About Riffology

(previously known as The Monster Shop, previously known as The Doghouse)

Welcome to Riffology, you’re probably wondering what’s going on and why all of this stuff is here? Well, let me tell you a story…

In the beginning there was a local radio show called The Doghouse on Derby Sound Community Radio. Chris and Neil played banging rock and metal tunes that virtually nobody heard but they had a bloody great time doing it all the same. After a while, Chris and Neil decided they wanted to branch out a little and so created a new show on Spotify called The Monster Shop. This didn’t have any of the constraints of local radio, they could play what they liked, the shows could be as long or short as they liked and they didn’t need a music license because of Spotify’s awesome music+talk concept. Happy days…

Just as the boys were settling into their new home on Spotify, the suits in charge at Spotify decided that they needed to make more money and music+talk was too expensive, so they were going to close it down. Bad times…

Undeterred the boys decided to venture into the world of podcasting and setup the Hopeland podcast, which was nothing to do with Music at all and would be a clean break. They got bored of this quite quickly and realised that they could do a podcast show about the Rock albums that they loved. So, that’s what they did and the Monster Shop was born again as a podcast. Happy days…

Until Meta and Google algorithms got confused about what The Monster Shop was, Meta would routinely limit our accounts for going against their community standards by trying to sell people things by deception (we’ve never had a store) and Google never really understood and so didn’t send any traffic. Which mean’t nobody could find the show. Then, one frosty morning, the boys had the idea of Riffology, it would be exactly the same as The Monster Shop but hopefully Meta and Google wouldn’t get so confused. Happy days!

And this dear reader, is where you find us today. What? I didn’t explain why there are hundreds of blog posts about iconic albums here? Well, the story behind those is much simpler. Neil loves facts and has a tiny memory and so way back from the Doghouse days he used to write a sheet about the artists and albums that were being played on each show so he could entertain listeners with interesting facts. This obsession with ‘the sheet’ grew throughout the history of the show until Neil decided it would be easier just to dump them in a blog rather than just write them up and delete them every week. This site is basically that brain-dump of information about albums we’ve either covered on the podcast or have talked about covering.

Who are Chris and Neil?

Neil Johnson – A metalhead at heart, Neil was born in the 70s and loves everything metal has brought with it, from hair to extreme death. By day, he works in IT, but his true passion lies in the music he listens to daily.

Chris Baldwin – An alt rock pop punk fan, Chris was born in the 80s and plays every instrument known to man. He’s been somehow involved with every band within a 100-mile radius of the studio in Swadlincote and has heard things you wouldn’t believe.

Whether you’re a lifelong fan or new to these genres, our podcast offers an engaging and insightful journey through the music that defines generations.

If you liked any of the content on the site, or you’re just curious, the last few podcast episodes are here:

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