Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte came to be during a time when rock was in post-grunge misery and feeling about for new direction. Dozens of bands emerged thereafter in the ’90s — bands such as blink-182 and Lit — and it was clear from the outset that the new rock was neither punk, nor was it very hard. Instead, it was friendly. An audience could sing along. Music writers began calling it power pop. Adolescent themes and toilet comedy replaced violence and angst, and melody replaced random guitar-and-drum thrashing. For the most part, power pop was a goofy good listen that owed as much to boy bands and hardcore as it did Duran Duran.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Founded during the late 1990s by twin brothers Joel and Benji Madden in Maryland, Good Charlotte appeared as a somewhat gloomy version of all the above. They had a clean and distinctive sound with raw teen emotions kept boiling at the same sonic pitch of their guitars. Years later they would craft fine, if psalm-ish prose for “The River”: “As I walk through the valley/ Of the shadow of L.A./ The footsteps that were next to me/ Have gone their separate ways.” Otherwise, most Good Charlotte lyric content in the first couple of releases carried about as much cerebral heft as your average light-beer commercial.

By 2002 they had a winner with the “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” single, runaway sales of which surely made the band members rich as well. “Lifestyles” was an attack on such social buffoonery as the O.J. Simpson trial and former Washington DC mayor Marion Barry’s (alleged) drug issues. But at the heart of the song is a juicy commentary on power, money, and the entertainment industry’s nouveau riche. Does life imitate art? You decide: Joel Madden lives in Glendale with actress Nicole Richie (the two have a child together), and earlier this year brother Benji began dating Richie’s friend, Paris Hilton.

Boys Like Girls also perform.

GOOD CHARLOTTE, Viejas Concerts in the Park, Sunday, July 20, 6 p.m. 619-445-5400. $25.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Now what can they do with Encinitas unstable cliffs?

Make the cliffs fall, put up more warnings, fine beachgoers?

Good Charlotte came to be during a time when rock was in post-grunge misery and feeling about for new direction. Dozens of bands emerged thereafter in the ’90s — bands such as blink-182 and Lit — and it was clear from the outset that the new rock was neither punk, nor was it very hard. Instead, it was friendly. An audience could sing along. Music writers began calling it power pop. Adolescent themes and toilet comedy replaced violence and angst, and melody replaced random guitar-and-drum thrashing. For the most part, power pop was a goofy good listen that owed as much to boy bands and hardcore as it did Duran Duran.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Founded during the late 1990s by twin brothers Joel and Benji Madden in Maryland, Good Charlotte appeared as a somewhat gloomy version of all the above. They had a clean and distinctive sound with raw teen emotions kept boiling at the same sonic pitch of their guitars. Years later they would craft fine, if psalm-ish prose for “The River”: “As I walk through the valley/ Of the shadow of L.A./ The footsteps that were next to me/ Have gone their separate ways.” Otherwise, most Good Charlotte lyric content in the first couple of releases carried about as much cerebral heft as your average light-beer commercial.

By 2002 they had a winner with the “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” single, runaway sales of which surely made the band members rich as well. “Lifestyles” was an attack on such social buffoonery as the O.J. Simpson trial and former Washington DC mayor Marion Barry’s (alleged) drug issues. But at the heart of the song is a juicy commentary on power, money, and the entertainment industry’s nouveau riche. Does life imitate art? You decide: Joel Madden lives in Glendale with actress Nicole Richie (the two have a child together), and earlier this year brother Benji began dating Richie’s friend, Paris Hilton.

Boys Like Girls also perform.

GOOD CHARLOTTE, Viejas Concerts in the Park, Sunday, July 20, 6 p.m. 619-445-5400. $25.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Dim Sum Tour, Warwick’s Holiday Open House

Events November 24-November 27, 2024
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Eating dinner while little kids mock-mosh at Golden Island

“The tot absorbs the punk rock shot with the skill of experience”
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader