Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte are an American Pop Punk band from Waldorf, Maryland. Formed on April 1, 1996, by identical twins Joel (Vocals) & Benji Madden (Guitar/Vocals) with Paul Thomas (Bass), Billy Martin (Guitar/Keyboard) and Aaron Escopolio (Drums). Just as the band were about to start writing their breakthrough album, The Young and The Hopeless, Escopolio left to play drums in his brother's band, Wakefield and was eventually replaced by Chris Wilson whilst they were touring in support of TYATH. However, Wilson left the band in May 2005, citing personal health reasons, and he was replaced by the band's current drummer, Dean Butterworth, who had previously drummed with Morrisey.

Musically, they are probably best known as the band who wrote Lifestyles of The Rich & Famous.

Discography:

• Good Charlotte (2000)
• The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
• The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
• Good Morning Revival (2007)
• Greatest Remixes (2008)
• Cardiology (2010)
• Greatest Hits (2010)

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They have shown examples of some Tropes:

• Audience Participation Song: The Anthem has the "Another loser anthem, woah-oh!" refrain towards the end, and the chorus in Movin' On is pretty much made for this.

Life, hope, truth, trust, faith, pride, love, lust Pain, hate, lies, guilt, laugh, cry, live, die Some friends become enemies Some friends become family Make the best with what you're given This ain't dying, this is livng

• Book Ends: The Chronicles of Life and Death very nearly plays this straight - The album opens with Once Upon a Time: The Battle of Life and Death, a brief instrumental performed on strings; the piece is reprised at the end of In This World (Murder). The only reason it isn't played straight, is the bonus tracks afterwards (Falling Away or Meet My Maker, depending on if you bought the "Life" or "Death" version of the album, with the hidden song Wounded following both).
• Cover Song: If You Leave on the Not Another Teen Movie soundtrack; Greatest Remixes features a cover of Dance Floor Anthem by Metro Station.
• Five-Man Band: Duh.
• Genre Shift: From Pop Punk on their first two albums, to "Dance Punk" on Good Morning Revival, and back to Pop Punk with Cardiology
• Goodbye, Cruel World: Averted; Hold On has a very clear anti-suicide message, whilst S.O.S was written from the perspective of someone who needs help & wonders if anyone would miss them.
• Greatest Hits Album: Subverted; their penultimate release (But the last one the band were actually involved in) on Sony Music collected their singles & some fan favourite songs in the form of a remix album.
  • Played straight, however, in that the week after Cardiology (The band's first release on Capitol Records) was released, Sony Music released a Greatest Hits Album without the band's involvement; Benji outright told fans not to buy it.
• Live Album: Two, neither released in stores - Bootlegs, sold via the band's website in a bundle with The Chronicles of Life and Death at release; iTunes Live from Montreal, an acoustice set released only on iTunes in Canada.
• Lyrical Dissonance: The Day That I Die definitely counts. It's an upbeat-sounding song about waking up one day and realizing that you're going to die.
• Murder Ballad: My Bloody Valentine
• Parental Abandonment: Benji & Joel's dad walked out their family on Christmas Eve when they were 15; the song Emotionless is an open letter to their father.
• Put on a Bus: Twice. Original drummer Aaron Escopolio left the band shortly before they began recording The Young and The Hopeless, leading to Josh Freese to stand in for a while. Chris Wilson then took over full-time prior to writing The Chronicles of Life and Death, but then he left the band. The band's current drummer, Dean Butterworth, stepped in & became their first drummer to last more than one album.
• Real Song Theme Tune: For Undergrads.
• Rockstar Song: I Just Wanna Live, with some of the lyrics featuring Joel complaining about the band's sudden fame. On the album after they did a song mocking the celebrities who complained about their success. Lampshaded within the song.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, your first hit, aren't you ashamed?

• Rockumentary: Fast Future Generation
• Self-Backing Vocalist: Averted; Joel sings lead, whilst Benji sings back-up & on occasion, lead. As they're identical twins, it can sound like this trope.
• Signature Song: Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
• Special Guest: Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows & Synyster Gates perform vocals & guitar respectively on The River from Good Morning Revival.
• Those Two Guys: Billy & Paul.
• Trash the Set: The video for The Young and The Hopeless featured the band performing in a room filled with trophies & awards, and subsequently destroying every single one of them as they perform.