Anthology (Alien Ant Farm album)
Anthology is the second album by American rock band Alien Ant Farm released on March 6, 2001 in the United States and March 19, 2001 in Australia and the UK. It is the major label debut of the band. Similarly to how their debut album was entitled Greatest Hits, the album is not a compilation album. Between June and August, the group performed on the Warped Tour.
"Smooth Criminal" was released as downloadable content for the Rock Band series of video games on May 5, 2009. The rest of the album has been licensed for release on the Rock Band Network over the course of 2011–12, starting with "Movies" and "Courage" and continuing with three songs per quarter until the full album is released.
Song information
Their first single, "Smooth Criminal", was a cover of Michael Jackson's song of the same name, which started to bring popularity to the band. The song "Wish" was featured on the video game soundtrack of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 in 2001, and "Courage" was featured on the video game soundtracks of Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder in 2001 and ATV Offroad Fury 2 in 2002.Singles
Originally, the band made a small-budget video for the song "Movies". This was their intended first single. According to the band, they had never intended for "Smooth Criminal" to be a single. A radio station played the song and they received positive feedback. Instead of taking action against the radio station, they decided to accommodate the listeners and they quickly released their "Smooth Criminal" video and withdrew their "Movies" video. When it was time for a second single, they shot the current "Movies" video. There were a total of 3 videos made for this track.Recording
The album was recorded and mixed at NRG Recording Studios in North Hollywood.Commercial reception
The album has been certified Platinum in the United States for sales of over 1,000,000 units.Track listing
- The song "Wish" was the band's first song ever written and performed, and is also featured on their $100 EP.
- The song "Movies" was originally from Greatest Hits.
- The song "Universe" was originally from the EP Love Songs, though it is also featured on Greatest Hits.
- An early version of the Michael Jackson cover, "Smooth Criminal", can also be found on Greatest Hits, labelled as "Slick Thief".
Personnel
- Terry Corso – acoustic and electric guitars
- Mike Cosgrove – drums
- Dryden Mitchell – vocals and acoustic guitar
- Tye Zamora – bass guitar, upright bass, keyboards, kalimba, guitar and background vocals
- Gavin Hayes – slide guitar on "Stranded" and "Orange Appeal"
- David Campbell – string arrangement on "Universe"
- Lenny Castro – percussion on "Attitude"
- Yanick Vincent – flute on "Orange Appeal"
- Jon Zamora – additional background vocals on "Flesh and Bone"
- Tom Baker – mastering
- Jay Baumgardner – production and mixing
- PR Brown – art, design and photography
- Daniel Certa – mixing assistance
- John Ewing – additional Pro Tools
- Ron Handler – A&R
- Justin Harvey – engineering assistance
- James Murray – engineering and Pro Tools
- Ralf Strathmann – band photography
- Brian Virtue – additional Pro Tools
Charts
Album
Chart positions
| Chart | Peak position |
| Australian Albums Chart | 18 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 32 |
| Belgian Albums Chart | 22 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 44 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 13 |
| Irish Albums Chart | 21 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 24 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 58 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 45 |
| UK Albums Chart | 11 |
| US Billboard 200 | 11 |
| US Billboard Heatseekers | 1 |
| US Billboard Top Internet Albums | 21 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification |
| United Kingdom | Gold |
| United States | Platinum |