Episodes

Dave and Milt crack open a special Past Tens where the subject is none other than the human moonwalk, Michael Jackson—timed nicely with the looming biopic that’s about to remind everyone just how absurdly dominant this guy was. We’re talking voice, moves, mystique, and that little side project with Quincy Jones that somehow turned into the most unfair three-album heater in pop history. Ground rules: solo MJ only. Sorry, Jackson 5—you’ll always have “ABC,” but you’re sitting this one out. From t...

Dave and Milt fire up the Top 10 Time Machine and land squarely in April 3, 1982—a week where the Falklands War is just getting started, Space Shuttle Columbia is touching down in the desert like it missed its exit, Michael Jordan is hitting that NCAA shot, and America is somehow supporting both Porky's and Chariots of Fire at the same time. A simpler, weirder time. The boys break down a Top 10 that is equal parts iconic and “wait… really?”—from Key Largo (featuring a sidebar into Bertie Higgin...

Dave and Milt are doing what they do best: arguing about music like it matters (because it does). This time, they’re counting down their favorite opening lines from 1970s songs — with Milt, naturally, gravitating toward lines that drop you immediately into a vibe, a scene, or a full-blown attitude problem. They go back and forth like two guys at a bar who won’t let the other finish a sentence, firing off picks like “Life in the Fast Lane,” “Renegade,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “He’s Misstra Kno...

Dave and Milt ride the Past 10s time machine to the week ending March 19, 1977, riffing on questionable water-park hygiene, a 44‑hour hijacking, FDA rules for “mixed nuts,” the Mary Tyler Moore finale giving birth to Three’s Company and Eight Is Enough, and the cultural moment of Annie Hall, M*A*S*H, Trinity, and Roots. They count down Billboard’s Top 10, spotlighting Fleetwood Mac’s first Top 10 hit “Go Your Own Way,” Thelma Houston’s Motown disco breakthrough “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” and Bob...

Dave and Milt (the Chart Meister, not the Chart Master) celebrate what might be their 300th episode—give or take a few missed weeks and some lazy counting—by ditching the usual Billboard time-travel format and revisiting excerpts from their very first Past Tens episode from June 2019. They roast their early scripted, nervous energy, debate why certain catchphrases and categories stuck (Bad Remake, What the Fuck Were We Thinking, Never Heard Of It), and reminisce about recording in a Boston studi...

Dave and Milt jump into the Billboard Rock Tracks chart for the week ending March 10, 1984. They set the scene with Splash, Dallas, and Ed Koch’s Mayor, then count down the rock top 10: Yes “Leave It,” Van Halen “Panama,” Eurythmics “Here Comes the Rain Again,” Pretenders “Middle of the Road,” John Lennon “Nobody Told Me,” 38 Special “Back Where You Belong,” Kenny Loggins “Footloose,” Manfred Mann’s Earth Band “Runner,” Christine McVie “Got a Hold on Me,” and Van Halen “Jump.” They debate best s...

Dave and Milt open with shout-outs to a five-star review from the mysterious “BeanieGirl6” and an email from listener Jack (now in Houston) defending Edward Bear and sharing trivia about Roberta Flack’s inspiration. They then rank the 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 17 nominees by “worthiness,” focusing on their top 10 while also predicting who will be inducted, using athlete analogies and ChatGPT-generated sandwich comps. Their top 10 includes Iron Maiden (#10, their biggest disagreement), Jo...

Dave and the Chartmeister Michael “Milt” Wolfe review the Billboard Top 10 for the week ending March 10, 1973, after chatting about Milt’s trip to Savannah, snow in Massachusetts, and assorted pop-culture tangents. They cover period context including Dark Side of the Moon’s U.S. release, the “Great Michigan pizza funeral,” KISS’s first makeup show, and the death of Grateful Dead member Pigpen. The countdown includes Jermaine Jackson’s “Daddy’s Home,” John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High,” Dr. Hook...

Dave records an episode of the Past Tens: Top 10 Time Machine podcast without co-host Milt (who is away on a winter trip or something) and brings on his brother Adam Yas as guest co-host. Each present a personal top 10 list of the greatest opening lines of 1980s songs, alternating picks and briefly discussing why each first line stands out. Adam explains his criteria: lyrical quality, vocal delivery, the artistic statement/arrival moment for the artist, and whether the line opens a great song. ...

This week on Past Tens: A Top 10 Time Machine, Milt and Dave crank the amps, lace up the shell-tops, and dive headfirst into one of the great musical collisions of the last 50 years: when rock and hip hop stopped flirting… and started throwing punches together. Our guest is Steven Blush — rock journalist, historian, and author of When Rock Met Hip Hop. The guy knows this terrain cold. We’re talking real-deal moments where guitars and 808s didn’t just coexist — they rewired the culture. We star...

Dave and Milt take a nostalgic trip back to the 1970s, evaluating and re-evaluating the Grammy winners for Record of the Year. From the soulful sounds of Simon & Garfunkel to the infectious disco beats of the Bee Gees, they discuss, debate, and sometimes disagree with the original Grammy choices, offering their own takes on who should have taken home the iconic golden gramophone. The duo also touches on nostalgic personal anecdotes, Oscar trivia, and future podcast plans. Topics 01:53 Listener...

