Remains a classic
Tom P. the Underground Navigator | Park Forest, IL USA | 04/20/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"2002 was a breakout year for pop-punk. The lingering solemnity of the events of 9/11 from the previous year was lessened when a new wave of young talent took our minds off of the tragedy of that senseless event and onto some great new music. Probably the biggest breakout success story of the year was the debut of a previously unknown 17-year-old from Napanee, Ontario, Canada, one Avril Lavigne, who, while not technically punk in musical form, certainly was in spirit. Canada actually was the then-hot spot of the pop-punk sound's global scene, with Montreal's Simple Plan also debuting the same year and Toronto's Sum 41 having broken through the previous year.
Shift south of the border to Washington, D.C., once the absolute center of the burgeoning hardcore/punk scene of the early '80s, second only to southern California in number of bands coming out at the time. A little way's outside of the city lies the modest-sized working class suburb of Waldorf, Maryland. There you find the brothers Madden, Joel and Benji, both born on the same day in 1979 and their band, Good Charlotte, was just one of the many relatively unknown pop-punk acts slogging it out in the early part of this decade, trying to make ends meet. They were joined by friends Billy Martin and Paul Thomas, all four of whom skipped college in favor of the more challenging decision of realizing their dreams of rock and roll stardom.
The liner notes to this CD by Benj himself are so sincere and true that you've just got to root for these guys. They after all emerged against the odds of working low paying jobs and crashing at each other's houses and as Benj puts it, literally existing on a steady diet of ramen noodles to survive. In the time-honored tradition of rock and roll and particularly punk rock, it was the strength of their music that broke them free of a dead end life and into the CD players of kids around the world, all yearning to hear something great. And that's just what "The Young and the Hopeless" is, a truly great album.
I first heard one song off this CD by accident at a party in 2003. I had never heard of the band before, given the fact that I don't watch MTV and am not exposed to the mainstream music press much. But I was immediately drawn into their sound and for good reason. This music is brilliant pop-punk, shown best by the first proper song on the album, "The Anthem," and the opening instrumental "A New Beginning" that precedes it, where the band demonstrate their musical chops and show that while they are far from a hardcore or thrash band, they can play fast with the best of them.
Speaking of Sum 41, one thing they did on their 2001 breakthrough release "All Killer No Filler" is to set a trend for bringing a more old school guitar sound back into pop-punk, complete with a reverb tone that hearkens back to classic punk of the past. I feel that guitarist Benj of Good Charlotte really picked up on this the following year on "The Young and the Hopeless," demonstrated in tracks like "Wondering." It's as equally effective and genuine here as it was on Sum 41's said opus.
The speed returns on track number five "The Story Of My Old Man," and it's another standout. I do tend to favor the more upbeat numbers on this album, like the super catchy and memorable "Riot Girl," but most of the second half of the CD features more mellow, relaxed arrangements, shown best in songs like "Say Anything" and "Emotionless."
One of the crown jewels of the album though is its closer "Movin' On," a very true and real number where the band demonstrate their belief in something beyond this current life with the line "Not everybody knows that everybody goes to a better place." In fact, all four band members, in the thank-you lists to this CD, acknowledge their faith in God and credit Him as the force that got them where they are and brought them their much deserved success. I know that bands like MxPx had previously set the bar for this but being a Christian myself, it's great to see any band in a traditionally secular and in some cases even openly anti-religious scene breaking through the mold and boldly proclaiming their faith and love for God instead of love for themselves and their own talents and egos.
Yet another credible move on the band's part that really stood out to me, is that even though they are a principally mainstream group on a major label and even appeared countless times on MTV and major radio stations at the time of "The Young and the Hopeless," is that they have the class to acknowledge the debt owed to earlier, more underground punk acts of the past by their mention of Social Distortion and even D.C. hardcore pioneers Minor Threat in the aforementioned "Riot Girl." Heck, Benj appears in all photos in the CD's layout as a total crusty punk rocker, complete with spiked hair and dons patches of old British punk acts like Subhumans and 999. Bassist Paul Thomas even sports a Dead Kennedys shirt in one scene on the bonus, roughly 20-minute DVD documentary of the band's 2003 world tour that is included with the DualDisc version of this album. If you are a Good Charlotte fan, you need this version, as it shows lots of footage of the band in various spots all over the world getting ready for shows, signing autographs, and just in general having fun on the road in between dates.
But even if you can't find or afford the DualDisc, one thing that's for sure is that you NEED this album in any of its versions if you are at all into pop-punk. It's a personal favorite and is one album that certainly warranted the massive success and sales it rightly received."
Buy It!
GCFanForLifeBaby! | JAPAN! HAHA i wish... | 01/06/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This cd is AWESOME! Its TOTALLY awesome how they can take a songs like 'emotionless', 'hold on', and 'Life styles of the rich and famous' and put them all on one cd! buy this cd if u dont have it! u'll be glad u did!"
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1