You've got to think, when we started our band, none of us had a computer until we were 21.
— Benji Madden
I really was thinking a lot about the energy on the first couple records that we ever put out and how young and excited we were. I just really wanted to make it more fun than anything.
We can guarantee you that 15 to 30 seconds of any of our songs are going to be good. The rest, we can't guarantee.
Good Charlotte fit in a lot of different genres - it's one of the coolest things our band has been able to do.
When I have kids, they're definitely gonna work.
One thing I never worry about is money, because I have my health and my family, and I can always go back to work.
It really is draining: when you sing a song, it means so much to you, and every time you sing it, you feel it ,and these emotions come back.
I feel like we've had a front row seat for the last 20 years to watching culture and youth.
I really love 'Cold Song.' If anyone really listens to that song and thinks about their life, there's a lot of good material deep down in there. I think if you listen to the lyrics, it may take you on some sort of a journey.
We grew up in the middle of nowhere. We didn't have a rich uncle in the music industry or some contact through someone that our dad worked with. And we went into the world blindly, and just through believing, dreaming, and working hard, Good Charlotte came to fruition.
I think Good Charlotte has definitely always been for the underdogs and the misfits. We haven't ever really been the critics' darlings.
Nothing worries me in life anymore. When you find that best friend, that love, all your worries kind of go away.
I think the soul of Good Charlotte is just feeling good.
Anyone who's followed our band through the years has heard about the teenage angst.
We were all 16 and 17. When you're that age, you're just daydreaming all day. We had bands we loved - Green Day, Weezer, a lot of bands in the '90s - and we just wanted to have fun. We didn't overthink it too much.
I think that 'Prayers' is a really interesting one because we wrote it well before the border crisis was happening, and in that first verse, I was actually writing about the experience of me and my wife's relationship and finding someone who you feel safe with and you relate to and can ponder existence with.
I think about people whose lives maybe hadn't turned out as well as me and Joel's lives, and I just think it's just pure luck and the grace of God. I also think we were lucky to have each other as brothers.
What we're most known for is the catchy choruses and the big hooks.
Maryland is such a special place, man... You miss that warm, friendly love. It ain't like that everywhere else in the world.
Our music contradicts our look.
A lot of our fans have grown up, but they've stuck by us for the songs that dig a little deeper.
The songwriting process is different on every record because you're never coming from the same place when you're writing.
You don't know how a song is gonna do; you don't know where it's gonna live. You know if it feels real, if it feels authentic.
As hopeful as I am, there are some times in my life when I get to low points. Luckily, I still have music to get me through things.
Hopefully, the people that would look at a Good Charlotte record and dismiss it for maybe what they think is a certain kind of content, if they do discover something meaningful, then it's a nice surprise. I like those kinds of contradictions.
Today, somewhere in America, there's a kid who's got a laptop and a guitar and a couple of his friends he's putting together to play drums and bass, who's gonna change the way we say things, the way that we dress, the way we view things, the music we hear, everything.
The least punk thing I ever did was open a money market account. Blue chip stocks. Mutual funds. They're a very safe and dependable way to grow your money long-term.
I think, a lot of times, people think they know what they want, but what they really want is something that's genuine.
'Nevermind' by Nirvana. That was a big one for me.
I got a little tattoo on my face. I'll never be able to work another real job, so I consider that to be kinda forcing myself to stick to music.
I feel like, if you're writing the same songs you were writing when you were 17 in your 30s, something's wrong. As a grown man, you're more confident, and you have less to prove.
I prefer a good review. A bad review that dismisses us... I take it with a grain of salt. I go, 'Okay, they didn't even try.'
All we can do is just think about what we can put into the world - not really kind of what we can get out of it.
It's hard to talk about childhood trauma. It's hard to talk about depression. It's hard to talk about anxiety. And we thought - I wonder if we just open up our subconscious and the things that we think about and hide from people every day and just let them come out in some of these lyrics.
There's this wave of new pop-punk bands that has come out that's bigger than ever. I'm really glad that we got to be a part of helping push that forward, if we did at all. I wouldn't have had it any other way.
As a kid, you're like, 'Do they have Preakness everywhere or just in Maryland?' You hear people talking about it, and it was like, 'Oh, everyone goes there to hang out and party.' I didn't even know it was a race until I got older.
Joel? He's the rock star! When you see Joel step on stage... he's born to be a rock star.
We've made a lot of party music; we're definitely not Thom Yorke. But there's also depth to our records; we get emotional.
We've all had a million day jobs. We got by fine then.
To write a song and have it embraced by someone, even one person, I don't think that's something that everyone gets to experience.
Our fans are very much like us; they like the same things we do.
I think we live in a time where we can all distract ourselves from facing the pain or the reality of all of our lives - tons of ways to hide, to kill pain, to deal with pain.
There are so many bands I am starting to see: Waterparks, Potty Mouth - they're all garage bands that started in the garage. Kids are loving them.
Novelty always sparks ideas.
That's just the music industry. They always want you to write something like the one that was popular.
I think what defines our band is really that, you know, we're just living our dream and making records that we love and having a good time.
Straight up, I'm from Waldorf, Maryland, you guys. Let's not forget that.
I didn't fly on a plane until I was 19.
I've started to see records as just a snapshot, a portrait of where you were at at that time. And if you're comfortable with that, sometimes it's like an old high school year book picture - it makes you blush a little bit, but you gotta learn to really appreciate each stage of your life and where you're at.
It's really hard to do this life - to be a human being alone.
