Earlier greatest hits collections (the first two from their original label, Colgems Records) had seen only limited release and were hard to find in stores.

Several of the Monkees' hits had become radio staples, though, and with the sale of their television series into syndication in 1975, they found a new audience on daytime TV.

The songs were an all-stereo mix of both hit singles and album tracks featured in the series, with the exception of "Listen to the Band" which was not featured in the original series and was first heard (in a different live version) on 1969's post-series Monkees TV special 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee.

(The single version of "Listen to the Band" was dubbed into a rerun episode of The Monkees during its time airing on Saturday afternoons.

)[3] Of the group's first six A-sides, only "Valleri" does not appear, although that and several successful B-sides would later show up on 1982's More Greatest Hits of the Monkees.