2. DragonForce is a British heavy metal band established in
London, England. It was formed in 1999 and is particularly
known for their long complex guitar solos and fiction-based
lyrics. DragonForce have, so far, released six studio albums,
one live album and one demo.
Their most famous song was Through the Fire and
Flames (2006). The song was a single as well as the
opening track from DragonForce's third album,
‘Inhuman Rampage’. The song features rapid guitar
solos that have been included in video games such as
‘Guitar Hero’.
The song is considered the most difficult song to appear in
the Guitar Hero rhythm game series, first appearing as an
unlockable bonus song in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
and in the other game version – Guitar Hero: Smash Hits
with full band support. This raised a lot of awareness for
the band as this video game series had been very
successful.
3. DragonForce’s music video for Through the Fire
and Flames features a very dark setting and is a
rock-based music clip. In America, the video
received over 68 million views but this video is
unavailable in the UK. The UK version, on the
right, received 4.8 million, having been uploaded
after some time after the official song release.
The song rose to #86 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #61
on the Canadian Hot 100 in 2008. In March 2015, the
song rose to stardom again when a cover version was
uploaded to YouTube. It went viral, sending the song to
number 13 on the Rock Songs chart. It has sold 1.1
million copies in the United States alone and has been
certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of
America.
Click he re fo r the Music Vide o fo r thro ug h the fire and flam e s
4. Inhuman Rampage is the third album released by
DragonForce in 2006. In America, the album reached
number 1 in the Billboards Heatseekers chart. Overall,
the album reached number 103 in the Billboard 200
Chart.
Us Top Heatseekers 1
US Top
Independent
Albums
5
US Top Hard Rock
Albums
18
UK Albums Chart 70
US Billboard 200 103
This album’s music was more aggressive sound-wise and
lyric-wise than the previous two albums. Most songs included
unclean vocals and shouting to resemble the style of heavy
metal/rock. However, this album turned out to be the most
successful as well thanks to the song ‘Through the Fire and
Flames’, which became one of the most famous rock songs
of all time.
The recording for the album took
place at Thin Ice Studios in Surrey
and at the LamerLuser Studios in
London over a period of 7 months.
(March to September 2005)
5. The band’s website is rather impressive. It
uses CGIs and lots of different animations
which must have cost a lot of money. The
website features sections such as ‘Home’,
‘News’, ‘Band’, ‘Releases’, ‘Tour dates’,
‘Media’, ‘Merch’, ‘Press’, ‘Misc’, ‘Contacts’,
etc.
The Website also features the
upcoming tour dates. You can see
that the band, although quite old,
still has more than 10 tours planned
for the near future. This suggests
that the band is doing very well and
hence they can afford such an
expensive website to maintain their
distinguished public profile in the
area of Rock.
6. • The Music Video itself is very similar to the album. The album is called
‘Inhuman Rampage’ and the music video features abnormal dancing moves
and shouting, all of which contributed to riots and strikes.
• The website’s layout connotes heavy metal style as the font and the colour
represents certain aspects of the album. The songs in the album all use either
bright red colour or bright blue colour. The website is therefore made to look
similar to the band’s albums to maintain the connotations across all media
texts.
• The three are hence similar in order to attract the same audience, such as
rock or heavy metal fans. However, ‘Guitar Hero’ video game series’ fans may
also be applied to this category as the website states that the song ‘Through
the Fire and Flames’ was featured in the game. This type of synergy attracted
a wider audience and this made the whole campaign very successful
internationally.
7. • The overall goal, image and message the band is trying to portray
is similar to the goal of any other rock band. Rock is a certain style
of music that does not appeal to the majority. It is different to most
songs and music genres as it does not usually involve a melodic
tune or pattern and can be difficult to listen to or understand (lyrics-
wise). For example, the goal of Dragonforce’s album was to say an
approach to life as a constant fight and struggle for survival. It
describes how people are managing to fight through their lives, etc.
I believe the campaign was very successful as the band made a lot
of money off the album and did gather a very impressive 68 million
views on YouTube. Their song remains one of the most successful
rock songs ever recorded.
• There are almost no differences among the three
media texts. The song is form the album, therefore
it cannot be different to the album. However, the
music video is based on red hues and colours and
therefore goes against the colour of the website
and most of other music videos by DragonForce.
However, this suggested a change in behavior and
attitude as the lyrics of the song were very different
to their other songs and were a lot more aggressive
and violent. Maybe the red colour was used to
connote blood and war.
8.
9. The Kille rs are an Am e rican ro ck band fo rm e d in Las
Ve g as, Ne vada in 20 0 1 , by Brando n Flo we rs (le ad vo cals,
ke ybo ards) and Dave Ke uning (g uitar, backing vo cals).
Mark Sto e rm e r (bass, backing vo cals) and Ro nnie
Vannucci Jr. (drum s, pe rcussio n).
