Here’s one of the great one-hit wonders. And a song that would pop into my head at random points whenever I was – you guessed – Drinking In L.A.

It’s got the same slacker hip-hop-but-not-really-hip-hop vibe as Beck’s first hit Loser, which came out three years before this was released in 1997.

It defies easy pigeon-holing with its electronic undercurrent, blending elements of techno, lounge music and hip-hop with a terrific spoken word introduction, strange backing vocals and even stranger sound effects.

And at the centre the laid-back vocal of James Di Salvio who, after a night of heavy drinking, woke up face-down on a lawn in West Hollywood with a headache and asked himself – you guessed – “What the hell am I doing, drinking in L.A.?”

It really is a one-off, though it had two lives, first as a minor hit and then, in 1997, as a major one when it was used in a Rolling Rock beer and reached No.3 in the UK singles chart.

Bran Van 3000 were a collective from Montreal formed by Di Salvio, originally a video producer, and music producer E.P. Bergen.

I never heard of them again but their career lasted 20 years, including collaborations with Senegalese star Youssou N’Dour and reggae singer Eek-A-Mouse. And one of their early tunes is a rather charming version of Slade’s Cum On Feel The Noize.