Good Charlotte Album
Rubi Strycker
Joel and Benji Madden, the twin brothers that started the band together back in high school, spoke with NPR's Michel Martin about themes of the album, connecting with music's younger generations now and facing their demons together.
Michel Martin: Let me start by asking you about the name of the album, Generation Rx. I'm told, or at least I think I read, that this album actually started when you played at a memorial for rapper Lil Peep. Is that right?
Benji Madden: Yeah, Peep was a fan of the band, and we had gotten very friendly. We were really appreciative of the new sound that he was pushing. Overall, he was genuinely just a really sweet guy, and very creative. We thought what he was doing was really innovative. When he passed away, I think it was heartbreaking for everyone in the music community, any time you see such a young talent with so much potential. His mother had actually reached out and asked if we could try to do something special for the memorial. So we got together and tried to think of an idea of something that would be special for him, his family, his friends and his fans. And we came up with the idea of covering his song "Awful Things."
Perhaps it isn't clear to people, from what I just said, that Lil Peep died from an overdose. Can I ask about how you approached this? Did you approach this saying, "I want to say something about this," or how did it come about?
Joel Madden: It really started in a conversation with why. Where's the pain, where does it come from and why are we medicating. Outwardly, and at first glance, someone could say, "Oh, I'm just having a good time. This is just my drug of choice." But really what I feel, from my perspective, is they're suffering inside. They are dealing with some pain that they're not really aware of or addressing. But really where we were looking was just inside, from our own personal experience. Whereas, my pain, what haven't I been sharing.
Benji: To add to that, I think what we talked about as a band was, "Are we really honest and vulnerable with people?" Because sometimes that can be hard to do when you're stepping out and putting your feelings, thoughts and experiences out there publicly. We were asking ourselves if we had been brave enough in our career. When we went to make this record, we thought, 'What's the point for us to be here, if we're not going to be as honest as we can?'. And these are hard things to talk about. It's hard to talk about childhood trauma. It's hard to talk about depression. It's hard to talk about anxiety, or things like bipolar, borderline personalities or all the things that have been in and around people's lives that are uncomfortable for people to talk about. We thought, "I wonder if we just open up our subconscious and open up the things that we think about and hide from people everyday and just let them come out in some of these lyrics, what kind of record will we make?"
I'm going to be 40 next year. I'm married with two kids. I'm taking my kids to school and working. We're kind of were full-time adulting now, and I go, wow, "I wonder if the way that I feel inside sometimes," I wonder if there's other people my age, with families but still dealing with those things. But I do think that everyone still has that inner-child that needs to be heard sometimes.
Joel: I think, in the most honest way, of course. Obviously, we started as kids, and I think Good Charlotte is kind of synonymous with youthful ideas. I do think that we've questions where do we fit into music today. I think at some point we had to just accept that we don't know, and that our best foot forward is just to be honest and to make records that we like, that we're proud of.
Martin: I don't want to gloss over the fact that the two of you have been through a lot to get where you are. For people who may be just acquainted with your music now, and know you as a know famous band you know super hot band, but you've been through a lot. Your dad left you know when you were young and you kind of were really fighting the battle and you've been very open about that and I know Benji, you've been open about the fact that you had a struggle with alcohol earlier in your life. And now were in a moment, you mentioned it's not just little people but there's XXXTentacion who was who was murdered. But that that that you guys kind of came through and they didn't. And I wonder why you think it is that that you all survived circumstances that frankly defeated other people.
After a six-year hiatus, pop-punk icons Good Charlotte are back with a new album (Youth Authority, out July 15) and four-city East Coast tour, launching Monday in Philadelphia before hitting Washington, D.C., New York and Boston next week. USA TODAY catches up with guitarist Benji Madden, 37, to chat about the long-awaited reunion:
A: It feels good. It's obviously been a while, so there's that exciting energy of getting back with the boys. It's nice, because we're doing these one-night-only, fan-oriented shows. We did one in LA and everyone is so excited to be there. It really takes you back and makes you feel like a new band. I wouldn't say we've ever been a critics' band, we've always been a people's band. So it was really important for us, when we decided to come back, to start it this way, before the album's out and we move on to bigger touring.
