Geoff Barton

Geoff Bartone was the creator and editor for twenty years of rock/metal magazine: Kerrang! Today, Kerrang! is the most circulated weekly rock magazine in the world.

All quotes by Geoff Barton are from an interview with him.

Geoff Barton’s success in the Magazine Industry started in the late 1970s and early 1980s. After completing a Journalism course at the London College of Printing, at the age of nineteen, he miraculously landed a writing position at then well-known and reputable music magazine, ‘Sounds’, despite never having been published. Barton states that he was “in the right place, at the right time”, as he contacted then editor of sounds, Billy Walker. Walker informed him that he had two vacancies, and had already hired one reputable writer. He therefore decided to give Barton, a complete unknown, a chance. It was also helpful that Barton wanted to concentrate on rock/metal writing, as this was a direction Sounds wanted to go into.

Whilst working for Sounds, Barton’s name became synonymous with the ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ (NWOBHM) movement, as he termed it. Barton was one of the first rock journalists to write about Heavy Metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Angel, Witch, Saxon, Diamond Head, and dozens of others. He was one of the main journalists in the UK responsible for informing the mass audience about this type of music, and these types of bands. It was then in 1975 that the Sounds editor, Alan Lewis, helped Barton to create/launch his own magazine – ‘Kerrang!’ However, by 1979, the management of Sounds decided to pull back the release of Kerrang! due to doubts of its success. Barton nonetheless launched the magazine as a standalone one-shot magazine in 1981 – featuring AC/DC on the front. Luckily for Barton, it was an instant success, and began to be released monthly. Later, Kerrang! turned into a fortnightly publication, and by 1987, weekly.

Barton spoke about how one of his main influences for writing was Stan Lee – a writer for Marvel comics. He said he wanted to write how Stan Lee would write if he was a rock journalist, and Kerrang! had this sort of feel to it. It was very flashy, glossy, and comic – it was very appealing to youth culture, and especially to the rock/metal scene.

Barton was the Editor of Kerrang! for the next twenty years, until 1995. His title was ‘Managing Editor and Marketing and Circulation Manager’, and at the time, sales were unfortunately down impeccably, and for this reason, the French and German publications of Kerrang! even had to be shut down. Barton stated that: “all I ever wanted to do was write about my chosen field of music, rock/metal, and edit Kerrang!. However, the magazine obviously had to be transformed, which Barton would have to be responsible for. The first Kerrang! released with the ‘new look’ featured the band ‘Reef’ on the front. This was perceived as too much of a negative contrast with the earlier Kerrang! editions, featuring bands such as Vain, Death Angel, or Celtic Frost. Therefore, Barton was asked to leave Kerrang!.

Now, Barton is the News Editor in the London Bureau of ‘Automotive News Europe’ Magazine. Barton’s story relays the fact that a lot of happenings in the Magazine Industry are spontaneous and you can never know what to expect. Any opportunity may be available, and every opportunity can just as equally be taken away.

Regulation Sucks!

Most industries have their regulatory bodies - external and internal. They aren't the most liked sectors of an industry, but are important, as they put restrictions in place. With the Magazine Industry, these restrictions are mostly placed on writing styles and content.

One of the main forms of internal regulation in the Magazine Industry is a Style Guide, which is implemented in almost every magazine and is given to every journalist working for that magazine. The Style Guide is essentially an outline of how a writer is supposed to write for that magazine. Some guides may simply give basic instructions as to what type of word processors, fonts, colours, etc, are allowed to be used. Others, such as the Style Guide for The Times Magazine, list words and grammatical concepts alphabetically, almost like a dictionary, describing how these elements may or may not be used. A consequence of this kind of regulation is that it limits the writer/journalist's freedom of style, and instead of having a magazine which appears to be written by several people (as is the truth), you end up with the impression that only one person has written every article, whereupon the question, "what is the difference between a magazine and a book?" should be asked. This may however, be a benefit for more formal and informative magazines, because the writer's style doesn't matter as much, as they are simply transmitting information, not providing entertainment.

AIPCE (Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe) is an external regulator of the Magazine Industry. As well as the UK, AIPCE works with content regulation in press and broadcasting throughout all of Europe. These are some of the rules and beliefs they attempt to enforce:

• that the regulation of editorial content in the media should be independent of government;
• that media content regulation, whether national or regional in its coverage, should be based on nations’ differing cultures;
• that the writing of Codes of journalistic ethics and their administration is the business of journalists and publishers, who take into account public feelings, and not the business of governments;
• that it is not possible to operate a universal Code of ethics, and that the imposition of supra national Codes and regulatory organisations, either at the European or global level, should be opposed.

In my opinion, instead of hindering the Magazine Industry, this regulator is working to help it. It's like a union for the Magazine Industry, making sure it isn't compromised in some way. AIPCE especially seems to highlight the detachment of governmental influence and interference from any form of press or broadcasting - which in a democratic society, is a key and just notion.