Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums Podcast
Riffology
Show overview
Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums Podcast has been publishing since 2024, and across the 2 years since has built a catalogue of 87 episodes. That works out to roughly 110 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence, with the show now in its 2026th season.
Episodes typically run an hour to ninety minutes — most land between 1h 4m and 1h 30m — though episode length varies meaningfully from one episode to the next. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Music show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 1 weeks ago, with 13 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2025, with 43 episodes published. Published by Riffology.
From the publisher
<p>Remember when payday meant choosing which CD or vinyl you were blowing it on? Standing in HMV doing the mental maths, convincing yourself two albums was basically essential. Riffology is Neil and Chris chasing that feeling again, one classic record at a time.</p> <br> <p>This is a show about the albums that raised us — <strong>Nirvana</strong>, <strong>Pearl Jam</strong>, <strong>Motley Crue</strong>, <strong>Def Leppard</strong>, <strong>Iron Maiden</strong>, <strong>Megadeth</strong>, <strong>Pink Floyd</strong>, <strong>Radiohead</strong>, <strong>Skunk Anansie</strong>, <strong>Gojira</strong>, <strong>Soulfly</strong> and the rest. If it’s <strong>25+ years old</strong>, loud and iconic, we’re in.</p> <br> <p>Each episode is two Gen X mates diving into studio sessions, producer chaos and band drama plus the joy of taped-over cassettes, dodgy car stereos and sitting on the floor with a record sleeve.</p> <br> <p>We nerd out when we should: <strong>Albini vs Vig</strong>, <strong>room-miked vs close-miked</strong>, <strong>Neve consoles</strong>, dynamic-range disasters and those “how did this get approved?” moments.</p> <br> <p>If you grew up when albums were events, this is your place. Some weeks it’s an old favourite; other weeks it’s something you abandoned in ’94. Either way, Riffology’s here to talk rubbish, tell stories and remind you why these records mattered.</p>
Latest Episodes
View all 87 episodesRIFF087 - Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
RIFF086 - Soundgarden - Superunknown
RIFF085 - Ugly Kid Joe - America's Least Wanted
RIFF084 - Train - Drops of Jupiter
S2026 Ep 9RIFF083 - Matchbox 20 - Yourself or Someone Like You
When a Jersey Number Changes Everything and 15 Million People Prove the Critics Wrong Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~87 minutes Release: Not scheduled Episode Description Neil and Chris turn their attention to Matchbox 20's landmark debut, Yourself or Someone Like You, a record that sold 15 million copies worldwide while barely causing a ripple in the UK. Released in 1996 and selling just 610 c...
S2026 Ep 8RIFF082 - The Goo Goo Dolls - A Boy Named Goo
When Buffalo's Best Kept Secret Finally Got Its Name Called Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~95 minutes Release: Not scheduled Episode Description Neil and Chris dive into A Boy Named Goo by the Goo Goo Dolls, the 1995 album that sold two million copies in the US, made absolutely no impression on the UK charts, and somehow still managed to leave most people unaware it existed. This is the record ...
S2026 Ep 7RIFF081 - REM - Out of TIme
When Running Out of Time Turns Into Your Biggest Ever Hit Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~71 minutes Release: Not scheduled Episode Description Neil and Chris dig into REM's landmark 1991 album Out of Time, the record that accidentally turned a cult band into a mainstream phenomenon. Named in a last-minute panic when Warner Brothers rang demanding a title, the album somehow managed to sell over ...
S2026 Ep 6RIFF080 - Nirvana - MTV Unplugged
When the Funeral Flowers Were Real and Nobody Knew It Yet Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~77 minutes Release: Not scheduled Episode Description Neil and Chris sit down with one of the most quietly devastating records ever committed to tape: Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York, recorded on 18th November 1993 and released almost a year later, after Kurt Cobain was already gone. What was supposed t...
S2026 Ep 5RIFF079 - 3 Doors Down - The Better Life
When Mississippi Kids Storm the Stratosphere Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~98 minutes Release: February 2026 Episode Description This week, Neil and Chris dive into Three Doors Down's 2000 debut The Better Life, an album that captured American radio rock at its peak. Released just as the CD era crested, this record sold 7 million copies and launched four singles into rotation, yet somehow feel...
S2026 Ep 4RIFF078 - Extreme - Extreme
When a 22-Year-Old Guitar Wizard Caught Lightning Before Grunge Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~72 minutes Release: 9 February 2026 Episode Description Neil and Chris dive into Extreme's 1989 self-titled debut, a record that arrived at the worst possible moment for hair metal, yet showcased one of rock's most exceptional guitarists right before the scene imploded. Nuno Bettencourt was just 22 wh...
S2026 Ep 3RIFF077 - Metallica - Master of Puppets
When eight-minute songs feel like three-minute punches Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~124 minutes Release: Not scheduled Episode Description Neil and Chris dive into Metallica’s Master of Puppets, not just as a landmark metal record, but as a moment-in-time document, the “perfect storm” of power, groove, precision, and emotion. Neil argues it’s one of the greatest albums ever made, full stop, p...
S2026 Ep 2RIFF076 - Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
When a black shrink wrap hides the most emotional record in the rack Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~101 minutes Release: 12 January 2026 Episode Description Neil and Chris dive into Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, a record that feels less like a set of songs and more like a single long thought, drifting through absence, grief, cynicism, and that hollow “where did you go?” ache. They start with...
S2026 Ep 1RIFF075 - The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
When a guitar tone becomes a time machine Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~89 minutes Release: 05 January 2026 Episode Description Neil and Chris finally tackle The Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream, an album that hits like a personal memory as much as a rock record. For Chris, it is a private-room, headphones-on relationship, the kind where the opening of “Cherub Rock” can still trigger a lump in...
S2025 Ep 43RIFF074 - Static-X - Wisconsin Death Trip
When Evil Disco Becomes a Genre Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~96 minutes Release: 3 January 2025 Episode Description Static-X's 1999 debut Wisconsin Death Trip marked a pivotal moment in industrial metal, blending crushing riffs with techno grooves to create what Wayne Static called "evil disco." Neil dives deep into his personal connection with this record, recounting a hilarious tale of gett...
S2025 Ep 42RIFF073 - Prong - Cleansing
When the Sound Guy Becomes the Sound Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~98 minutes Release: 15 December 2025 Episode Description Before Tommy Victor was crafting some of the heaviest riffs in industrial metal, he was the guy behind the mixing desk at CBGB's, watching the entire New York hardcore scene unfold in front of him. That perspective, that immersion in raw, uncompromising music, would event...
S2025 Ep 41RIFF072 - Suicidal Tendencies - Lights, Camera, Revolution!
Where Skate Punk Grew Up and Got a Grammy Nod Episode 72 | Suicidal Tendencies, Lights, Camera, Revolution (1990) | Duration: ~84 minutes | Release: 8 December 2025 Episode Description Neil and Chris dive into one of Neil's all-time decorating records, a 1990 album that transformed LA's banned skate punk outcasts into Grammy nominees. Suicidal Tendencies' fourth studio album represents a pivota...
S2025 Ep 40RIFF071 - L7 - Bricks Are Heavy
When Tuning Your Guitar Became Revolutionary Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~80 minutes Release: 24 November 2025 Episode Description Neil and Chris tackle L7's breakthrough 1992 album Bricks Are Heavy, the record that proved you could be authentically punk, unapologetically feminist, and radio-friendly all at once. Between discussions of Butch Vig's game-changing production advice (tune your gu...
S2025 Ep 39RIFF070 - Bush - Sixteen Stone
When everyone said no, radio said yes Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~92 minutes Release: 17 November 2025 Episode Description Bush's Sixteen Stone shouldn't exist. Dropped by their first label for having "no singles and no album tracks," Gavin Rossdale went back to painting dentists' offices while his debut sat in limbo. Then a tiny record label called Trauma took a chance, American rock radio ...
S2025 Ep 38RIFF069 - Pixies - Doolittle
Quiet verses, screaming choruses, and the album that accidentally invented grunge Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~79 minutes Release: 17 April 1989 Episode Description Doolittle wasn't just a Pixies album, it was the evolutionary stepping stone between 80s sludge and the Seattle explosion that followed. Released in 1989, this Boston band's third studio effort traded Surfer Rosa's live room chaos...
S2025 Ep 37RIFF068 - Hole - Live Through This
When Raw Vocals Beat Polished Perfection Every Single Time Hosts: Neil & Chris Duration: ~80 minutes Release: 27 October 2025 Episode Description Some albums capture lightning in a bottle because they refuse to be tamed. Hole's Live Through This sits right in the Goldilocks zone between the savage spikiness of Pretty on the Inside and the polished hooks of Celebrity Skin, finding that perfect b...