1996

The Making of Everything Must Go by Manic Street Preachers

The Making of Everything Must Go by Manic Street Preachers

Neil Johnson 16 June 2025

Everything Must Go by Manic Street Preachers: The Definitive Story When I think about the musical landscape...

The Making of 1977 by Ash 1977

The Making of 1977 by Ash

Neil Johnson 8 June 2025

1977 by Ash: A Landmark in 90s Alternative Rock There are albums that capture the restless spirit...

The Essential Story of Skunk Anansie’s Stoosh Stoosh

The Essential Story of Skunk Anansie’s Stoosh

Neil Johnson 10 February 2025

Introduction Released on 7 October 1996, Stoosh by Skunk Anansie stands as a significant work in the...

The Making of Yourself or Someone Like You – Matchbox Twenty’s Breakthrough

The Making of Yourself or Someone Like You – Matchbox Twenty’s Breakthrough

Neil Johnson 30 January 2025

Introduction Released on 1 October 1996, Yourself or Someone Like You by Matchbox Twenty is a seminal...

Recovering The Satellites: Counting Crows’ Introspective Journey

Recovering The Satellites: Counting Crows’ Introspective Journey

Neil Johnson 7 January 2025

Released in 1996, Counting Crows' "Recovering The Satellites" followed their debut, delving deeper into themes of success...

Inside Odelay: Beck’s Innovative 90s Breakthrough

Inside Odelay: Beck’s Innovative 90s Breakthrough

Chris Baldwin 1 January 2025

Beck's "Odelay," released on June 18, 1996, is a seminal album in alternative music, known for its...

The Evolution of Load – Metallica’s Bold Move Load

The Evolution of Load – Metallica’s Bold Move

Neil Johnson 1 November 2024

In 1996, Metallica released Load, a significant shift from their thrash metal roots to a hard rock...

The Making of Roots – Sepultura’s Cultural Revolution Roots

The Making of Roots – Sepultura’s Cultural Revolution

Neil Johnson 30 October 2024

Sepultura's 1996 album, Roots, marks a significant evolution in metal, merging groove and nu metal with Brazilian...

Exploring Life Is Peachy: Korn’s Nu Metal Evolution

Neil Johnson 30 October 2024

In 1996, Korn released "Life Is Peachy," a pivotal nu metal album that showcased raw energy and...

Podcast Episodes

Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums Podcast

Welcome to Riffology, where a GenX and a Millennial talk about the albums from their youth. It’s more fun than it sounds…

This week, we fulfil a long-standing listener request (hello, Lindsay) and dig into Manic Street Preachers’ Everything Must Go. Expect the usual blend of forensic music analysis and complete shambles, as we celebrate Lindsay’s loyalty, discuss how long we’ve been doing this (answers vary from three to seventy-five years), and try to work out what day it is.

Chris reveals his secret life as a Download Festival rock star, we reminisce about Monster Shop, Dog House, and all our previous attempts at podcast branding, and then lose several minutes to the technicalities of coin tossing with a key fob. (Spoiler: it does not go smoothly.)

Other highlights: debating the merits of Apocalyptica’s cello-based Metallica covers, the agony of coming up with a new sign-off, and realising—eventually—that Riffology is now an actual thing, at least according to Google.

Dry, meandering, and occasionally insightful, as ever.