Good Charlotte

For the self-titled album, see Good Charlotte (album).

Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte (/ˌɡʊdˈʃɑrlɨt/) is an American pop-punk band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. They took their name from a children's book called Good Charlotte: The Girls of Good Day Orphanage by Carol Beach York, and have released four albums in total, most notably 2002's multi-platinum seller The Young and the Hopeless, which spawned the singles, "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous", "The Anthem", and "Girls & Boys". Their newest album, Good Morning Revival, was released on March 19 2007 in Europe and on March 27 2007 in the United States. The band is fronted by identical twin brothers Joel (lead vocals) and Benji Madden (lead guitar and backing vocals). Other members of the band include Billy Martin (rhythm guitar and keyboards), Paul Thomas (bass guitar) and Dean Butterworth (drums and percussion).

History

From 1996 to 2000, Good Charlotte started out by playing at clubs and small venues. They soon caught the attention of post-grunge band Lit (whose song "My Own Worst Enemy" was a chart topper at the time). Good Charlotte lost the opening slot on Lit's East Coast tour in 1999. Soon after, Good Charlotte played some dates with Blink-182, who had just experienced mainstream success with their Enema of the State album. All of this caught the attention of major music labels, and Good Charlotte eventually signed with Epic Records in 1999.

In 2000, they released their self-titled début album Good Charlotte. Y100, a now-defunct radio station in Philadelphia spun Good Charlotte's song "Little Things" before it was released as a single. It ended up being a big success on the station, so big that on Y100's nightly "Cage Match" competition (where new songs were pitted against each other and listeners could vote on which was better), "Little Things" won fifteen nights in a row, beating out bigger names.

"Little Things" was later released as a single in early 2001, and soon peaked at #23 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart. In the second half of the year, two more singles were released from the album, "The Motivation Proclamation" and "Festival Song". "The Motivation Proclamation" was the most successful single released from the album, peaking at #65 on the U.S. Hot 100.

On "Complicated", Joel Madden references an Eric B. & Rakim song ("Came in the door/I said it before").

The Young and the Hopeless

2002's The Young and the Hopeless marked the band's emergence into mainstream popularity. Their breakthrough single, titled "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous", topped both pop and rock charts around the globe. Singles that followed from that album include "The Anthem", "Girls & Boys", "The Young & the Hopeless" and "Hold On". They thanked many other punk bands for their influences for this album, including Sum 41, NOFX and Green Day.

The album eventually went on to receive triple Platinum certification (3 million copies sold) from the RIAA. During the course of the album's success, Good Charlotte landed appearances on Saturday Night Live, CNN, and The Today Show, the covers of Rolling Stone and Alternative Press magazines, and were also featured in The New York Times. They also became popular on MTV, where their music videos were played in heavy rotation on both MTV and MTV2. "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" received the "Viewers Choice Award" at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.

In 2003, the band added Chris Wilson, who was introduced to the band from mutual friends in the band The Used, as a permanent drummer.

Also in 2003, the band made a cameo appearance in the King Gordy video for "Nightmares".

The Chronicles of Life and Death

Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released in 2004. The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fanbase. The album has been widely considered a departure from their previous two albums, mixing new elements such as strings, synths, and more mature lyrical topics into Good Charlotte's youthful power pop sound. Singles released from the album include the two hits "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", as well as "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "We Believe". The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart upon the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit "I Just Wanna Live". Three of the single released from the album went top 30 in the UK, but not "We Believe".

In May 2005, after much speculation from fans, it was officially confirmed that Chris Wilson had left the band citing personal health reasons. Benji also told Kerrang! magazine that, for him, Chris leaving the band was the worst part of 2005. Chris now plays drums in the pop rock band The Summer Obsession.

For Good Charlotte's tour, "Noise to the World Tour" with Simple Plan and Relient K, the band recruited Dean Butterworth, who had previously played for Morrissey, as the band's temporary drummer. In March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer.

Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish."

Good Morning Revival

Good Morning Revival is the fourth album by Good Charlotte and the follow up to 2004's The Chronicles of Life and Death. It was officially released in March 2007, with the precise date varying by country. Good Morning Revival debuted in the top 10 of thirteen countries worldwide including the U.S., giving the band some of their highest international chart positions thus far. At midnight, on January 23, the forthcoming record was made available for pre-order on iTunes. When pre-ordered, the single, "The River" is downloaded immediately, while the rest of the album is queued to be downloaded on the released date. Pre-ordering on iTunes also provides the exclusive bonus acoustic version of the aforementioned single.

