This would be the group's only release to feature original bassist Annette Zilinskas, who left in early 1983 and was replaced by Michael Steele, and did not record with them again until the 2018 multigroup album 3 x 4.

[5] After self-releasing a well-received debut single, "Getting out of Hand" (1981), the group was signed by music industry executive Miles Copeland to his new record label Faulty Products, an independent U.S.-based subsidiary of I.R.S.

[5] The Bangles' early years were informed by a 1960s garage rock sensibility,[2][5] and the 1982 EP maintains a stylistic link between the "Getting Out of Hand" debut single and the band's first full-length album, the critically acclaimed All Over the Place (1984).

[2] Music critics often note the irony of their subsequent rise from guitar-based rock devotees to "one of the most successful chart groups of the '80s with their slickly produced synth pop".

[2][5] In his book Music: What Happened?, Scott Miller names "The Real World" as one of the top songs of the 1980s, and remarks of the EP: "Those who know only 'Eternal Flame' might be amazed at how inventive and together they were in their relative infancy".

"[7] The original EP was released on vinyl in June 1982 by Faulty Products (catalog #FEP 1302), after a delay due to the change of the band's name from The Bangs to The Bangles and consequent retouching of the cover art.

[7] Featuring numerous early Bangles rarities, this compilation also includes a previously unreleased demo version of "The Real World", shorter and sung in a different key.