Following the self-release of the band's debut studio album, Greatest Hits (1999), they played several showcases in Los Angeles, California.

Following a two-week stint in Europe supporting Papa Roach, "Smooth Criminal" was released as the album's second single in June 2001.

Anthology received generally positive reviews from music critics, some of whom commented on Alien Ant Farm's energy and the songs' diversity.

The album charted at number 11 on the US Billboard 200, while also reaching the top 40 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand.

Vocalist Dryden Mitchell, guitarist Terry Corso, bassist Tye Zamora, and drummer Mike Cosgrove formed Alien Ant Farm in 1996.

[1] The band promoted the album with a tour in Europe, appearances at various festivals,[5] and played several showcases in Los Angeles, California, in an attempt to secure a deal with another record label.

[7] While Alien Ant Farm was in Europe, producer Jay Baumgardner, known for his work with Korn and Slipknot, attended a Papa Roach show.

A demo of Alien Ant Farm covering "Smooth Criminal" (1987) by Michael Jackson was playing over the speakers, which caught Baumgardner's attention.

He proceeded to ask the DJ who it was, informing him that it was Alien Ant Farm; Baumgardner was a fan of Jackson's Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987).

[7] "Flesh and Bone" recalls the Police with Cosgrove's reggae-esque drum rhythms; Tye Zamora's brother Jon contributed additional background vocals to the song.

[11] "Stranded" includes slide guitar by Dredg vocalist Gavin Hayes; "Wish" is the first-ever song Alien Ant Farm wrote and is indebted to the band's metal roots.

[24] Mitchell, whose first ever concert experience was seeing Jackson, explained that during one performance, Cosgrove and Zamora played a short snippet of it, which caught the attention of the crowd.

[8][27] Alien Ant Farm toured the West Coast of the United States in January and February 2001, followed by a cross-country trek with Linkin Park and Taproot.

[27] The band had no plans to release the track as a single until it started gaining airplay from WXRK-FM, based in New York City.

[33][34] The music video for "Smooth Criminal", which was directed by Marc Klasfeld, sees the band performing in the middle of a boxing ring.

He was a popular video director that mainly worked with hip hop acts by likes of Insane Clown Posse and Nelly.

[18] Mitchell said that a number of radio pluggers "felt that ‘Movies’ was a big hit that got yanked a wee bit too early.

[44] The following day, the band explained they had been involved in a head-on collision, leaving their driver dead, and their security guard in critical condition.

[45] Mitchell was moved to a special facility in London; he had a vertebral fracture, which prompt a metal rod being inserted into his back to stabilize his condition.

[48] "Movies", "Attitude" and "Smooth Criminal" were included on the band's first compilation album, The Best of Alien Ant Farm (2008).

[50][51] In January 2016, Alien Ant Farm performed Anthology in full on a tour of the UK, with support from InMe and the Dirty Youth.

He cited the band's "[l]ive-wire energy, powerful tunes from start to finish and, most importantly, a sense of unpredictability".

[56] Dotmusic's Chris Heath wrote Alien Ant Farm break "new ground [...] by exploring far more than the quiet-loud-rage-quiet formula with real singing and everything and a fair [dose] of pop melody".

[60] AllMusic reviewer Mario Mesquita Borges noted the album displays "the band's alternate dexterity, not only due to [...] Mitchell's revealing vocals, but also by virtue of their deliverance of full-blooded melodies".

[55] Rolling Stone reviewer Barry Walters wrote that the band "boasts the mosh power of Papa Roach, but with a lot more ingenuity, tunes and chops, as if Korn had half-morphed into Cheap Trick".

[59] Sean Richardson of The Boston Phoenix said they were "no carbon-copy P-Roach imitation" as he felt that Mitchell was not as "angry or tortured" as their frontman Coby Dick.

[16] Wall of Sound's Daniel Durchholz considered Alien Ant Farm to be showing "some real potential.

"[20] Kitty Empire of NME found Mitchell to be "over-emot[ing] at every turn [...] further slickening 'ANThology's pomp rock gloss".

[58] Melodic webmaster Johan Wippsson singled out "Movies" and "Smooth Criminal", before then noting that "the rest of the album isn't that special".