PAST 10s: A Top 10 Time Machine - Music of the 70s, 80s and More

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. There’s serious love for classics like “Owner of a Lonely Heart” and “Say Say Say,” plus some healthy debate when Milt swaps out “Break My Stride” for Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody,” and Dave pulls an audible by replacing “Talking in Your Sleep” with early-era U2.

Expect deep dives, dumb tangents (baseball makes a surprise appearance), TikTok-era song revivals, harmonica legends, and the usual combination of nostalgia, nitpicking, and laughs that probably goes on five minutes longer than planned — as it should.

Chapters:

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, and the occasional musical sacred cow being gently (or not so gently) tipped over. It’s nostalgia with receipts—and just enough wisdom earned the hard way.

Topics

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 classics… or just temporarily living rent-free in our brains.

As always, there’s a twist: every modern hit gets paired with an older song that shares its DNA — same vibe, same arc, same “I’ve heard this before but can’t quite place it” energy. Is pop music evolving, looping, or just wearing a new jacket? Dave and Milt investigate.

Expect karaoke stories, party chaos, musical crescendos, country-rap identity crises, unexpected love songs, and at least one moment where someone asks, “Wait… how old is that guy?”

It’s nostalgia, analysis, laughs, and just enough musical snobbery to feel like home.

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, Worst Tale of Woe, Best Use of Creepy AI, and—because we are who we are—the highly competitive Best Penis Joke. It’s a night filled with surprise guest appearances, unnecessary musical detours, tech hiccups that absolutely should not have happened, and stories that somehow got more awkward with time.

Between heartfelt moments, holiday chatter, listener emails, and Milt doing things that can only be described as “very Milt,” the Tennies once again prove that when you give two guys microphones and zero adult supervision, magic—questionable, chaotic magic—can still happen.

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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 unfortunate branding accident in podcasting history? (Welcome back to the Murder Pod™.)

The trivia pulls heavily from ‘80s-style music bar trivia, beloved TV shows like The Office and Friends, and classic holiday films and specials—some heartwarming, some traumatic, all fair game. There’s also a little holiday housekeeping, a stroll down Past Tens memory lane, and a tease for next week’s Second Annual Tennies Awards, because yes, we are absolutely giving trophies to songs again.

Festive? Yes. Educational? Occasionally. Slightly unhinged? Always.

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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. Along the way: personal war stories from the era, cultural detours through VH1 lists and The Simpsons, and a spirited debate over which songs still slap—and which ones are just riding muscle memory.

Also on the docket:

It’s music analysis, nostalgia, gentle roasting, and genuine affection for a wildly eclectic Top 10—exactly the way December ’88 deserves.

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00:00 – Welcome back to Past Tens

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.

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. Yes, we hit Hungry Like the Wolf — the song that launched a thousand hair products — but we also dig into the weird, wonderful, and criminally underrated corners of their catalog.

Then Milt, bless him, grabs his power-pop heart and heads straight into Fountains of Wayne, a band that somehow packed more storytelling into three-minute pop songs than most novelists manage in 400 pages. And yes, we go far beyond Stacy’s Mom. (If you know what I mean. And I think you do.)

It’s all here: music geekery, nostalgia, sideways humor, and the occasional moment where we accidentally sound like we know what we’re talking about.

Episode Breakdown (aka: Pretending This Is a Real Show With Structure)

00:00 – Welcome!

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 melodramatic of American institutions: The Battle of the Network Stars!

Dave and Mark seize the moment, diving headlong into the swirling waters of nostalgia. They revisit — with the reverence of historians and the joi de vivre of carnival barkers — the unforgettable competitions of the '70s and '80s: the sinew-straining tug-of-war battles, the kayaking cataclysms that defied physics, the controversies that shook the nation, and the races that left audiences gasping for breath.

Marvel as Debbie Allen storms back from adversity on the obstacle course! Tremble as kayak after kayak — piloted by celebrities who had no business in watercraft — spirals into beautifully chaotic disaster! Relive the titanic clash between Gabe Kaplan and Robert Conrad, a showdown that echoed through the annals of competitive fluff!

And through it all, you’ll hear the resonant ghost of Howard Cosell himself, narrating each triumph and tragedy with Olympian gravitas and trademark incredulity.

This is no mere recap, friends — it is a celebration of Trash TV in its purest, most incandescent form. A reminder of why this bizarre, charming, star-studded spectacle remains etched into the hearts of millions.

Topics

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’ “Start Me Up” and ONJ’s gym-class megabanger “Physical.” Along the way, we unpack the significance of each track, including the ones we love, the ones we pretend to love, and the ones we loudly and publicly shame.

Naturally, the listener mailbag makes an appearance: grievances, duet arguments, strong opinions delivered politely (and occasionally not). We even dive into the “Should this have been Top 10?” cul-de-sac, where great songs go to be judged and mocked with affection.

And yes — we address our brief hiatus, courtesy of Milt’s upcoming surgery, which he insists is “minor,” yet has somehow required him to create a 14-page Google Doc labeled “My Brave Journey.”

00:00 – Welcome back to Past Tens, the podcast that keeps the time machine running on sarcasm and soft rock.