Good Charlotte Turns Platinum
Charlotte makes Good: Bootstrap band turns platinum
By MaryAlice Bitts
SUNDAYNEWS
April 20, 2003
"This song is dedicated to every kid who ever got picked last in gym class/To every kid who never had a date to no school dance/To everyone who's ever been called a freak/Here we go!" -- From "Little Things," the band's first hit single.
Twin brothers Joel and Benji Madden are the pop-punk princes of the airwaves.
They have two smash albums under their belts, a new clothing line, a job hosting MTV's "All Things Rock," and a national concert tour bringing them to the Giant Center in Hershey Monday, April 21, with New Found Glory, Less Than Jake and The Disasters.
Not bad for a couple of kids who sometimes worried that they wouldn't have enough gas money to get home from their gigs.
What's the fuss? There's the twin thing: The Maddens' band, Good Charlotte, is fronted by the only known pop-punk twin songwriters in the world. And then there's the music: Good Charlotte's latest album, "The Young and the Hopeless," offers a fresh, immediate punk-pop sound paired with sharp, often humorous lyrics, delivering a power-packed mix of rebellion, satire and hope.
Good Charlotte members -- Joel (lead singer) and Benji (guitar/singer) and friends Billy Martin (guitar) and Paul Thomas (bass) -- say they are grateful to be where they are today, and they want us all to feel a bit better about our own lives, too.
"Like the time Mom went to the institute cuz she was breakin’down
Like the car we had that wouldn’t start: we had to walk to get around!
And that same year on Christmas Eve Dad went to the store
We checked his room, his things were gone, we didn’t see him no more!
- From Little Things
Good Charlotte's real-life example of how to overcome personal adversity is as absorbing as its music is infectious. Joel and Benji have seen some tough times. When they were 16, their father walked out on the family on Christmas Eve, leaving the twins and their mother in dire straights.
The boys had trouble expressing their feelings until a Beastie Boys concert rocked their world. They decided to form a band. The fact that neither had any prior musical experience wasn't going to get in their way. Benji taught himself guitar, and they both worked hard on writing songs.
Benji later explained: "Our whole life was this band. I couldn't even play guitar, and I was already reading books on how to get a record deal." They were hooked.
Although they had no funds for equipment, the two brothers formed a band and mailed out homemade press kits to industry bigwigs. After their high school graduation in 1997, they worked day jobs as stock boys, waiters and even salon shampoo boys to pay the bills. They honed their sound and played as many gigs as they could.
Billy Martin wanted to be a rock star, too. He was in high school when he joined the band of fellow outcasts.
"High school wasn't good," Martin said. "Because I wanted to be in a band, I would go to school with black nail polish and black eyeliner, and I had long dreadlocks down to my shoulders, and nobody's like that in high school. Kids were like, "Man, that's stupid. Your band's never gonna make it. Why do you wear makeup? Are you gay?' And you're getting hit for it."
When the group finally landed a string of gigs opening for a well-known band, Lit, they realized that they couldn't take the jobs because they didn't have transportation. Benji and Joel's mom came to the rescue. She gave them her only possession, an old minivan, which meant that she had to walk or catch rides to work.
In tribute to her ongoing support, the band included a hidden track on their first record, "Thank You, Mom."
MARTIN WAS JUST 17 when the band flew out to Los Angeles to make the debut album for Sony. The four years since have been very educational, he said.
"I've pretty much seen the whole world, and I'm only 21. It's like a dream come true. When our manager told us, "Hey, you guys will be in Japan next month,' we said, "Oh my God, you mean we get to do stuff like that, too?' It educates you. You learn things you can't learn about in books.
"Touring also gives you so many ideas, with so much music all around, all the time. I hear another guitar player and I think, wow, he's really good. I wish I could play like him."
You can hear this broadened perspective in the band's music. While its debut album, "Good Charlotte," was slick and polished, the more recent "Young and Hopeless" is crisp and raw, its songwriting and playing tighter than the first. Each track was recorded in one take (with no editing), capturing the immediacy of a live performance.
Their more recent lyrics also reveal greater emotional depth. "Hold On," written in response to fans' stories of abuse and poverty, echoes a recurring theme. "Hold on, if you feel like letting go/It gets better than you know."
"For the most part, a lot of our fans can tell that we weren't the cool kids in high school," Martin said. "We just want to give some hope to kids, to think that they can get somewhere someday. It wasn't what we planned on doing, but now we hear kids come out and say, "I was fighting with my parents' or "I was thinking about suicide' and "Whenever I feel upset, I play your record and it helps me get through.' And we think, "Wow, we did all that?' That's the direction the band has gone.
"We try to be really sincere with our fans, with our lyrics. We just try to be really honest about everything, in hopes that kids will do the same thing and really be honest about themselves."
Martin maintains that this integrity will see Good Charlotte into the future, in a business where many sizzle and burn quickly. At the heart of the equation, however, is the contribution of songwriters/performers Benji and Joel, who appear to have set the group's emotional tone, separately and collaboratively, thus far. What's it like to work with the world's most famous punk twins?
"It's irritating sometimes," Martin said, laughing. "Half the time I forget that they're even related, just because I know them so well, but they definitely do this thing where we'll be discussing something and both of them are looking off in opposite directions, and one of them will say, "You know, I think...' and the other will say, "Exactly.'"
He paused, then added diplomatically, "It's different, but it's kind of cool at the same time."
