Skip to content

Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums

Uncover the details behind the most iconic albums ever recorded.

Primary Menu
  • Home
  • About Riffology
  • LastFM Collage Builder
  • Riffology Podcast
  • MP3 Converter

1990

The Making of Persistence Of Time – Anthrax’s Thrash Evolution anthrax-persistence_of_time_(30th_anniversary_remaster)
18 min read
  • Album Deep Dive
  • Podcasts

The Making of Persistence Of Time – Anthrax’s Thrash Evolution

Neil Johnson 21 August 2024
Anthrax's Persistence Of Time, released on August 21, 1990, signifies a pivotal moment in thrash metal with...
Read More Read more about The Making of Persistence Of Time – Anthrax’s Thrash Evolution
Rust In Peace: Megadeth’s Defining Thrash Legacy megadeth-rust_in_peace
13 min read
  • Album Deep Dive

Rust In Peace: Megadeth’s Defining Thrash Legacy

Neil Johnson 11 August 2024
Introduction Every so often, an album emerges that reshapes the boundaries of its genre. In 1990, Rust...
Read More Read more about Rust In Peace: Megadeth’s Defining Thrash Legacy
Extreme II: Pornograffitti – A Glam Metal Game-Changer extreme-extreme_ii_-_pornograffitti
9 min read
  • Album Deep Dive

Extreme II: Pornograffitti – A Glam Metal Game-Changer

Neil Johnson 7 August 2024
Introduction In the landscape of early 1990s rock music, “Extreme II: Pornograffitti” by the band Extreme stands...
Read More Read more about Extreme II: Pornograffitti – A Glam Metal Game-Changer
Cowboys From Hell: Pantera’s Metal Revolution pantera-cowboys_from_hell
13 min read
  • Album Deep Dive

Cowboys From Hell: Pantera’s Metal Revolution

Neil Johnson 20 July 2024
Introduction When Cowboys From Hell crashed onto the scene in July 1990, the metal world changed forever....
Read More Read more about Cowboys From Hell: Pantera’s Metal Revolution

Posts pagination

Previous 1 2

Podcast Episodes

Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums Podcast
Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums Podcast

Welcome to Riffology, where a GenX and a Millennial talk about the albums from their youth. Itโ€™s more fun than it soundsโ€ฆ

RIFF070 – Bush – Sixteen Stone
byRiffology

RIFF070 – Bush: Sixteen Stone โ€” Post-Grunge, Paint Fumes & Platinum Payback

Hosts: Neil & Chris
Duration: ~90 minutes
Release: November 2025

Episode Description

Welcome to another episode of Riffology – the podcast where two mates dissect the albums that shaped music history. This week, Neil and Chris tackle Bush’s “Sixteen Stone”, a very British band who somehow made one of the defining American post-grunge records of the 90s โ€“ then watched the UK mostly shrug while the US went absolutely mad for it.

What starts as a love letter to one of Neil’s all-time favourite records quickly turns into a story of rejection, resilience, weird artwork and very expensive vinyl, with a surprising amount of life advice buried under the distortion.

What You’ll Hear:

  • Vinyl Obsession & the “Flippy Flips” Rant: Neil’s ongoing battle to own Sixteen Stone on vinyl โ€“ from ยฃ150+ reissues and million-pound Discogs listings to his campaign against double LPs with “two tracks per side” when you just want to put a record on and code.
  • Little Things & Relationship Death by a Thousand Cuts: A deep dive into “Little Things” as one of Neil’s favourite songs ever โ€“ unpacking its lyrics about relationships falling apart through tiny repeated hurts, and why that idea hits so hard.
  • “Come Down” as a Life Marker: Chris revisits “Come Down” on stage for the first time in decades, talks about playing it at a local showcase, and how the song is wired into memories of six-disc Sony changers, falling asleep with albums on loop, and teenage subconscious learning.
  • Gavin Rossdale vs. The Entire Industry: How UK labels told him he “couldn’t sing”, why Sixteen Stone was first rejected as having “no singles and not even any album tracks”, and how persistence plus one tiny US label (Trauma) turned that “failure” into a multi-platinum classic.
  • Post-Grunge, Loudness Wars & Production Nerdiness: A proper geek-out on what actually makes this post-grunge: big compressed mixes for American rock radio, massive choruses, slick but not click-tracked performances, and why that smoother, heavier sound was poison to British critics but catnip to US stations.

Featured Tracks & Analysis:

Neil and Chris spend serious time with:

  • “Little Things” โ€“ why it feels “virtually perfect”, how the lyric “the little things that kill” nails the slow corrosion of relationships, and the swirling secondary guitar lines that underpin the main riff.
  • “Come Down” โ€“ the first full song Gavin ever wrote on his own, the two different versions (full band vs. string-laden), and how it became the turning point that convinced him he really was a songwriter.
  • “Machinehead” โ€“ from its octave-driven intro (cue live guitar demo of octaves next to the mic) to its themes of pressure, productivity and trying to keep your head straight while being a dad, husband and working musician.
  • “Glycerine” โ€“ the grungy torch-song moment: sparse arrangement, vulnerable vocal, and how it’s become one of those songs that singers (including Chris’s mate Mike) can absolutely own in their own style.

