the name ‘Good Charlotte’ from a children’s book: Good Charlotte: The Girls Of
Good Day Orphanage by Carol Beach York. They have released three albums, most
notably 2002′s multiplatinum seller The Young and the Hopeless, which spawned
the chart topping singles, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” “The Anthem,”
and “Girls and Boys.” The band’s third and most recent album is 2004′s The
Chronicles of Life and Death. The band is fronted by twin brothers Benji and
Joel Madden, born in Waldorf, Maryland. Other members of the band include their
friends Billy Martin and Paul Thomas.
Good Charlotte’s frontmen, identical twins Joel and Benji Madden, were born on
March 11, 1979 to a middle class family in Waldorf, Maryland. Their mother
raised them with a strict, devout Catholic up-bringing. Their father left the
family when the twins were 16 years old, causing financial problems for the
twins, their mother, older brother, and younger sister. For a short period of
time the twins had to work as shampoo boys in a salon. Benji and Joel cite their
older brother Josh Madden for introducing them to rock music by bands such as
Rancid and Social Distortion. After attending a Beastie Boys concert at the age
of 16, Benji and Joel decided to start their very own band, although Joel had
never sung before, and Benji had never played guitar. The first band they
started was called “The Benji, Joel, and Brian Band,’ which they started with a
friend. The band was short lived. They then started Good Charlotte in 1996 when
they recruited childhood friends Paul Thomas (bass) and Aaron Escolopio (drums).
They soon moved to Annapolis, Maryland where they were introduced to Billy
Martin by a friend.
After releasing an EP, entitled Another EP, in 1999, Good Charlotte released
their first self-titled album in 2000, which was not a huge commercial success.
Singles that were released from that album include “Little Things” and “Motivation
Proclamation,” and “Festival Song”.
Aaron was the drummer in their debut album, Good Charlotte, before leaving the
band in early 2001 to join the band Wakefield with his brother, Ryan. He was
replaced with Dusty, who was just a temporary drummer, who had left the band
before the recording of their second album, The Young & the Hopeless. As a
result, veteran professional studio drummer Josh Freese plays for that album.
2002′s The Young And The Hopeless was much more popular and marked the
bands emergence into mainstream music. The single that made them famous, titled
“Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous”, topped charts around the globe. Singles
that followed from that album included “The Anthem” ,”Girls and Boys”, “Hold On”
and “The Young and The Hopeless”. “The Young and the Hopeless” received a 3x-platinum
certification from the RIAA, landing the band on Saturday Night Live, the covers
of Rolling Stone and Alternative Press, a two page feature in the New York Times,
and spots on CNN and The Today Show. Good Charlotte were also hugely popular on
MTV, where the Madden Brothers once served as hosts on the late night music
video show “All Things Rock.” Their music videos were favorites on both MTV and
MTV2, with “The Anthem” going on to receive the “Viewers Choice Award” on MTV’s
2003 Video Music Awards.
Chris Wilson was the band’s drummer for their third album, The Chronicles of
Life and Death, which was released in 2004. The singles released from that album
include “Predictable”, “I Just Wanna Live”, “We Believe” and “The Chronicles of
Life and Death”. This album was considered a departure from their previous 2
albums. In May 2005, Chris left the band for personal health reasons.[1]. Benji
also told Kerrang! magazine that Chris leaving the band was the worst part of
2005 for him.
Their most recent “Noise to the World Tour” with Simple Plan featured Dean
Butterworth, who has previously played with Morrissey, as the band’s current
temporary drummer.
Style
Good Charlotte’s hair and clothing styles are mostly derived from a variety of
punk bands from the 80s and 90s. Some of these bands include: Agnostic Front,
MXPX, The Casualties, The Exploited, Rancid, Sex Pistols, Minor Threat, Social
Distortion, NOFX, H2O, Anti-Flag, and Blink 182. Several of these bands are
credited in Good Charlotte’s early album notes.