Go to the Top
By MaryAlice Bitts
SUNDAYNEWS
April 20, 2003
"This song is dedicated to every kid who ever got picked last in gym class/To every kid who never had a date to no school dance/To everyone who's ever been called a freak/Here we go!" -- From "Little Things," the band's first hit single.
Twin brothers Joel and Benji Madden are the pop-punk princes of the airwaves.
They have two smash albums under their belts, a new clothing line, a job hosting MTV's "All Things Rock," and a national concert tour bringing them to the Giant Center in Hershey Monday, April 21, with New Found Glory, Less Than Jake and The Disasters.
Not bad for a couple of kids who sometimes worried that they wouldn't have enough gas money to get home from their gigs.
What's the fuss? There's the twin thing: The Maddens' band, Good Charlotte, is fronted by the only known pop-punk twin songwriters in the world. And then there's the music: Good Charlotte's latest album, "The Young and the Hopeless," offers a fresh, immediate punk-pop sound paired with sharp, often humorous lyrics, delivering a power-packed mix of rebellion, satire and hope.
Good Charlotte members -- Joel (lead singer) and Benji (guitar/singer) and friends Billy Martin (guitar) and Paul Thomas (bass) -- say they are grateful to be where they are today, and they want us all to feel a bit better about our own lives, too.
"Like the time Mom went to the institute cuz she was breakin’down
Like the car we had that wouldn’t start: we had to walk to get around!
And that same year on Christmas Eve Dad went to the store
We checked his room, his things were gone, we didn’t see him no more!
- From Little Things
Good Charlotte's real-life example of how to overcome personal adversity is as absorbing as its music is infectious. Joel and Benji have seen some tough times. When they were 16, their father walked out on the family on Christmas Eve, leaving the twins and their mother in dire straights.
The boys had trouble expressing their feelings until a Beastie Boys concert rocked their world. They decided to form a band. The fact that neither had any prior musical experience wasn't going to get in their way. Benji taught himself guitar, and they both worked hard on writing songs.
Benji later explained: "Our whole life was this band. I couldn't even play guitar, and I was already reading books on how to get a record deal." They were hooked.
Although they had no funds for equipment, the two brothers formed a band and mailed out homemade press kits to industry bigwigs. After their high school graduation in 1997, they worked day jobs as stock boys, waiters and even salon shampoo boys to pay the bills. They honed their sound and played as many gigs as they could.
Billy Martin wanted to be a rock star, too. He was in high school when he joined the band of fellow outcasts.
"High school wasn't good," Martin said. "Because I wanted to be in a band, I would go to school with black nail polish and black eyeliner, and I had long dreadlocks down to my shoulders, and nobody's like that in high school. Kids were like, "Man, that's stupid. Your band's never gonna make it. Why do you wear makeup? Are you gay?' And you're getting hit for it."
When the group finally landed a string of gigs opening for a well-known band, Lit, they realized that they couldn't take the jobs because they didn't have transportation. Benji and Joel's mom came to the rescue. She gave them her only possession, an old minivan, which meant that she had to walk or catch rides to work.
In tribute to her ongoing support, the band included a hidden track on their first record, "Thank You, Mom."
MARTIN WAS JUST 17 when the band flew out to Los Angeles to make the debut album for Sony. The four years since have been very educational, he said.
"I've pretty much seen the whole world, and I'm only 21. It's like a dream come true. When our manager told us, "Hey, you guys will be in Japan next month,' we said, "Oh my God, you mean we get to do stuff like that, too?' It educates you. You learn things you can't learn about in books.
"Touring also gives you so many ideas, with so much music all around, all the time. I hear another guitar player and I think, wow, he's really good. I wish I could play like him."
You can hear this broadened perspective in the band's music. While its debut album, "Good Charlotte," was slick and polished, the more recent "Young and Hopeless" is crisp and raw, its songwriting and playing tighter than the first. Each track was recorded in one take (with no editing), capturing the immediacy of a live performance.
Their more recent lyrics also reveal greater emotional depth. "Hold On," written in response to fans' stories of abuse and poverty, echoes a recurring theme. "Hold on, if you feel like letting go/It gets better than you know."
"For the most part, a lot of our fans can tell that we weren't the cool kids in high school," Martin said. "We just want to give some hope to kids, to think that they can get somewhere someday. It wasn't what we planned on doing, but now we hear kids come out and say, "I was fighting with my parents' or "I was thinking about suicide' and "Whenever I feel upset, I play your record and it helps me get through.' And we think, "Wow, we did all that?' That's the direction the band has gone.
"We try to be really sincere with our fans, with our lyrics. We just try to be really honest about everything, in hopes that kids will do the same thing and really be honest about themselves."
Martin maintains that this integrity will see Good Charlotte into the future, in a business where many sizzle and burn quickly. At the heart of the equation, however, is the contribution of songwriters/performers Benji and Joel, who appear to have set the group's emotional tone, separately and collaboratively, thus far. What's it like to work with the world's most famous punk twins?
"It's irritating sometimes," Martin said, laughing. "Half the time I forget that they're even related, just because I know them so well, but they definitely do this thing where we'll be discussing something and both of them are looking off in opposite directions, and one of them will say, "You know, I think...' and the other will say, "Exactly.'"
He paused, then added diplomatically, "It's different, but it's kind of cool at the same time."
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Labels: billy martin, good charlotte, mary alice bitts, MaryAlice Bitts
posted by MaryAlice Bitts at 9:29 AM
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