INTERVIEW: AXS TV to premiere new season of ‘Top Ten Revealed’

Photo: The Top Ten Revealed, hosted by Katie Daryl, features the commentary of Carnie Wilson, Mark McGrath and Wes Scantlin. Photo courtesy of AXS TV / Provided by press rep with permission.

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Top 10 lists are the best, aren’t they? The world seems to think and speak in these easy-to-understand categorizations like “Top 10 Pizza Joints in New York City” or “Top 10 Drinks to Have on the Beach.” Heck, Nick Hornby even wrote a novel that served as an ode to the Top 10: High Fidelity, later made into a John Cusack movie and Broadway musical.

The world is simply too large to comprehend, so people distill the best of the best to 10 highly debatable entries.

AXS TV has been enjoying the top 10 fun the past couple years, and the music channel is back for more. Their successful show, The Top Ten Revealed, returns for a third season Sunday, April 19 at 8 p.m. on the network. Host and executive producer Katie Daryl will break down the lists with the likes of Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray), Carnie Wilson (Wilson Phillips), Wes Scantlin (Puddle of Mudd), Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Lita Ford (Runaways) and Dee Snider (Twisted Sister).

[Read Hollywood Soapbox’s interview with Puddle of Mudd’s Wes Scantlin.]

The team gets together each week and categorizes a bunch of songs, with each list becoming more eccentric than the last. This season promises top 10 Epic Songs of 1974, Breakup Songs of the 1980s, Soul Songs of the 1960s and Yacht Rock Songs.

“One of the episodes that I’m very excited for them to check out is, I believe, it’s our 12th episode, and it’s called Going Crazy Songs,” Daryl said in a recent phone interview. “And it’s songs about going crazy, and it’s hard to categorize this one. So I think it’s going to be a list that people debate. I think it’s going to be a list that people email afterward saying, ‘Oh, you forgot this song,’ but it’s also a list that very much bridges musical genres. Now I hate giving away all 10 songs on a list because I want people to tune in, but for an example, the song ‘Crazy’ by Gnarls Barkley makes this list. You’re like, OK, that’s a pretty current song. We have ‘Insane in the Membrane’ [by Cypress Hill] make the list. That’s interesting as well, but then we also go all the way back to Patsy Cline’s ‘Crazy.’ And so I think this is a great list that will have people thinking and scratching their head and just sitting back and enjoying the entertainment value of the episode.”

The team comes up with the top 10 lists by sitting around a table and spitballing ideas. Some of the best episodes are inspired when someone has heard an interesting song on the radio. Maybe it had a killer saxophone solo, and then Daryl and her team start thinking of other songs with killer saxophone solos.

“And then we start Googling, and you’re like, oh my God, there’s like 80,000 really good ones,” she said with a laugh. “How will ever narrow it down to 10? It is fun that people suggest things. We spitball. Fans email us suggestions. The list about ‘Going Crazy’ songs, believe it or not, Mark Cuban emailed to me. I was like, well, don’t mind if I do. We shall do it.”

The upcoming third season of the show makes a concerted effort to break from the 1970s. The first two seasons were mostly centered on this highly influential decade of music, featuring artists like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and the like. This time around, the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s receive some love.

“I love the ’70s, and I was raised on classic rock,” Daryl said. “And I was a classic rock DJ in my earlier times, but I’m a child of loving ’90s music and the 2000s. So we wanted to try and incorporate more musical genres and tastes into this season, and then we also wanted to open that door with our experts as well. It’s fantastic that we have Mark McGrath because not only is he awesome as the frontman of Sugar Ray, but he is a three-time Rock ‘N’ Roll Jeopardy champion. So this guy knows his shit. … He’s so brilliant. He has opinions. He has information. He has knowledge. He has first-hand stories on most of these acts.”

Daryl was super-impressed by Phillips’ contributions as well. The singer from Wilson Phillips (“Hold On”) added zing and pizzazz to the commentary track.

“So I love her as just an on-camera talent as well as a rock ‘n’ roll star herself, and then Wes Scantlin of Puddle of Mudd really helped bring us into that dirty rock ‘n’ roll feeling,” she said. “And he’s another one that brought a lot of comedic relief to the episodes because his opinions and knowledge were so off the wall at times. He added a real unique value to the show.”

Daryl, mostly because of her old DJ ways, knew each and every song profiled on the TV show. That’s an impressive feat. Audience members will likely know most of the tunes, but there are a few chestnuts to behold as well.

“I was lucky enough to have spun all these records in the past,” she said. “When I was going through college, that was one of my side jobs was doing the 8 p.m. to midnight shift at a classic rock radio station on Saturday nights. I didn’t have a lot of dates apparently, but, yeah, that’s what I did going through college. And so I got to really be familiar with classic rock, and then obviously anything that is ’80s, ’90s or 2000s, I just happen to know because I’m a music geek.”

Before starting The Top Ten Revealed, Daryl would have said that her favorite decade of music to listen to was the 1970s. However, after listening to those memorable tunes over and over again, she’s starting to have a change of heart.

“If I was to go to Pandora, and I’m cleaning the house and I just want some background music, I would always gone with a ’70s classic rock station,” Daryl said. “Now we’ve had three seasons of this show. I’ve heard those songs a lot, and sometimes I’m like, if I have to hear AC/DC one more time, I’m going to scrub this toilet so hard. So I have gone back to my college years, if you will, and I love Nirvana. I love Pearl Jam. I love the ’90s. It’s fun. That’s my jam these days.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

The Top Ten Revealed, hosted and executive produced by Katie Daryl, will return to AXS TV Sunday, April 19 at 8 p.m. Click here for more information.