ODD-TITLED TOP 40 HITS [SPOILERS] 3/30 category

[MarkBarrett]

$400: Jim Stafford of “Spiders & Snakes” fame warned us in a 1975 hit that “Your bulldog drinks” this luxurious French wine
$800: This sibling duo, Karen & Richard, were on top of the world with “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft”
$1200: In 2016 DNCE hit the charts wanting us to have this “By the Ocean”
$1600: The bones of this rap group got the whole skeleton together for their first Top 40 Hit, “Thuggish-Ruggish-Bone”
$2000: This comedy duo had Top 40 Hits like “Sister Mary Elephant” & “Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces”

Correct responses:

Spoiler

Champagne
Carpenters
Cake
Bones Thugs-n-Harmony
Cheech & Chong

The players were stumper, stumper, get, get, stumper.

[MarkBarrett]

Definitely have heard the Cheech & Chong recordings as well as the DNCE song.

[seaborgium]

I guessed Chardonnay for $400, thinking of champagne as another possibility.

I didn't vote on whether I've heard any of the songs because I've heard a clip of "Cake by the Ocean" but never the whole thing, and I'm not sure that counts. It's the only one I'm sure I've ever heard any of.

[TenPoundHammer]

I've heard other songs by the first 3 artists, but not the songs named.

For some reason the local top 40 station loooooooved "Toothbrush" but refused to play "Cake by the Ocean". This is the same station that seems to never play Adele whenever she has a new song. No kidding -- the week "Rolling in the Deep" hit #1, I listened to them for 6 hours straight. I heard "Tonight, Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae (I'm so glad we forgot who those guys even are) at least six times and Adele zero.

[sarisson]

Only one I got was the $1600. I've heard the Tyrone Shoelaces song because "Chauncey Gardner" watched the music video in his limo in Being There, but I forgot who did it.

[xxaaaxx]

Thank you, $1600 clue, for giving me 2/3 of the answer and helping me avoid getting skunked

[Fleeboy]

I heard that Carpenters song only once (on a broadcast of an odd mid-70s syndicated show called The Oidar Wavelength), but it was one time too many.

[Peter the accountant]

I've heard DNCE several times, but never knew what the lyric was before "by the ocean." And I've probably heard Sister Mary Elephant a few times back in the day. The title sure sounds familiar. I wanted to place it with a couple of guys from the early SNL days (maybe Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd), but wasn't sure, so clammed. Wisely so, after the fact.

My only get was the Carpenters. Never heard the song, but an instaget from musical siblings Karen and Richard.

[econgator]

I was singing "Basketball Jones" when that clue came up.

[mungar]

5/5, a dream category if I ever get the call.

More familiar with the original Klaatu version of Calling Occupants; maybe because I'm Canadian. Still an easy get spotting Karen and Richard and knowing of their version.

[BigDaddyMatty]

I've never heard the first two songs--I'll remedy that tonight--but I know the bottom three fairly well.

Edit: What the heck did I just listen to? "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" is one of the weirdest records I've ever heard. It's an homage to whatever aliens are tooling around the cosmos, but done in the same smooth, saccharine style as every other Carpenters song. A strange year, 1977 was.

[Johnblue]

Is DNCE still a group? I played that song & it’s awful. Superstar is a great song. It was written by Leon Russell.

[Plactus]

My parents played "Basketball Jones" for me at some point. Or at least part of it.

[LucarioSnooperVixey]

[Cat Hammarskjold]

0/5, never heard of any of them

[alietr]

Edit: What the heck did I just listen to? "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" is one of the weirdest records I've ever heard. It's an homage to whatever aliens are tooling around the cosmos, but done in the same smooth, saccharine style as every other Carpenters song. A strange year, 1977 was.

I didn't know the Carpenters had released of cover of it; I'm only familiar with the original by Klaatu.

[9021amyers]

Champagne was a WECIB guess on a top-row clue
I know the Carpenters and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, but not those specific songs
“Cake by the Ocean” was unavoidable a couple of summers ago; I wish I’d heard it less
Signs you’re a 90’s Kid: your definitive version of “Basketball Jones” is the Barry White-Chris Rock cover on the Space Jam soundtrack

[Ironhorse]

I haven't heard any of the specific songs. Karen and Richard were easily identifiable as Carpenters, and I got Bone Thugs n Harmony.

[clprez]

When I was in high school, my best friend and I would go around as Pedro and Chico, who were imitations of Cheech and Chong. Drove people nuts. I used to know all the words to Basketball Jones.

I also got champagne as a WECIB, and it took me a bit to get Carpenters because I couldn't understand the question.

[AFRET CMS]

I've heard DNCE several times, but never knew what the lyric was before "by the ocean."

I didn't believe the answer when first revealed. I thought the cake was a lie.