Kerrang! Living Loud: Four Decades on the Frontline of Rock, Metal, Punk, and Alternative Music Hardcover – Big Book, 4 April 2023

First part of the book focusing on the history & early days in the 80’s is ok but then as it progresses decade by decade it becomes really unbearable. Way too much frivolous generic junk content on the 90’s,2000’s & the modern era for such a short book. Nothing great or unfamiliar photo wise either. A real disappointing Klunker.

Fresh writing, fascinating, we-informed, insightful and nostalgic. A really beautifully written and presented book - one to treasure.

Well put together book, interesting read.

Really enjoyed looking back at Kerrang through the years. Personally I enjoy music from the 50s through to the present day and so the coverage from the 80s to the present day was a great read. This is a 'coffee table' style book in my opinion and is really great to pick up now and again and remember some epic bands and special moments all in one place.

I was intrigued to understand why Kerrang, a massive cornerstone of my life in metal in the early years, had become a magazine that became less relevant to me over the years and had for a long period of time almost shunned what could be described as 'metal'. So I bought this and thoroughly enjoyed the romp through the familiar and decidedly colourful bands of the halcyon days of the 1980s and 1990s (WASP, Venom, Thor and, controversially at the time, Prince). This was the era when the Kerrang journalists were as colourful and as well known as the bands that they wrote about (remember Dome, Russell, Barton, Wall?). They could be found propping up the bar at the Ship Inn on Wardour Street with, say, a demo touting Lars Ulrich from Metallica, or frequenting the long lost Shades Record store round the corner in St Annes Court (which also saw the likes of Paul Stanley, Bon Jovi, Dan Reed, Poison etc). Interestingly as time in the book wore on, and the faces, the bands and the writers became less familiar, younger (than me) and more visually homogeneous, my interest in reading this really waned, as it did with my interest in the magazine at the time.My take away conclusion is that, as metal/rock/indie music tastes naturally evolved, new editors were brought in who were at the 'cutting edge' of whatever new fad was on the horizon, and these editors unceremoniously jettisoned the old world as they made their editorial mark. Understandably, this is what it took for the magazine to survive as new generations took to the newest manifestations of this amazing and evolving genre. The only constants that were paid any grudging lip service too in the latter years were, say, Metallica, Ozzy, Rammstein, Slipnot and possibly Maiden (who ironically took a right drumming from the magazine in the mid 1990s as they refused to adapt to the changing musical tastes that Kerrang was catering to).Thankfully the writing style in this colourful book is as good as the original magazine (it's always been consistent, quality, and edgy journalism) and there is plenty of nostalgia packed into all of the years that are most relevant to the reader.So worth flicking through but, thankfully, Classic Rock magazine flourished to cater for the older generation who were there 'in 79, when the dam began to break... and read the music papers from the back and to the front' (to quote Saxon) and have been largely and resolutely shunned by the magazine over the past decade.