By June 2005, the Killers had made a huge impact in music worldwide.
The band was recognized by Rolling Stone Magazine as the "best-
selling new rock band of the past year". Lead singer Brandon Flowers
also became known for his flamboyant fashion style and had caused
controversy due to some outspoken views on other bands. Jay-Z
described the Killers' sound in 2005, saying that "They take what's old
and make it sound new again."
The group has released four chart topping studio albums: Hot
Fuss (2004), Sam's Town (2006), Day & Age (2008) and Battle
Born (2012). They have sold an estimated 22 million albums
worldwide. Mr Brightside was their first debut single released
on September 29, 2003 and 2004 (reissue)
10. The Killers music video for Mr Brightside
has a very unique and creative. The music
video racked up over 110,000 million views
on YouTube.
"Mr. Brightside" is actually the first song the
band ever wrote. The song is inspired by a
real-life girlfriend of Brandon Flowers' who
cheated on him. In an interview with Q
Magazine in 2009, Brandon Flowers
elaborated that he caught his girlfriend
cheating in the Crown & Anchor Pub in Las
Vegas.
Click he re fo r the Music Vide o fo r Mr Brig htside
11. Hot Fuss is the debut studio album by American rock
band The Killers, released on June 7, 2004 in the United
Kingdom and on June 15, 2004 in the United States. The
album and its first three singles went on to garner five
Grammy Award nominations.
Hot Fuss was released on 7 June 2004 in the United Kingdom and
on 15 June 2004 in the United States. In 2005, it was reissued as a
box of eleven 7" vinyl discs, with an album track on each A-side
and non-album tracks on the B-sides. Rolling Stone ranked Hot
Fuss the 43rd of its "100 Best Albums of the Decade", and it is one
of the five most recent recordings listed among the 1001 Albums
You Must Hear Before You Die. Gigwise readers voted it the No. 1
"Best Debut Album of All Time" in 2013. Rolling Stone ranked Hot
Fuss the 33rd of its list of "The 100 Greatest Debut Albums of All
Time".
Hot Fuss was The Killers' first No. 1 album in the UK. It was the
26th best-selling album of the decade in the United Kingdom. It is
among the top 25 longest charting albums in the history of the UK
Albums Chart, with 247 weeks, more than 4 and a half years.
The album reached No. 7 on the US Billboard 200 chart. It is
estimated to have sold more than 7 million copies worldwide,
including more than 3 million in the United States and more than 2
million in the UK, where it has been certified seven-times platinum.
It has also been certified platinum or multi-platinum in Australia,
Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. Hot Fuss produced several
commercially and critically successful singles, including "Mr.
Brightside".
UK Album Chart 12 (2005)
US Billboard 200 7 (weekend)
Worldwide 28 (2005)
12. The website is very simple and easy to use
as the target audience for the band may be
slightly older. Therefore making it easier for
the audience to use the website to buy
tickets
They also have a chat forum on their website to allowing
all their fans to interact with each other. There is also a
easy and accessible store allowing fans to buy shirts,
albums, posters and more…
13. The killers carry out a typical boy band carrying out
similar styles towards Green day, Linkin park, Franz
Ferdinand, Keizer chief and King of leon.
Typical rock bands have the lead singer standing in the
middle in front of the band as it seen to be them in the
middle of the stage when they perform.
The music video of both Green day and The Killers
have similar mise-en-scene such as having similar
costume i.e. both have weird suits. While another
convention for rock is wearing dark costumes
signifying Rock music
The Killers use a similar colour scheme towards green
days album. This is now seen be slightly cheesy however
in 2004 this was seen to be very simple and straight
towards the point compared to albums nowadays i.e.
Imagine dragons uses very complicated and is very
different compared towards the killers album. As modern
day rock bands try to have a deeper meaning towards
their album while the killers and green day album
illustrates that all they want to is rock
14. The killers now is a rock band that produces still produces
music with their latest made in 2012 called battle born. The
album reached the top 10 in twenty countries and sold
approximately 1 million copies worldwide in 2012
The album debuted at number 3 in the US on the Billboard
200, selling over 113,000 copies in its opening week and
maintaining a top 10 position in the second week
Modern day rock band have now used more
dynamic album covers and use of dark colours as it
signifies rock music in comparison towards their
previous albums. The killers battle born has now
illustrated their personalised genre being heartland
rock (for their new album Battle Born) while hot fuzz
was Alternative Rock/Post punk revival. Due
towards their rise in popularity they are allowed to
vary between more specialised genres that suit the
band more
The Killers are now just enjoying performing their old song
i.e Mr Brightside. This is the message they sent towards
their fans “Keep your chins up children. The chariots are
charging. And in the church of the cherubim and the chatty,
the chants that chime are kept in a case“. Their overall
message has been the same since the start which is to play
their music towards all their fans while the band is enjoying
themselves.
