Elvis vs. JXL – A Little Less Conversation (JXL Remix)
2002
316K Likes
Best comments
1.“So many characters that haven't been unlocked yet.”
More comments
- 2.“This could have been made in 2020 – everyone is perfectly social distancing!”
- 3.“And to think Elvis was worried no one would remember him after he was gone.”
The story
Elvis recorded A Little Less Conversation in 1968. David Holmes dusted it off for the Ocean's 11 soundtrack in 2001, and then Nike came calling. For the 2002 World Cup, Dutch producer Junkie XL got permission to remix it – the first Elvis remix ever approved by his label and Elvis Presley Enterprises. He worked from an alternate vocal Elvis cut in June 1968, looped the riff and bolted big beats underneath.
The ad was Secret Tournament, directed by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python: two dozen of the world's best footballers playing caged three-a-side in a cargo ship's hold, with Eric Cantona as referee. Nobody planned a single. Then the public wanted the song so badly that RCA rushed it out in June 2002. It sat at number one in the UK for four weeks, the only Elvis chart-topper released after his death, and it broke his tie with the Beatles for the most UK number ones. Not bad for a guy who'd been gone 25 years.
The video is a fast-cut retro rush. Writers at Vice remember mullets, flares, matching vintage tracksuits, belly jewelry, colored sunglasses, a whole lot of red and a dance move that shoves a hand right into a fisheye lens. One of them called it a death march by twin ghosts. The King has been called worse.