Dave and Milt hop back into the Past Tens time machine and land in February 1965—a time when the Billboard Top 10 didn’t mess around. This is peak-era stuff: songs you know, artists you trust, and records that somehow still sound better than half the things clogging your algorithm today. As always, the guys do more than just count them down. They break apart the songs, talk about where they hit in their own musical DNA, and wander into side streets involving movies, memories, and the occasional...

We took Past Tens on the road for the first-ever Animated Movie Draft, recorded from a friend’s house in Vermont—which immediately set the tone: cozy, loud, slightly unhinged, and absolutely competitive. Four teams entered, rules were explained (and immediately bent), and chaos followed. The teams: No Capes (Andy and David), How to Train Your Landau (Addie and Dylan), Ka-rin & Stumpy (Milt and Karen), and Everything’s Fein (Michael and Nicole). The mission: draft the greatest animated movies of...

Dave and Milt crack open the Billboard Top 10 from January 14, 1984 — a chart absolutely stacked with heavy hitters like Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, Culture Club, Elton John, and more. It’s pop perfection, power ballads, synth hooks, and at least one harmonica discussion that gets wildly out of hand. Along the way, the guys dig into the songs, the lyrics, and the cultural moment — plus listener emails, high-school flashbacks, and a true story of Dave weaponizing song lyrics. Th...

Dave and Milt fire up the DeLorean and head straight for the 1980s—specifically, the Grammy Awards’ Record of the Year decisions, many of which now feel… let’s say debatable. With equal parts reverence and side-eye, the guys re-litigate whether the Grammys nailed it, blew it, or flat-out whiffed. Spirited debates, personal memories, a few “wait—that won??” moments, and plenty of good-natured sniping as each year gets put back on trial. Along the way, there are trivia detours, surprise segments,...

Hop in the Time Machine and buckle up, because in this episode of Past Tens, Dave and Milt do what they do best: stare directly into the pop-culture sun and ask, “So… how did we get here?” The fellas break down Billboard’s Top 10 songs of 2025 — praising the bangers, questioning the head-scratchers, and revisiting a few familiar names that refuse to leave the charts (looking at you, Bruno). Along the way, they dig into artist backstories, chart momentum, and whether these songs are future classi...

Live from the glamorous crossroads of America (a Best Western in Sheboygan, Michigan), Dave and Milt roll out the red carpet—or at least a slightly wrinkled hallway runner—for the Second Annual Tennies, our totally prestigious, minimally regulated awards honoring the very best moments of the podcast year that was. This is the episode where we look back, point, laugh, occasionally wince, and then laugh harder. We hand out trophies (imaginary, but emotionally heavy) for categories like Best Guest...

On this holiday-themed episode of Past Tens: A Top 10 Time Machine, Dave and Milt crank up the festive vibes with a full-blown pop-culture trivia throwdown—covering Christmas songs, movies, TV episodes, and other seasonal nonsense we all pretend not to love (but absolutely do). Along the way, they pause to address the elephant in the studio: the growing list of celebrities who’ve inconveniently passed away shortly after being mentioned on the pod. Is it coincidence? A curse? Or just the most un...

Fire up the flux capacitor, because this episode of Past Tens: The Top 10 Time Machine drops Dave and Milt straight into December 1988—a moment in pop history when power ballads were mandatory, New Jack Swing was kicking down the door, and Welcome to the Jungle somehow coexisted with Two Hearts on the same chart. The guys break down the Billboard Top 10, taking respectful (and occasionally reckless) swings at songs from Guns N’ Roses, Bobby Brown, Phil Collins, Anita Baker, Poison, and more. Al...

On this very special episode of Past Tens, your beloved hosts — one recovering from surgery, the other recovering from life — roll out something brand new: The Starter Kit. Think of it as the musical tasting menu nobody asked for but absolutely needed. We each pick a band. We give you the essentials. You pretend to take notes. Everybody wins. Dave kicks things off with Duran Duran, because nothing says “starter kit” like a band that basically invented the MTV era and then refused to leave. ...

Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to experience is nothing less than a rollicking romp through the gilded pantheon of televised tomfoolery! In this extraordinary edition of “Past Tens: The Top 10 Time Machine,” your indefatigable host Dave, with the unparalleled, inimitable chartmeister Milt sidelined by injury, in steps a stupendous subsititution, the incomparable Mark Gerber! The duo embark upon a triumphant return to that most spectacular, most ludicrous, most magnificently melodramati...

Just when you think you know the answers to 80s music trivia, we start changing the questions. Here you go, Machiners. 5 rounds. 5 questions each round. Choose wisely.

Strap in, Time Travelers — Dave and Milt are firing up the chart-powered DeLorean and punching in the week of November 21, 1981, a glorious moment when MTV was still shiny and new, Hall & Oates ruled with feathered fists, and your boombox was probably eating AA batteries like Milt eats pretzels. We kick things off with the Hill Street Blues theme — because nothing says “Let’s rock!” like a soft-focus keyboard stroll through cop drama melancholy — and roll straight into gems like the Stones’ “St...

There once were two hosts, Milt and Dave, Whose duets made the time charts behave. From Loggins and Nicks, To Bowie’s slick mix, They delivered the hits that we crave. They told tales of songs thopics 00:59:10 Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson — Say Say Say 01:00:05 Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper — Shallow 01:01:20 Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb — Guilty 01:02:10 Johnny Cash & June Carter — Jackson 01:03:05 Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson — Jam (Heavy D cameo love) 01:04:05 David Bowie & Bing C...