Good Charlotte - Little Things, Good Charlotte (2000)
“This song is dedicated to every kid who ever got picked last in gym glass. To every kid who never had a date to no school dance. To everyone who’s ever been called a freak. This is for you.”
I’m just going to put this out there: Good Charlotte were pretty great from 2000-2004. Their weird dance revival stuff later on? Not so much. But back in 2000, Good Charlotte knew how to be a pop-punk band. They wrote catchy songs for tween/teens to relate to, they made fun music videos, and they were cute boys who painted their nails and spiked up their hair because that would really shake society up! They repeatedly told you to “Come on!” and “Get up!” and “Let’s go!” They wanted to be Social Distortion, Sex Pistols, and even Morrissey (just look at Joel in this video, oh my GOD) but they knew they couldn’t so they went with the other bands they grew up on — Blink 182, Green Day, etc. — but still name-dropped these bands in every interview and liner notes. Remember how Benji called himself Kid Vicious? And how they paid homage to “God Save The Queen” in “Festival Song” and dudes got pissed off because Sex Pistols did it first (but Good Charlotte did it better because Sex Pistols kind of suck)? They angered every “real” punk bro out there because if you listened to GC, you were a poser who shopped at Hot Topic and were conforming to society by listening to a poppy band that ended up on TRL — which can we agree was always a hilariously silly argument because when children discuss conformity re: popular culture it’s always someone listening to notoriously loved bands like Ramones and Clash (for good reason) lecturing someone listening to a band everyone openly hates so, where’s the logic? This is all unimportant!
So, most importantly, Good Charlotte wrote songs for you! You, the angsty fourteen-year-old outcast who hated the popular kids, had an unrequited crush on a classmate, and complained that the school dress code didn’t allow you to stick safety pins in your ears or wear your ripped up homemade Minor Threat t-shirt because the MAN is always trying to get you down and the whole world is constantly trying to stifle your creativity. And ugh, you know what? Fuck you Mom and Dad for not letting me go to Warped Tour just because I have summer school in the morning. Who CARES if I failed pre-algebra? I don’t NEED school, okay? You don’t get me — I don’t want to work in corporate America, I don’t want your future, fuck your nine-to-five, I’m a PUNK ROCKER. You’ll regret grounding me when I run away to start a band and hey, can I have an advance on my allowance so I can buy a cool electric guitar? I’ll need a ride to the mall, too.
But seriously, their self-titled? It’s every pop-punk theme, ideal, trope, whatever about being an outcast in High School. That “Little Things” intro up there is the first thing Joel Madden says on the album and, double negative aside, it’s obviously just their silly thesis for the whole album. They grew up poor, they were losers, they weren’t cool enough for Mandy Moore, and they hated their father. The entire album is about how they were lazy and unmotivated (The Motivation Proclamation) and they never wanted a boring real job (Festival Song) but they wanted enough money to pay rent (Waldorf Worldwide). They took lessons from Blink 182 and wrote songs as if they were still in High School (I Heard You, The Click) and not fitting in (with you, and your stuck-up friends).
TL;DR: HOW CUTE ARE THE MADDEN TWINS IN THEIR VIDEO BEFORE? They are so young and not totally covered in tattoos and adorable!
