The title of this magazine, 'Rolling Stone', immediately makes a clear link to the type of music which the magazine represents. This is because people instantly link it to the famous rock band, the Rolling Stones. However, the title also indicates that something is always changing, in this case, the content of the magazine. The masthead is placed across the top of the magazine so that it can be clearly seen on the shop stands. The masthead of this magazine is slightly covered by images and plugs. Despite this, the masthead is still recognizable as the magazine is very popular and the font is original to it. This magazine always uses the same font for the masthead, however, the colour sometimes changes. In this issue, the font colour for the masthead is orange. This matches the colour of the main plug font to the bottom left. This immediately shows that the plug is important and makes it stand out from the other plugs. This is done as it is the main highlight of the particular issue of the magazine.
The image on the front of this issue is of the band, Pink Floyd, indicated in the main plug. The photo of the band members has been changed to sepia. This has been done as it suggests a previous era and shows that they are an older generation band which will perhaps appeal to a more mature audience. Behind the image are flames rising up. The fire compliments the main font colours and also links in with the rock image and suggests a hot topic. The band is described as 'Legendary' in the plug. This indicates a high status and shows their success. A picture of a pig overlaps the masthead. As I am not a fan of Pink Floyd, I did no know what this was for at first, however, I have now discovered that it is from one of their album covers.
I would say that the target audience for this issue in particular is for older generations because of the band on the front cover. However, I believe that the target audience very much depends on who is on the front cover. As shown either side are issues of the magazine which feature younger artists, Rihanna and Justin Bieber, who appeal to a much younger generation than Pink Floyd. This shows that the magazine is versatile and has a wide target audience which can change with different issues. Despite the artists Rihanna and Justin Bieber being of a pop genre, the magazine has made them look more of a rock style in appearance. For Justin Bieber, he is wearing a leather jacket and vest and has been styled with a wild messy hairstyle. Rihanna is wearing a casual outfit with rips in her hot pants and rocks a tangle of red mass of hair. For these issues, the masthead font colour is red. This is the colour which is used in the majority of the issues of the magazine as it instantly links to the magazine music genre, rock. Each issue of the magazine appears to have a politically related plug. For example on the Pink Floyd issue, one plug reads 'New Clues to JFK'S Murder?'. This again shows that this magazine is targeted at a more mature audience. Also this plug gives a conspiracy theory which may appeal more to men. Therefore the magazine may be more targeted at men. I would say that in appearance, the magazine is not at all feminine. However I believe that women would also buy this magazine if they found an appeal from the front cover but perhaps not every issue. 
On this issue, the main image and the main focus of the front cover is Amy Winehouse. The masthead colour, pale blue, again matches the main plug 'Amy Winehouse' as to draw attention to it. Although it seems like an uncommon colour to link with a rock magazine, the rock colours of red and black have been used within other plugs on the front cover. Also as Amy Winehouse is not a rock artist, the colour still works. The light blue also matches that of Amy Winehouse's bra strap shown in the photo. Alliteration has been used in the main plug, 'Diva' and 'Demons'. This makes the sentence sound more catchy when read out and makes the words flow more. The rest of the plugs go around the photo and only overlap it slightly as to not take the focus away from the photo. The red and black used for the font stands out well against the white background so that they can be easily read.
I would say that this photo of Amy Winehouse is quite intense with her head looking down but her eyes looking straight at you and therefore grabs your attention. Her clothes again match the rock image, a vest top with the bra strap slightly showing gives off the care-free look. This also shows off her many tattoos which again match the theme of the magazine.
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