Release Date: Oct 5, 2004
Genre(s): Rock, Alternative
Record label: Sony
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy The Chronicles Of Life And Death from Amazon
Good Charlotte's popularity exploded in 2002, when the brash singles "Anthem" and "Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous" catapulted them to the top of the punk-pop heap. Once there they couldn't be stopped, at least in part because they endorsed their pop side as much as their punk-derived image. When naysayers tried pointing out the music's lack of substance, Charlotte's irascible core -- tattooed brothers Benji and Joel Madden -- challenged them with the issue of "Boys and Girls," a vacuous yet irresistibly fizzy new wave-styled goof.
It looks like even success can't bring a smile to the self-hating Madden Brothers. Following on from their last album, The Young and the Hopeless, the kings of angst-pop, Joel and Benji, delve deeper into their tortured psyche while striving to be taken seriously. Punk-pop rhythms crash into string sections, empathy clashes with loathing. But Good Charlotte's confessionals are typical teenage moans, and their music second-hand Green Day.
is available now