In making Good Morning Revival, producer Don Gilmore wanted to add a 'new sound' to the band. With this, Joel began writing Keep Your Hands off My Girl and started to play it with a Gorillaz type rock sound. With Billy commenting on the tune that it's not the type they play, Joel immediately responded that "That's what Don wants to make. He wants to remake Good Charlotte." On the other hand, bassist Paul Thomas has given all he could on bass and guitarist Benji Madden has taken out all his piercings and shaved his head bald. With Chris leaving in 2005, the band recruited Morissey drummer Dean Butterworth to play on tour and eventually ending up recording the drums on this album.

On Good Charlotte's website, Benji Madden posted a video and announced that the song "Keep Your Hands off My Girl" would be posted on the band's MySpace. The song premiered on September 22 2006 online and it is available now to hear at the band's MySpace page and at the Good Charlotte website. Later, a video for the song was posted on the band's MySpace page on October 26 2006. The first single from the album, "The River", featuring Avenged Sevenfold's lead singer, M. Shadows and guitarist Synyster Gates, appeared online on January 4 2007. The music video for "The River" was added to UK music channels Kerrang! and Scuzz on the April 13 2007, indicating that it will be the second single released in the UK. A CD and 7" vinyl was planned to be available to buy for "The River" in the UK on May 21 2007. But for reasons unknown, these physical releases for "The River" were never released. This hurt the chart position of the song. Despite significant TV play of the music video in the UK, the song only charted at number 108. "Keep Your Hands off My Girl" was released as the first single in the UK and Australia. There are 2 music videos for this song, the one posted on the official site in late 2006 and a newer version featuring fans of the band, are currently doing the rounds on the UK rock music video channels. The release date for "Keep Your Hands off My Girl" was February 26 2007, for download only and March 12 2007 in stores. "Keep Your Hands off My Girl" charted on the UK Singles Chart at 36 the first week of release through download sales and then climbed to 23 when released in stores. The next single in North America is reported to be "Dance Floor Anthem". The video has already been shot and was released on MuchMusic in early May.

The band made multiple U.S. and international TV appearances in support of the album. First, Good Charlotte appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Monday, April 9, the Outdoor Stage on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday, April 11, and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Friday, April 27. Joel and Benji Madden, Good Charlotte's lead singer and guitarist respectively, co-hosted the Australian MTV Video Music Awards with Fergie on Sunday, April 29 where the band also won the "Viewers Choice Australia" award.

In August 2007, the band embarked on Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour, as Timberlake's opening act. Good Charlotte supported Timberlake throughout his second leg North American dates. They were present for the August 16 2007 show in Madison Square Garden, which was taped for a HBO broadcast.

As of November 2007, the band had scored a surprise hit from the new single Dance Floor Anthem (I Don't Want to Be In Love). The band appeared on Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on October 30 and has a full touring schedule through the end of 2007.

The fourth and final single of of Good Morning Revival will be "Misery." It will become an official single in the U.S, and all of North America on January 8, 2008.

Activism

Good Charlotte has been actively supporting PETA's animal rights campaigns. Members of the group recorded a track, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", on PETA's Liberation CD and appeared at PETA's 25th Anniversary Gala and Humanitarian Awards Show. Group members have also demonstrated against KFC’s treatment of chickens.

The twins have also posed for the YouthAIDS Aldo "Aldo Fights AIDS" dog tag campaign. They stand side by side, eyes shut, on the "See No Evil?" dog-tag packaging. Joel holds his hands in prayer, whereas Benji's face is contorted and angry and his hand is in a fist.

Discography

Main article: Good Charlotte discography

• 2000: Good Charlotte
• 2002: The Young and the Hopeless
• 2004: The Chronicles of Life and Death
• 2007: Good Morning Revival

Awards

Main article: List of Good Charlotte awards

Band members

• Joel Madden - Lead vocals
• Benji Madden - Rhythm guitar and backing vocals
• Billy Martin - Lead guitar, keyboard, backing vocals
• Paul Thomas - Bass guitar
• Dean Butterworth - Drums

Former members

• Aaron Escolopio (1996-2001) - Drums
• Chris Wilson (2002-2005) - Drums

Temporary members

• Dusty Brill - Played as a drummer with the band after Aaron Escolopio left the band.
• Cyrus Bolooki - Played as a drummer at some dates with Good Charlotte on tour.
• Josh Freese - Recorded the The Young and the Hopeless album as a drummer.
• Robin Eckman of Elder Statesmen, Burn the Fields and Zonder - Played as a drummer on the tour for The Chronicles of Life and Death in Australia, Europe and Asia.

Band member timeline

External links

• Official website
• Template:MySpace
• Good Charlotte videos on Sony Musicbox