms
''Mer de Noms'' (French for ''"Sea of Names"'') is the debut studio album by American rock music, rock band A Perfect Circle. The album was released on May 23, 2000, and entered the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 at No. 4, making it the highest ...
''
* 2001 –
System of a Down – ''
Toxicity
Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacteria, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect o ...
''
* 2002 –
Isis
Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...
– ''
Oceanic''
* 2003 –
Hell Is for Heroes – ''
The Neon Handshake''
* 2004 – Isis – ''
Panopticon
The panopticon is a design of institutional building with an inbuilt system of control, originated by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The concept is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be ...
''
* 2005 –
Coheed and Cambria – ''
Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness''
* 2006 –
The Bronx
The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
– ''
The Bronx
The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
''
* 2007 –
Biffy Clyro – ''
Puzzle''
* 2008 –
Genghis Tron – ''
Board Up the House''
* 2009 –
Mastodon
A mastodon, from Ancient Greek μαστός (''mastós''), meaning "breast", and ὀδούς (''odoús'') "tooth", is a member of the genus ''Mammut'' (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to ...
– ''
Crack the Skye''
* 2010 –
Bring Me the Horizon
Bring Me the Horizon are a British Rock music, rock band, formed in Sheffield, England in 2004. The group currently consists of lead vocalist Oli Sykes, drummer Matt Nicholls, guitarist Lee Malia and bassist Matt Kean (musician), Matt Kean. T ...
– ''
There Is a Hell Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven Let's Keep It a Secret''
* 2011 – Mastodon – ''
The Hunter''
* 2012 –
The Menzingers – ''
On the Impossible Past''
* 2013 –
letlive
Letlive, stylized letlive., is an American Rock music, rock band from Los Angeles, California. The band's final lineup consisted of lead vocalist Jason Aalon Butler (son of Aalon Butler, vocalist, and guitarist of the soul group Aalon), guitaris ...
– ''
The Blackest Beautiful''
* 2014 –
Lower Than Atlantis – ''
Lower Than Atlantis''
* 2015 – Bring Me the Horizon – ''
That's the Spirit''
* 2016 –
Panic! at the Disco – ''
Death of a Bachelor''
* 2017 –
All Time Low
All Time Low is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Towson, Maryland, in 2003. Consisting of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Alex Gaskarth, lead guitarist Jack Barakat, bassist/backing vocalist Zack Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson ...
– ''
Last Young Renegade''
* 2018 –
Twenty One Pilots
Twenty One Pilots is an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. Initially a band, the group was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris Salih, who both left in 2011. Since their departure, the line-up h ...
–
''Trench''
* 2023 –
Sleep Token
Sleep Token are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 2016. Its members remain Anonymous work, anonymous by wearing masks. After self-releasing their debut Extended play, EP ''One'' in 2016, the band signed with Basick Records an ...
– ''
Take Me Back to Eden''
* 2024 – Twenty One Pilots – ''
Clancy''
Hall of Fame/Throwback
''Rock Sound'' inducted numerous albums into its Hall of Fame, as part of a long-running feature. The main criterion for inclusion was 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 was normally an interview with band members, a commentary on the album's release, a look at its initial success, and reaction from other musicians or participants in the album's creation - such as producers, engineers, and music video directors. Towards the end of this section's run it was renamed to "Throwback".
Rock Sound Records
In 2019, ''Rock Sound'' introduced a new venture titled ''Rock Sound Records'', a sub-brand of ''Rock Sound'' offering and distributing music in limited physical formats, such as
cassette tapes and
vinyl records. Generally, this involves the exclusive physical release of a record released by a band that is signed to a different (major) record label. For instance, the first ''Rock Sound Records'' release was a cassette tape version of
Simple Creatures′ debut EP ''Strange Love'', while the band is currently signed to
BMG.
[GET YOUR WORLD EXCLUSIVE CASSETTE COPY OF SIMPLE CREATURES’ DEBUT EP FROM ROCK SOUND RECORDS](_blank)
/ref>
Discography
See also
* ''Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...
''
* ''NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
''
* '' Metal Hammer''
* ''Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to:
Individual publications
* ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine
Alternative journalism
* Alternative media
** Alternative media (U.S. political left)
** Alternative media (U.S. political r ...
''
References
; Citations
;Sources
*
External links
Official website
French website
{{Authority control
1999 establishments in the United Kingdom
Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom
Music magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1999