"JCB" was first released on Nizlopi's album "Half These Songs Are About You" in 2004. FDM Records originally released "JCB" as a single in the United Kingdom on 6 June 2005, but it stalled at number 160 on the UK Singles Chart, selling only several hundred copies. Following its release, Nizlopi promoted the song by engaging in interviews and performing the song live on British radio station XFM and during several small gigs. The internet, as well as the band's devoted fandom, was a major catalyst in the song's promotion. MonkeeHub then requested to make an animated music video for the song, which drew further interest to the song. Toward the end of 2005, bookmakers began a push for the song to enter the bid for the UK Christmas number-one single of 2005, putting it into competition with new singles by Irish boy band Westlife and the yet unannounced winner of the second series of British music competition "The X Factor". On 17 December 2005, the show announced English singer Shayne Ward as the winner, and his version of the winner's song, "That's My Goal", was released on 21 December 2005.