Drinking in L.A.

"Drinking in L.A."
Single by Bran Van 3000
from the album Glee
Released	September 8, 1998 August 1999
Genre	Alternative rock, Alternative Hip Hop
Length	3:56

"Drinking in L.A." is a song by Bran Van 3000, released as the band's first single. On VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders, James Di Salvio was quoted saying: "It's about me being in LA trying to make a movie and getting really bored with it and going out clubbing and DJ-ing, eventually taking the jump into making the record. It's kind of like falling out of love with one medium into the next. When you impose things in your life you have to do things because of your ego, you have to accomplish so much at a certain age and you want to do something else and you have to take the plunge and do it."

Drinking in L.A. is played in the F Mixolydian mode.

In the U.S., "Drinking in L.A." failed to generate interest from Alternative stations, even with its references to "Gin and Juice" by Snoop Doggy Dogg—at the time considered too hip-hop oriented to attract modern rock listeners.^{[citation needed]} Yet in the UK and Canada, "Drinking in L.A." continues to generate airplay.

The song was covered specially for BBC Radio 1 by English Indie rock Band The Twang in 2007, and featured on the album Radio 1 Established 1967. The song is also featured on the MuchMusic compilation album, Big Shiny Tunes 2. It was also featured in television commercials for Rolling Rock beer in the United Kingdom, which contributed to chart success in that region, peaking at #3 (having only reached #36 a year earlier when originally released). The song is also the title song for the film Playing by Heart.^[1] In the music video for "Drinking in LA" a copy of a Toronto album is clearly visible in several shots.

References

1. ^ Playing by Heart soundtrack — IMDB.com