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About JXL

Leading up to the 2002 World Cup soccer tournament the Nike company sought permission to remix Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation", a Mac Davis-Billy Strange composition originally released on a B-side of a single that also resurfaced on the Ocean's Eleven' soundtrack. It was the first time a Presley track had been approved for a remix. Nike's update featured the original guitar hook, a pumped-up rhythm track and Elvis pleading for ``a little less conversation, a little more action,'' and was aired repeatedly during the World Cup. The commercial became such a sensation RCA wanted to release it as a single. That however presented a little problem, in that Dutch remixer Tom Holkenborg worked under the Junkie XL. The "Junkie" tag was surely inappropriate if it was going to be associated to the Elvis Presley name. The single version of "A Little Less Conversation,'' was therefore credited to Elvis Vs. JXL, and on release shot to the top of the singles charts in Great Britain, Japan, Hong Kong, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia and Mexico. The Junkie XL career in fact goes back to the Dutch band of that name which started life in 1995 and debuted in 1997 with their album Saturday Teenage Kick. Like Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers their music was a mix of rock and big beats and best expressed in a live performance. The band name itself came from leader Tom Holkenborg's "studio-junkie" reputation. The "XL" referred to the process of "eXpanding Limits" (of perception, reality, etc.). After a lot of rehearsing, the band first performed in Amsterdam, November 1997. At the end of 1999, Junkie XL stopped playing with a whole band on stage and stripped down to a dance duo, with only Tom and "Rudeboy" on stage. In June 2000, "Rudeboy" also quit, leaving Junkie XL as Tom alone on stage, with guest vocalists on record. And then came "A Little Less Conversation". ~ Ed Nimmervoll, All Music Guide