Greatest Hits, Vol. 16

Greatest Hits Vol. 16 is a compilation album by the American rock band The Donnas, released in 2009 through Purple Feather Records, the band's independent record label. Despite its title, it is neither a greatest hits album nor the sixteenth volume in a series; rather, it is a collection of new material, B-sides, live recordings, previously unreleased tracks, and alternate versions and new recordings of songs from the band's back catalog, which together form a retrospective look at their career. The "Vol. 16" in the title refers to the album being released in the band's sixteenth year, the group having formed in 1993. The oldest material on the album are the tracks "Teenage Rules" and "I Don't Wanna Break Your Head", which are previously-unreleased outtakes from the recording sessions for the band's debut album, The Donnas (1997). "Teenage Rules" was recorded and produced by Darin Raffaelli, who ghostwrote most of The Donnas' early material and released their first album through his Super*Teem! label. Raffaelli shares writing credit with The Donnas on all eight tracks on the second half of Greatest Hits Vol. 16 and sings lead vocals on "I Wanna Be with a Girl Like You", which is an alternate version of the early Donnas song "A Boy Like You" from their debut single, "High School Yum Yum" (1995). "I Don't Wanna Break Your Head" was recorded and produced by Robert Shimp (producer of 2001's The Donnas Turn 21 and 2002's Spend the Night) and re-mixed by Jay Ruston (who produced 2007's Bitchin'). An alternate version of The Donnas' "Hey I'm Gonna Be Your Girl" is also included on Greatest Hits Vol. 16; this version was also recorded and produced by Shimp and re-mixed by Ruston, as were "I Wanna Be with a Girl Like You" and a re-mixed version of "Play My Game" (the original mix appears on The Donnas Turn 21). Two outtakes from the band's seventh album, Bitchin' (2007), are included on Greatest Hits Vol. 16: "We Own the Night" and "She's Out of Control" were recorded, mixed, and produced by Ruston during the Bitchin' sessions at Clear Lake Audio in North Hollywood, Los Angeles. Also included are live recordings of the band's two highest-charting singles, "Take It Off" and "Fall Behind Me". For the album's new recordings, The Donnas returned to Clear Lake Audio and used the same production team they had for Bitchin'. "Get Off" and "Perfect Stranger" are new material, while the remaining five tracks are new recordings of songs from the band's back catalog: "High School Yum Yum" was the band's first single, released in 1995, while "I Don't Want to Go to School" appeared on the "Da Doo Ron Ron" single the following year. One song from each of the band's first three studio albums was re-recorded: "Get Rid of That Girl" from The Donnas (1997), "You Make Me Hot" from American Teenage Rock 'n' Roll Machine (1998), and "Get You Alone" from Get Skintight (1999).