Songfacts®:

• The main riff played in the intro, verse and bridge all contain samples from "Low Rider" as performed by War, a popular funk group from the 1970s. Although the sample is quiet, it acts as a foundation for these sections of the song.
• The title is a play on the 1991 Ice-T song and album "O.G. Original Gangster." But instead of keeping it OG, The Offspring are keeping it OP, retaining their sense of humor in a world that takes everything too seriously.
• That's the rapper Redman delivering the "original prankster" line in the chorus. He also appears in the video.
• In an early effort at digital music distribution, this song was made available as a free download from the band's website before the album was released. Fans who downloaded it were entered in a $1 Million sweepstakes. The money was given away on MTV's Total Request Live. The two finalists agreed to split the money before the final question was asked (The question: Who is the oldest member of The Offspring).
• Originally, the video, directed by Dave Meyers, was banned from MTV. It contained a scene with two naked schoolgirls on the lap of their principal, who is holding a paper that reads: "Principal arrested for molesting students." MTV objected to the word "molesting" and made them take it out before they would air the video.
  
  Another scene had to be altered as well: A kid puts dog poop on his father's sandwich. MTV would not let them show the man biting into the sandwich, but would let them show him spit it out. A spokesman for the channel said, "At MTV, we don't eat s--t."
• This was the first single from the album Conspiracy Of One. The band originally planned to make the whole album available as a free download, but could not because of contract obligations.
• The "You can do it!" line that repeats throughout the song comes from the 1998 movie The Waterboy, where Rob Schneider's character says it.
• To the best our knowledge, this is the first Hot 100 hit to get the word Prozac in the lyrics ("Prozac can make it better").
• The lyrics mention Janet Reno ("Rockin' like Janet Reno"), the first female Attorney General of the United States. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton for the position in 1993 and served until 2001.