The Story of the Coolest One-Hit Wonder of the 1990s (And You Might Have Never Heard of Them)

I’ve written about many a one-hit wonder over the years. There are very few that are totally new to me. Color me surprised when I came across “Drinking In L.A.” by Bran Van 3000, a Canadian electro-trip-hop collective that made it big with their debut single in 1997. By some force of nature or coincidence, I had never heard this song before a few days ago. And I’ve been addicted to it ever since.

Naturally, I was surprised to read that this was Bran Van 3000’s only major hit, more or less. “Drinking In L.A.” was a No. 35 hit in Canada and a No. 3 hit in the UK. It charted well in a number of other countries. Despite being a song about Los Angeles, the song didn’t really chart in the US. Oddly enough, another song by them from 2001 would make it to the US dance chart, but “Drinking In L.A.” remained the one-hit wonder band’s most famous tune. And by 2002, the band had broken up. However, they have since reunited. Let’s find out what happened there, shall we?

The Somewhat Sad Story of “Drinking In L.A.” by Bran Van 3000

Bran Van 3000 took some time off in 2002, but later got back together in 2006 and have been together off and on ever since. However, not everything about their story is sunshine and rainbows. Especially when it comes to one noteworthy member of the group, Haitian-born singer/songwriter Stéphane Moraille.

The story goes that Moraille was sought out for the song’s vocals. When “Drinking In L.A.” started charting, Moraille was promptly excluded from almost all of the promotional material, press, and even touring efforts. What was the reason behind this? Surely it was obvious that her voice was one of the biggest selling points of the song?

According to Moraille herself, after recording and releasing the song, a bidding war broke out for international rights to it. The band scored a better studio and signed with Gary Gersh, a manager from Geffen A&R who had worked with Nirvana. After getting the song on a major radio station, though, Moraille said that it became clear she would not be treated well by Canadian audiences and the label itself.

“I’ll never forget the day I found out what ‘urban’ meant,” Moraille said in an interview from 2022. “A lot of people liked the song, but a couple of people called to say, ‘The singer sounds a little urban. The singer sounds a little urban.’ I’m like ‘Well, what does urban mean?’ […] And then when I finally asked enough, the answer was, ‘It’s Black, it means Black.’”

Moraille was “pushed out” of efforts to promote the song. Bran Van 3000’s label even encouraged them to re-record the song with a white singer. Moraille was later told that her exclusion was “a business decision.” 

Moving on From a Dark Past

It’s a shame that something as hateful as racism has left a stain on the band’s legacy. Moraille’s amazing vocal track is what made “Drinking In L.A.” such a bop. I’ll probably always love the one-hit wonder “Drinking In L.A.”, if just for her stellar contribution to the song. And, fortunately, when the 25th anniversary reunion tour took place a few years back, Moraille reunited with her former band and said that everything was right as rain.

“It’s as if we never left each other,” said Moraille. “The magic was the same, and in a sense it was even better because we didn’t have the undercurrent of misunderstanding.”

Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns