By the end of 2002, pop-punk band Good Charlotte was
all over the radio, television, and the concert stage.
Not bad for a band which was started only six years
earlier by a couple of teenagers who’d never even
played an instrument.
At the age of 16, twin brothers Benji and Joel Madden
were inspired to start a band in their hometown of Waldorf,
Maryland, after seeing the Beastie Boys in concert.
Benji had never before played guitar, and Joel had never
sung, but the twins were motivated to learn, and in
1996, they recruited childhood friends Paul Thomas and
Aaron Escolopio to form Good Charlotte. Thomas played
bass, and Escolopio was on drums. After relocating to
Annapolis, the band was introduced to guitarist Billy
Martin, who soon joined to make the group a quintet.
The band stuck close to home at first, building a name
for themselves by playing such events as the annual
HFSFestival, sponsored by radio station WHFS, in 1998
and 1999. The next year, the band signed with Epic Records
and released its self-titled debut. Singles like “Little
Things” and “Festival Song” got the
group only marginal success, but the Madden brothers
nabbed a gig as hosts of MTV’s late-night show
All Things Rock, a move which greatly increased the
group’s exposure.
In 2002, “The Young and the Hopeless” was
released, and the singles “Anthem” and “Lifestyles
of the Rich and Famous” rocketed the band to mainstream
fame. Good Charlotte concert tickets sold quickly for
the third annual Civic Tour, which the band played with
New Found Glory. The album went triple platinum, and
Good Charlotte landed on the covers of numerous industry
magazines.
Escolopio had left the band in 2001, but Chris Wilson
was recruited to take his place after a succession of
fill-in drummers. Wilson stuck around for the band’s
third release, the platinum effort “The Chronicles
of Life and Death,” in 2004, but health and personal
reasons saw him leave the band the following year.
Good Charlotte is slated to release a new album in
2006.
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