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 album, "Enema of the State". 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 debut 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 peaked at #23 on the U.S. Billboard 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. Billboard Hot 100.
On the sixth track from the album, "Complicated", Joel Madden references an Eric B. & Rakim song, "Eric B. Is President", with the line, "Came in the door/I said it before/I never let the stress get me down no more", in comparison with the lyrics to "Eric B. Is President"; "I came in the door/I said it before/I never let the mic magnatize me no more".
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 pop-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 & Famous" received the "Viewers Choice Award" at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.
The band hired multiple temporary drummers during the recording, release and touring of "The Young and the Hopeless" due to former drummer, Aaron Escolopio, leaving the band before the release of "The Young and the Hopeless" to join his brothers band, Wakefield. In 2003, the band added Chris Wilson as a permanent drummer, who was introduced to the band from mutual friends in the band The Used.
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". All of the singles released from the album went top 30 in the UK, except for "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.
On Good Charlotte's tour, "Noise to the World Tour", performing with Simple Plan and Relient K, the band recruited Dean Butterworth, who had previously played for Morrissey, as the band's temporary drummer. Later, 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 2007, the forthcoming record was made available for pre-order on iTunes. When pre-ordered, the single, "The River" was downloaded immediately, while the rest of the album was queued to be downloaded on the released date. Pre-ordering on iTunes also provided 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 band member Billy Martin 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." With Chris Wilson leaving the band in 2005, the band recruited Morissey drummer Dean Butterworth to play on tour as a temporary drummer, eventually he ended up recording the drums on this album and was announced a permanent drummer just before the release of the 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 on the band's MySpace and official 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 and was released as the first single from the album in North America. The music video for "The River" was added to UK music channels Kerrang! and Scuzz on the April 13, 2007, making the second single released from the album 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 #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 band MySpace in late 2006 and a second version used for TV. 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 second single released in North America was "Dance Floor Anthem". The music video premiered 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 April 9 2007, the Outdoor Stage on Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 11, and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on 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 April 29 2007 where the band also won the "Viewers Choice Australia" award for "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl".
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) making it onto eleven different Billboard charts and peaking at #2 in Australia. The "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" video was recently certified gold by MTV International. It was played 3,000 times on over 4 continents during the first half of 2007. On January 1, 2008, Good Charlotte was featured on Tila Tequila's New Years Eve Masquerade on MTV, as they were the second performance of the new year and performed their hit "Dance Floor Anthem".
