MattA75's Full Review: Good Charlotte by Good Charlotte
I've put forward this spiel before: that is, that when something hits big, you get the ones who started it, the ones who cashed in, and the stragglers who try to put their own spin on things and try to cash in, usually failing. Good Charlotte would fall into the "try to cash in" category with regards to the current resurgence in pop punk. This resurgence was started by Blink 182, who in reality just rode the ska/punk wave of 1996-98 and then broke big in 1999. Other bands have since cashed in: Sum 41 went double platinum, and New Found Glory created quite a buzz for themselves.
Good Charlotte is a band that didn't get much exposure: their first single, Little Things, was just so overly generic that there was no way it was going to create any kind of a splash. But for some reason, the fans that the single did reach seemed to convince them to buy the record. So they did, and what happened was extremely odd: everyone seems to love this damn record. Everyone, that is, but me.
You see, Little Things had no effect on me. I didn't like it when I first heard it, I don't like it now. The lyrics are so generic, boring, uninspired. It's the usual "anti-clique" rant, except they kind of rap it rather than sing or scream it. WHOOPEE!
What made me pick up the album was the second single, Festival Song. I loved it. The guitar sound was just raw enough to draw me in, but it had this great little pop backbone to it. The lyrics still bored me to death, but quite frankly, the guitars alone drew me in.
So I pop the album in, I just skip Little Things, and I'm thrown into the summertime sounds of Waldorfworldwide. To be honest, the guitar opening of this song reminds me of LFO and their minor hit from last summer. It's quite catchy. Then the song takes on this 1997-ish 311 vibe, with the ska chords and the rapid fire vocal delivery. More than anything, the song is just plain fun.
The Motivation Proclamation is another strong song. Lyrically, I relate to this song a LOT. I don't know how much is the band's pretensions, but I still like it.
Motivate me, I wanna get myself out of this bed
Captivate me, I want good thoughts inside of my head
When I fall down, would you come around and pick me right up off the ground?
So after 5 songs (the fourth song on the disc, East Coast Anthem, is terrible), there are 3 stand out tracks: not a bad percentage at all for a debut release. But the problem is is that after this, the percentage drops quite a bit: as in zero percent. Yes, that's right, after having 3 great songs in the first five, there is nothing worth listening to in the next 9 songs.
Good Charlotte seems to not be able to decide whether they want to be Blink 182, 311 or a poor man's Jimmy Eat World. Communicated has the whole 311 vibe happening with it, but it's just not a very good song. Guys, could you possibly overproduce yourselves any more than this?
I've long believed that certain bands should not write songs about love: Good Charlotte is one of those bands. Seasons proves this without any shadow of a doubt. Talk about sappy, pretentious and well, just plain schlock. It doesn't get anymore of those three things than this.
They put on their best Blink 182 faces for I Don't Wanna Stop, I Heard You and The Click. I mean, come on, I could put together a band that could do a better job of writing songs than this. Hell, my songs ARE better than this. The lyrics are so cliched, the music is flat and dull, and even the band just sounds bored.
I seriously just do not understand the appeal that this band seems to hold over many pop punk fans. Sure, the songs have some hooks, but haven't we all heard them before? If you really want to get some pop punk in your collection, below are some discs I highly recommend rather than this piece of trash:
Green Day, Dookie Blink 182, Dude Ranch New Found Glory, New Found Glory
Good Charlotte is on this year's Warped Tour. Needless to say, they are one of the few bands you should NOT be going for.
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