Good Charlotte

Twin brothers Joel Madden and Benji Madden made a final decision to form a band after visiting a concert by Beastie Boys. This intention materialized in the new formation Good Charlotte in 1995. In 1998, the musicians abandoned the idea of going to a college and moved from their native town Waldorf to Annapolis, Maryland to make their first big steps to the stage. In a strange city, the young men tried numerous occupations to make a living and pay for accommodation. Soon, they moved to Billy Martin, a new member of the band, who occasionally heard them play acoustic, while walking down the street. Good Charlotte were lucky to have split concerts with Blink-182, Bad Religion and other big bands at the beginning of their music voyage. This opportunity helped them establish a strong army of supporters before releasing official albums. Besides, their single Little Things was regularly played by one of the local stations. This made the young group well known in the area and quite attractive to sound recording companies.

In 2000, Good Charlotte agreed to cooperate with Epic. Moreover, the producer to work with them was Don Gilmore, famous for working with Linkin Park. Little Things, the first single from the band’s debut album titled Good Charlotte, was well promoted by MTV and MTV 2. The two other singles Motivation Proclamation, and Festival Song also had a big time on TV. MTV made a proposal to the band to write a theme for the new cartoon The Undergrad. The result was the song The Click supported by a video comprising the fragments of the cartoon and the group’s concerts. Later, the twins were featured on MTV with their show All Things Rock!, introducing new rock music videos. After two years of touring on their own and with other groups, Good Charlotte hit the stores with the second studio work The Young and the Hopeless (2002). The album was not significantly different from what the band had done before. Again, MTV was a big help to Good Charlotte choosing their video to the hit Anthem for the Making The Video show. During the world tour, Good Charlotte released one more single from their second album, Hold On, backed by an impressive promo. The Young and the Hopeless was credited with paving the band’s way into the mainstream popularity.

In 2004, the band presented the third long player, The Chronicles of Life and Death. It was a more complex work reflecting the evolution of Good Charlotte. The best hit from the new album was the I Just Wanna Live. In the USA, the group shot the video for We Believe, while the rest of the world got the video for The Chronicles of Life and Death. Good Charlotte embarked on a short, yet powerful, Noise to the World tour with Simple Plan in August 2005. They were about to observe the tradition of releasing albums every two years, when it was unexpectedly decided to postpone the release of the new record from October 2006 to March 2007. Good Morning Revival debuted first in ten of the thirteen countries it was released in which became the best result in the history of the band so far. To promote the new record, the musicians made a number of appearances on the US and international TV shows and gave numerous concerts, including a streak of performances as a supporting act for Justine Timberlake during his American tour. In November 2008, Greatest Remixes hit the stores featuring the group’s best hits remixed by other performers. Good Charlotte’s fifth album entitled Cardiology was released in 2010. The record demonstrated new and original sound, which turned out to be quite distant from Good Morning Revival, but quite recognizable for Good Charlotte. The band keeps on improving and searching the new sound and Cardiology is the best proof of that.