AI and the Offspring

Original Prankster Album: Conspiracy Of One (2000)
Army of One Album: Let The Bad Times Roll (2021)
You're Gonna Go Far, Kid Album: Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace (2008)
by The Offspring

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 Original Prankster.

The title Original Prankster 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 Original Prankster, 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."

Original Prankster 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 Original Prankster comes from the 1998 movie The Waterboy, where Rob Schneider's character says it.

To the best knowledge, Original Prankster 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.

Track 4 Army of One is on Let the Bad Times Roll which is the tenth studio album by the Offspring, released on April 16, 2021. Produced by Bob Rock, it is the band's first release on Concord Records, and their first studio album in nine years since Days Go By (2012), marking the longest gap between two Offspring studio albums. Let the Bad Times Roll also marks the band's first album without bassist and co-founding member Greg K., who was fired from the Offspring in 2018. Even though new bassist Todd Morse had already joined the band and appeared in the video for the album’s title track and "This Is Not Utopia", bass guitar accompaniment was provided by guitarist and vocalist Dexter Holland. It is the second and last album to feature drummer Pete Parada, who was fired from the band in July 2021 for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccination, due to suffering from Guillain–Barré syndrome.

The band's tour schedules, lineup changes, legal issues and the search for a new label after their split with Columbia Records, who released the Offspring's previous six albums, contributed to a years-long delay behind Let the Bad Times Roll. The band started recording new material for the album with Rock as early as the summer of 2013, and after re-recording it at various studios and at various periods between 2013 and 2020, it had been completed by 2020 and was ready for release later that year. However, due to the aforementioned issues, other inner disputes and the COVID-19 pandemic, the album's release was pushed back to 2021.

Let the Bad Times Roll received mixed to negative reviews from music critics, appearing on multiple worst of the year lists.

Offspring frontman Dexter Holland explained the meaning behind "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" in an interview with the Argentina's Pagina 12: "The guy from 'Pretty Fly' was hooked on the latest fashion culture and [the guy from] 'You're Gonna Go Far, Kid' is busy manipulating other people. You can take him as a high school kid who tries to form his own social group, but on the way he manipulates others with a behavior disorder that will never leave him. You might see that guy later as a United States deputy or running a corporation. Even if that boy has grown up, his idea of manipulating will always be with him."

Bob Rock, who is best known for his work with Motley Crue and Metallica, produced this song along with the rest of the album.
You're Gonna Go Far, Kid reached #1 on the US Modern Rock tracks chart.

The lyrics of "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" mention Lord of the Flies, William Golding's 1954 novel about a group of British schoolboys who resort to savagery after being stranded on an uninhabited island. The few rational thinkers who resist the descent into chaos are dealt with violently by the others.

You're Gonna Go Far, Kid was used during the opening credits of the 2009 comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder: Freshman Year.