A Lesson In... 07.07.09: Good Charlotte

Posted by Alistair McGeorge on 07.07.2009

A perfect example that trying to mature and do something different won’t always results in records selling well, Good Charlotte’s story is one of a relatively quick rise and fall. This week, 411's Alistair McGeorge looks at the history of the band, from their pop-punk debut through to their experimentation with dance.

Thanks for joining me again for ‘A Lesson In…', and cheers to everyone for their comments on last week's lesson in My Chemical Romance. It was definitely a surprise that MCR had all positive comments, butFall Out Boy had one person trying to deny great talent…I was definitely expecting it to be the other way round. Anyway, before I get on to your comments from last week…STOP! It's banner time.



This week we're taking a look at a little band from Waldorf, Maryland who rose to fame after their sophomore album in 2002. Despite only rising to fame 7 years ago, the band was actually formed 13 years ago. They've gone through nearly as many drummers as Spinal Tap (slight exaggeration, maybe, but they've still had a fair few), and have gone from clichéd pop-punk to attempting a more mature sound. Before we delve into the unknown history of the group, let's have a look at a video hinted at by one of our comments last week. Anna, here's a live clip for you, it definitely "motivated me" too…



FEEDBACK

This week I'm going to reply to the last 4 comments that were sent in, but I do thank all of you for commenting and reading. Also, Josh, if you send me an e-mail either on the link at the bottom of the page or to [e-mail], you can suggest a future subject. Right, onto your comments…

First up, thanks to Elaine for writing in:

Fantastic article, dude. They also saved me from suicide and made me believe I wasn't alone in the world. They are my favorite band and will be. And thank you for mentioning the Daily Mail. I still get fired up at that subject and believe that they were just wanting to target something.

All in all, wonderful article! :D

Thank you for reading, and I'm glad you enjoyed the article. It's true that My Chem have saved a lot of people, and I'm glad a few people touched by their music took the time to comment. I agree that the Daily Mail are always looking for a target, and it was definitely just ignorance on their part to blame an act of suicide on a band so anti-violence and self harm.

Someone else who agrees that MCR shouldn't really be labelled as emo is Derek:

I am an avid fan of MCR, and I am 110% not emo. The only reason they are called emo is because they wear black uniforms and the names of their top songs from "Revenge".

If you think about it MCR is avtually just a more punkish version of top bands like Avenged Sevenfold and Atreyu.

Like you said, the uniforms for The Black Parade and some of the song titles may give that impression, but a proper listen to the material shows that the ‘emo' tag just doesn't fit. I wouldn't entirely agree that My Chemical Romance are similar to Avenged Sevenfold and Atreyu, with The Black Parade showing that. I can see the similarities, but MCR have also moved away from the straight punk sound, creating a nice, original genre for themselves.

This is taking a while to get through…nearly there though, up next is someone else saved by MCR, Lorena…the floor is yours:

Wow, that was awesome!.I am a HUGE fan of the band and it's good to hear someone talk good things about MCR. I hate people being so ignorant saying that the only thing they do is persuade teenagers (like me) to commit suicide when that's not true. MCR saved my life and thousands of lives around the world.
I am emo but that's not the reason i love MCR. They're not emo although everyone calls them just because they dress in black and talk about revenge and all that.

great article! keep it up!
-lore

I'm glad you enjoyed reading it, and I plan on keeping it up as long as I'm allowed to. I've already got a lot of ideas for future lessons, so keep checking back! Anyway, it is definitely ignorance, because as even just a few comments on one new column on 411mania has shown, people have been saved by this band. I don't want to keep repeating the same thing for each comment, but I'll just say it's definitely ignorance in my opinion, and it's a shame that those people won't give them a chance or listen to the real fans, who know what the band's actually about.

Finally, we get to Anna, who immediately earned brownie points by hinting at my favourite Good Charlotte song:

I love this band, and they have definitely saved me from suicide. It was "headfirst for halos", with you know what they do to guys like us in prison" that made me change my mind. And, finally, someone who understands how underappreciated Ray is. He rivals many great guitar players in my book. (slash, synyster gates, etc...)
p.s. the next group is good charlotte, I love the song 'little things' because it 'motivates me' *wink*

Besides noting that you've managed to mention a few of my favourite songs by both GC and MCR, there's not a great deal to say here that I haven't already mentioned. "Headfirst For Halos" is a brilliant song, and showed early on that, like you said, Ray Toro can rival many great guitarists. I'll eagerly wait to see the comments section after this, but I think he's miles better than Sysyster Gates (and a lot less arrogant), and in a few years could (or rather, should) be mentioned in the same breath as Slash.

I've already posted the video I wanted to in response to the last bit of your comment, so without further ado, let's get on to this week's band...



Waldorf Worldwide

In 1996, Good Charlotte was formed with brothers Benji and Joel Madden, Billy Martin, Paul Thomas and then-drummer Aaron Escolopio. For the first 3 years of their career, the band just toured extensively, eventually gaining a support slot for Blink-182, who were touring on the success of Enema of the State. Whereas most bands would use this to get a small record deal to help kick-start their career, GC were apparently destined for bigger things. Epic Records picked them up in 1999, and by the next year the quintet released their debut (after a 4-track E.P. simply called GC EP was released the same year).