A: In the last year, we had worked on a few different records with some bands we really loved, Sleeping with Sirens and then 5 Seconds of Summer. You get to work with these young guys and help them do their thing, and that energy is just infectious. And after taking a step away from the scene, we just needed to find out who we were outside the band. Everyone in the band now has wives and kids, so when you get together for holidays and birthdays and these kinds of celebrations, you're so happy to see each other.
It just felt like it would be a really good time, we weren't thinking of the result. We didn't even know if it fits in music today. That's kind of what 40 oz. Dream is: a funny commentary on, "Do we even belong in 2016 as a band?"
A: One of the reasons that we shut everything down with Good Charlotte is that it felt like the band we started in our bedroom wasn't ours anymore. There comes a time when you need to reconnect with your baby. We just thought, "The only way we'd do this again is if we keep it really special." So when we made the record, we decided to make it old school. If (a song) was fun to play and it sounded cool to us, it went on the record.
A: A lot of the album is written from that desire to be a band again. It weirdly takes me back to (our 2000 self-titled debut), the spirit is very much in line with that. We took our chances and worked really hard and made it, you know? When I look back, I feel really proud of those little kids who made it out of nowhere and withstood the industry. Now I feel like we have this hunger and drive to do it all over again. This record has a lot of that fight.
A: There's a song called Life Can't Get Much Better and a song called Stray Dogs. That's one of those things, as a songwriter, you can draw from, especially when you find that partner that really has your back, which is a new experience for me, getting married. Anything deeply meaningful in your life, you can write about that. So I definitely have a couple songs on there for my wife.
Seven years and more than 9 million albums later, pop punkers Good Charlotte are not only still standing, but proudly proclaiming a return three years after the release of 2004's "The Chronicles of Life & Death."
"Ben said something a couple of weeks ago that I thought was really interesting," says vocalist Joel of Benji, his twin brother and the group's guitarist. "It was, 'I don't know if we're the most rock 'n' roll band in pop or the most pop band in rock 'n' roll.' "
Indeed, Good Charlotte straddles the line. The Madden brothers have all the requisite rocker markings: they sport multiple tattoos and piercings, they dress in all black, they chain smoke; but their music and unfailing politeness give away their pop leanings.
"Good Morning Revival" celebrates a refusal to be pigeonholed. The first single, "The River," is straight-ahead rock, while "Dance Floor Anthem" is an instantly infectious toe-tapper and "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" would sound at home on the latest album from the Killers or the Gorillaz. With "Revival," the twins felt a small reinvention was in order "to keep ourselves interested," says Benji. "We've been in this band since we were 16."
Additionally, Good Charlotte, which also includes bassist Paul Thomas, guitarist Billy Martin and drummer Dean Butterworth, needed to right itself after "Chronicles" sold only 1.1 million copies in the United States, well below the 3.4 million units moved by 2002's "The Young and the Hopeless." But the Maddens say they never felt "Chronicles" was anything other than a success since it expanded the band's international audience.
"The only time I was disappointed was when someone told me it was a failure," Joel says dryly as they sit at a local Starbucks at the very un-rock star time of 8 a.m. (Joel was heading to Disneyland to celebrate their 28th birthday a day early).
From their past relationship with Gilmore, they knew he was no yes-man and he quickly reminded them of that fact. The Maddens played Gilmore 40 new songs and he rejected every tune outright except for "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl."
"I was like, 'Hmmm, you've written all these songs and there's only one good one. What's wrong?"' says Gilmore, who's also produced Linkin Park and Avril Lavigne. He decided the twins needed to get away from the distractions of Los Angeles and focus solely on the music. They headed to Vancouver and "the first day they wrote a great song, and we were like 'Okay, that wasn't so hard,"' Gilmore says. "Every day yielded a song."
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