Tangential Gold:

True to Riffology form, expect delightful detours into:

  • The vinyl economy of despair โ€“ friends smuggling records from the US, Japanese and German pressings, and Discogs sellers flat-out refusing to ship to the UK.
  • Record label lawsuits & royalty shenanigans: the Trauma vs. Interscope saga over under-reported sales, and the parallel story with No Doubt โ€“ plus the surreal reality that Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale ended up a couple in the middle of all this.
  • Genre arguments in the bath with AI: Neil literally lying in the bath, album on, arguing with ChatGPT about what counts as post-grunge, why Collective Soul is not post-grunge, and why Bush feel like a straight rock band more than a grunge one.
  • Stiltskin, Levi’s ads and one rogue UK hit: how “Inside” was basically our only true post-grunge chart smash in 90s Britain, built around an advert and a hastily assembled band.
  • Life admin & step-ladder disasters: super-gluing yourself to a ladder, hiding Diet Coke in bongos, fruit pastilles as Monday survival fuel, and the joy/horror of over-stacked diaries.

Why This Matters:

“Sixteen Stone” is the sound of someone refusing to quit when everyone tells them they’re not good enough. Gavin Rossdale was repeatedly knocked back โ€“ mocked by the UK press, dropped by a label that called his finished album worthless, and told to “get a proper singer” โ€“ yet he kept writing, kept recording, and ended up making a record that quietly changed his life and connected with millions of listeners across the Atlantic.

The hosts lean into that story of no fallback plan, no Plan B, just stubborn belief and graft, while still giving the music its due: the confident songcraft, the not-quite-polished tempos, and the way these tracks lodge themselves in your emotional memory for decades. Along the way, they connect Bush to wider conversations about post-grunge, Britpop snobbery, the loudness wars, and how certain albums don’t just sound good โ€“ they become part of who you are.

Perfect for: Fans of 90s rock who wore out their copies of Superunknown, Vitalogy or Throwing Copper; listeners who grew up with Britpop but secretly loved big American radio guitars; and anyone who’s ever been told they’re “not good enough” and kept going anyway โ€“ preferably while arguing with an AI in the bath.


Find more episodes at riffology.co – it’s like a plectrum with “riff” written on it, and yes, you’ll love the logo.

You can find us here:

  • Blog: https://riffology.co
  • All Episodes: https://riffology.co/podcast
  • iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1323-riffology-iconic-rock-alb-176865775
  • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/riffology-iconic-rock-albums-podcast/id1691556696
  • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1LIU9mein7QMw346q20nyy
  • X: https://x.com/RiffologyPod
  • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/riffology.co
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/riffology
  • Email: [email protected]

RIFF070 – Bush – Sixteen Stone
Episode play icon
RIFF070 – Bush – Sixteen Stone
Episode Description
Episode play icon
RIFF069 – Pixies – Doolittle
Episode Description
Episode play icon
RIFF068 – Hole – Live Through This
Episode Description
Episode play icon
RIFF067 – Tool – Undertow
Episode Description
Episode play icon
RIFF066 – A Perfect Circle – Mer De Noms
Episode Description
Episode play icon
RIFF065 – Deftones – White Pony
Episode Description
Episode play icon
RIFF064 – Anthrax – Sound of White Noise
Episode Description
Episode play icon
RIFF063 – Anthrax – Persistence of Time
Episode Description
Episode play icon
RIFF062 – Soulfly – Soulfly
Episode Description
Episode play icon
RIFF061 – Sepultura – Beneath the Remains
Episode Description
Search Results placeholder

Mailing List

  • The Making of Rumours by Fleetwood Mac - Monday 27th January 2025

1975 1979 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2006 2007 2024 2025 Alice in Chains Anthrax Entombed Green Day Iron Maiden Korn Led Zeppelin Linkin Park Megadeth Metallica Nirvana Pantera Pearl Jam Pink Floyd Podcast Queensrรฟche Radiohead Sepultura Skunk Anansie Slayer The Smashing Pumpkins Tool

Archives

  • November 2025
  • October 2025
  • September 2025
  • August 2025
  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024

Categories

  • Album Deep Dive
  • Feature
  • News
  • Podcasts
  • Review
  • Tech

You may have missed

Bush - Sixteen Stone - Album Cover
9 min read
  • Album Deep Dive
  • Feature

Sixteen Stoneย โ€“ Bushโ€™s Postโ€‘Grunge Breakout Album

Neil Johnson 10 November 2025
Live Through This
8 min read
  • Album Deep Dive

The Making of Live Through This by Hole

Neil Johnson 27 October 2025
61cFjl8EwAL._UF894,1000_QL80_
5 min read
  • Album Deep Dive

A deep dive into Doolittle by Pixies

Neil Johnson 27 October 2025
tmpcn7rfxas
5 min read
  • Album Deep Dive

Para Bellum by Testament – album review

Neil Johnson 13 October 2025
  • X
  • Blue Sky
  • Facebook
  • IG
  • Discord
  • Apple
  • Spotify
Copyright © All rights reserved. | MoreNews by AF themes.