The self-titled album was written by the twins, and included all 4 tracks of the E.P., plus 11 new tracks. The lyrics dealt with very simple subjects, from bullying ("Little Things"), their father leaving them (hidden track "Thank You Mom") and young love ("Seasons"). As far as pop-punk albums go, this was a solid effort from, at this time, an unproven commodity. As debuts go, I'd say this is a great way to start any band's career.

Whilst the reasons many people seem to dislike GC are here (it's a simple, poppy album), it has its moments that could make new fans. "The Motivation Proclamation" is a great song (watch the video earlier in the column if you haven't done yet), and "Waldorf Worldwide" is a funky track with almost hip-hop style vocals and a sing-a-long chorus. The album started to get GC some attention, but their impact was to be made with their second album (or, ‘The Album Everyone Thought Was The Debut').



A New Beginning

Their 2002 effort The Young & The Hopeless shot them into the mainstream on the merits of single ‘Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous', with a funny accompanying video featuring none other than Tenacious D's Kyle Gas, plus the Madden's own pup, Cashdog.

Before the recording of TY&TH, Escolopio left the band. Until 2003, drummer Josh Freese took over the sticks as a temporary replacement, recording the sophomore album until someone else could be found. The album itself, not surprisingly, sold extremely well and turned GC into worldwide superstars. Since its release, it's sold over 3 million copies in the United States, and peaked at #7 in the Billboard 200. In the UK, it again sold well, peaking at #15 and getting them a lot of airplay this side of the pond.

The album marked the beginning of a new tradition for Good Charlotte albums, with the opening track being an instrumental introduction, before the album starts proper with "The Anthem". When this was released as a single, it went on to become one of the band's most-featured songs, being used for commercials, video games and TV shows, including Nickelodeon and Madden '03. It's a great, happy, in-your-face…well, anthem for the youth of America, and at the time I thought the video was damn cool. That may not be the case, but it's a catchy tune and deserves a listen:



TY&TH also spawned other successful singles, including the title track (a personal GC favorite of mine), the breakthrough single I mentioned earlier and of course "Girls & Boys", featuring old people in tracksuits, and a possible look into the future for Avril Lavigne.

The 5th and final single from the album was "Hold On", a beautiful track that sadly didn't perform as well as other singles, and so people miss out on a totally different side to GC. It's one I highly recommend, and I'd link it now if I wasn't only 6 or 7 lines after just putting in another video that breaks the article up nicely without me having to restructure it.

Anyway, following this great second album (featuring some excellent non-singles, like the catchy and brilliant "Day That I Die"), the band welcomed Chris Wilson as their new permanent drummer. Well, until the next one… see, the Spinal Tap reference in the second paragraph wasn't that far-fetched! Don't worry, I've got a nice Spinal Tap-themed joke to make in the very next section, so keep reading!



(Un)predictable?

In 2004, Good Charlotte's third studio album was released, entitled The Chronicles of Life and Death. Two versions were actually released, a "Life" and "Death" version, each with different album art and a bonus track (it's the "Death" cover pictured, if you're keeping score at home). Although the album itself sold extremely well initially, all but one single ("I Just Wanna Live") failed to even chat in the Billboard 200! In the UK, it was received slightly better, with "We Believe" being the only one not to make it into the Top 30.

Personally, I have to agree with the sales for the singles…this album wasn't that great at all. It started well enough with the title track, and I'll concede that I love the solo in SOS (despite it being simple and clichéd), but outside of a handful of tracks, there isn't much here. GC, with this and subsequent releases, seemed to be trying too hard to be different and more mature, and it alienated their fan-base. Gone were the pop-punk tunes that brought them to the dance, replaced by attempts at a different style. Here's their attempt at a ballad in the form of "The Truth":



Now, don't get me wrong…we've established in the last two columns that I'm all for bands trying something new, because it can be a breath of fresh air for their career. However…it wasn't here. It showed promise, but kinda fell flat. The sales generally showed that after the initial buzz, although like I said there were highlights, and a lot of songs that were sort of ‘in-between' being good enough and failed attempts at maturing GC's sound.

A year after the album's release, Wilson left the bad because of unspecified health reasons (my vote is still on spontaneous combustion…if Sir Paul could obviously fake his own death, so could Wilson). During the band's next tour (alongside Simple Plan) in 2006, current drummer Dean Butterworth joined, becoming a permanent member in 2007. That year, he recorded his first album with GC, which charted higher than anything they'd done before…



The revival?

I'm going to come out and say this before I go into the actual content and sales of Good Morning Revival…the sales completely contradict my opinion. Obviously, that's fine and I can accept that…but I won't pretend to understand properly how this sold better than any of GC's 3 previous releases. Regardless, the public disagreed and the newest album sold extremely well. It debuted in the top 10 of thirteen countries worldwide, one of those being the US.

