Neil Johnson

Megadeth by Megadeth – album review Megadeth - Megadeth - Album Cover

Megadeth by Megadeth – album review

Neil Johnson 22 January 2026

Monster Shop Score: 71/100 After forty years of raising hell and rewriting the rules of thrash metal,...

Master of Puppets: Unraveling the greatest metal album ever recorded… metallica-master_of_puppets_(remastered)

Master of Puppets: Unraveling the greatest metal album ever recorded…

Neil Johnson 18 January 2026

Released on March 3, 1986, Metallica's Master of Puppets is a seminal thrash metal album recognized for...

Wish You Were Here: Analyzing Pink Floyd’s Iconic Album Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here - Album Cover

Wish You Were Here: Analyzing Pink Floyd’s Iconic Album

Neil Johnson 11 January 2026

Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here is often hailed as one of the greatest albums in rock...

Krushers Of The World by Kreator – album review Kreator-Krushers-Of-The-World-Artwork

Krushers Of The World by Kreator – album review

Neil Johnson 9 January 2026

Monster Shop Score: 82/100 Kreator’s sixteenth album, Krushers Of The World, isn’t just a celebration of four...

Alter Bridge by Alter Bridge – album review Alter Bridge - Alter Bridge - Artwork

Alter Bridge by Alter Bridge – album review

Neil Johnson 9 January 2026

Monster Shop Score: 87/100 Alter Bridge’s self-titled eighth album is a thunderous celebration of everything that makes...

Siamese Dream: Unveiling The Smashing Pumpkins’ Vision The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream - Original Album Art

Siamese Dream: Unveiling The Smashing Pumpkins’ Vision

Neil Johnson 3 January 2026

The Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream, released in 1993, is a pivotal alternative rock album blending grunge's rawness...

Wisconsin Death Trip: Static-X’s Iconic Debut Static-X Wisconsin Death Trip Album Cover

Wisconsin Death Trip: Static-X’s Iconic Debut

Neil Johnson 27 December 2025

Introduction In 1999, Static-X burst onto the late-’90s metal scene with their debut album Wisconsin Death Trip,...

A Deep Dive into Tool’s Undertow (1993) Undertow album cover by Tool

A Deep Dive into Tool’s Undertow (1993)

Neil Johnson 14 December 2025

Why Undertow Still Hits Tool’s debut album Undertow arrived on 6 April 1993 through Zoo Entertainment, produced...

Prong’s Cleansing: A Deep Dive into the 1994 Album Prong - Cleansing - Album Art

Prong’s Cleansing: A Deep Dive into the 1994 Album

Neil Johnson 14 December 2025

Introduction Prong’s 1994 album Cleansing stands as a cult classic of 90s metal – a groove-laden, industrial-tinged...

Podcast Episodes

Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums Podcast

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.

This is a show about the albums that raised us —
Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Motley Crue, Def Leppard,
Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Pink Floyd, Radiohead,
Skunk Anansie, Gojira, Soulfly and the rest.
If it’s 25+ years old, loud and iconic, we’re in.

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.

We nerd out when we should: Albini vs Vig, room-miked vs close-miked,
Neve consoles, dynamic-range disasters and those “how did this get approved?” moments.

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.

When A Dream Wrote The Song That Changed Everything

Hosts: Neil & Chris
Duration: ~85 minutes
Release: Not scheduled

Episode Description

Train’s 2001 album Drops of Jupiter is one of those records that arrived via a girlfriend rather than a record shop, sitting in that curious no-man’s land between rock and pop where critics couldn’t quite place it but ten million people absolutely could. Neil and Chris dig into an album that neither of them would necessarily have picked up on their own, and find something genuinely moving underneath the radio-friendly surface.

The centrepiece of the episode is the extraordinary story behind the title track. Pat Monahan’s mother had recently died, his marriage was falling apart, and the record label had just told him there were no singles on the album. Then he woke from a dream with every lyric and melody fully formed, wrote the whole thing in fifteen minutes, and flew to New York with a demo in his pocket. The label president heard it, shut his eyes, and said “Song of the Year.” He wasn’t wrong.

What You’ll Hear:

The remarkable origin story of Drops of Jupiter, written in a dream about Pat Monahan’s late mother
Producer Brendan O’Brien’s extraordinary back catalogue and why his “room to breathe” approach suited this record perfectly
Why the critics completely missed it, scoring it near the bottom while the public pushed it to ten million sales over a slow, grinding chart climb
The September 11 connection that killed the planned second single video and forced a last-minute change
Mississippi, the album’s closing Jeff Buckley tribute, and why both hosts consider it a hidden highlight
The 20th anniversary SACD reissue and a broader conversation about analog warmth versus digital production

Featured Tracks & Analysis:

The boys play three tracks in full including Respect, which predated the album on the Dawson’s Creek Volume 2 soundtrack, the title track Drops of Jupiter complete with an interview clip from Pat Monahan himself, and the saxophone-laced closer Mississippi. Chris notes that the drums sit perfectly in the pocket throughout the whole record, with the bass lines coming alive particularly in the final three songs. The strings and piano that anchor the title track are flagged as surprisingly dominant for a guitar band, and both hosts agree the deep cuts reward repeated listening far more than the big single alone suggests.

Tangential Gold:

Neil’s confession about replacing his shoelaces with elastic ones, inspired by his lazy teenage son, and the liberating freedom of never tying a bow again
A physiotherapist’s blunt diagnosis that Neil is “an old man who doesn’t move enough,” dismissing his Couch to 5K efforts with magnificent contempt
The frog spawn mystery, the Straight of Hormuz not actually being straight, and what it would look like to launch Jeff Bezos into space with only Amazon deliveries for company
The Charlie Sheen Christmas Day arrest that somehow involved a disagreement about this very album

Why This Matters:

Drops of Jupiter is a reminder that the most enduring records are often the ones written from genuine pain rather than commercial ambition. The label said there was no single. The critics said it was a pub band Counting Crows. The public disagreed for 54 consecutive weeks on the Adult Contemporary chart. Neil and Chris make a compelling case that the album has aged better than almost anything competing with it at the time, and that its reputation still sits unfairly below what it deserves.

Perfect for: Fans of early 2000s adult rock who know the single but haven’t visited the full album in years, anyone curious about the intersection