Whilst it wasn't well-received generally by critics and older fans, it was undeniably written purely for the mainstream. This was apparent with "Keep Your Hand's Off My Girl" (which didn't see a North American release), which entered the UK Top 40 purely on downloads. This was made for clubs and remixes (which we'll get to soon), and summed up the new direction of GC…and so began my distain for the band.

I know that my opinion isn't why people are here, and I know it creeps in when I'm discussing each album, but this new release really frustrated me. Good Charlotte went from pop-punk- which I think they did exceptionally- to a more "mature" sound, further "progressing" from Chronicles. However, have a listen to this and tell me how mature the lyrics are:



‘Like soldiers, march on/if we could make it through tonight, we'll see the sun'…really? Ok, "Little Things" wasn't exactly groundbreaking, but it fit with the style and demographic. This album, lyrically and stylistically, seemed like GC couldn't decide who they wanted to be. You have a different, less punk sound…but the lyrical content hasn't changed. I can get past that…but by this point, Good Charlotte were megastars. Sure, you wouldn't guess it from their tours and promoting, but they were living with the stars (and at one point Benji was linked with Katy Perry). Then we have the lyrics on "Something Else", talking about how hard life is and how they want to be accepted in the high-class world…which they live in. I apologize for the rant, but I really did irritate me.

One moment I did love off the album was the collaboration "The River", with Synyster Gates and M. Shadows (of Avenged Sevenfold fame), despite not being their biggest fans. The vocals complimented well, and I had a chuckle when I heard that Billy Martin allegedly asked Gates to make the solo simple enough for him to recreate live. It was a highlight on a, in my opinion, poor album. It gave me a bit of hope that GC could still move forward in a positive way. So, when I thought it couldn't get any worse…



Greatest Hits…no…Remixes!

After 4 studio albums and (at this point) a 12 year career, it made sense in a way for Good Charlotte to release some kind of ‘Greatest Hits' compilation to give the fans something to tie them over to the next album. Whilst many people would snigger at the quintet releasing anything with ‘Greatest' and ‘Hits' in the title, I think they have more than enough material to justify a ‘Best Of'. The new GC pattern of trying to recreate their image and try something new continued with Greatest Remixes, however. The video above is a medley of some of the material from the collection, and I'll let you make up your own mind.

I'll be honest and say I'm maybe a little biased. Admittedly, I'm a rock fan at heart and I don't enjoy much else. However, my tastes range from ‘classic' rock like Queen and The Kinks to ska and metal, dabbling in pop-rock and indie along the way. I'm by no means narrow-minded when it comes to music, but dance is definitely not my thing. For that reason, maybe I just don't "get" Greatest Remixes, and maybe it's a quality release as a dance album.

I can concede that it was certainly intriguing, seeing the "special guests" brought in and it makes for an interesting listen, featuring The Game, Patrick Stump and The Academy Is… on various tracks. GC were four of the executive producers for the album, along with the Madden's older brother Josh and Junior Sanchez (who has remixed the likes of Madonna and Jamiroquai). So, it's clear that they knew what they wanted to achieve, and as far as dance albums go, I found the odd songs shockingly listenable, despite not being to my tastes. My hope in GC has been restored, however, with rumblings regarding their new album. Before we go to that, here's the boys performing old favourite "Seasons" acoustically in front of a grateful crowd:



A "heart-felt" return

It's been announced that GC will be releasing their fifth studio album (including Greatest Remixes in the count) later this year, and it will be called Cardiology. In an interview with UK magazine Kerrang!, Joel has said that the lyrics are very much all connected to the hart. Furthermore, in an interview with MTV he's said that there's "nothing dance-y on the record", and said it would be a return to the band's pop-punk roots. I, for one, could not be happier!

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Grading…Good Charlotte

I'm very 50-50 about this band, as I think you've probably guessed. I loved their early material, and still listen to tracks of their first two albums regularly. However, I felt that from Chronicles onwards they just tried a bit too hard to be different, and didn't quite pull it off. All the power to them, though, because they showed ambition and diversity, which is something to be proud of. Now that they've made a few more experimental albums, they won't regret not trying it, and can go back to doing what they do extremely well- catchy, easy-to-relate-to pop-punk.

Homework:

OK, a reminder to Josh and both previous winners that you can e-mail me (or leave another comment if you want) to suggest a future band for me to write a column on. Once again, this week I'm giving you three clues to next week's band that will hopefully get you thinking. As always, the first person to guess the band and answer the clues (where possible) gets to suggest a future column. This week's homework:

1. Next week's Californian quintet is made up of band members who don't go under their real names.
2. You could say their lead guitarist prefers the dark.
3. They can be linked to a legendary L.A. band for a number of reasons, with the guitarist for next week's subject drawing some comparisons to that band's legendary guitarist.

I've tried to make these a bit more difficult, but I'm sure one of you will guess it easily enough. Hopefully you're all still reading and enjoying ‘A Lesson In…', and keep the comments coming, I appreciate it. If there's anything you love, or anything you want me to change or add to the column, just say so. I'll be back next week for another lesson, and I hope to see you all here again.