Every Good Charlotte Album Ranked Worst To Best
3. The Chronicles Of Life And Death
Released in 2004, Chronicles of Life and Death is Good Charlotte's bravest offering and the first time the band stepped away from their "norm" and rebelled.
It would have been forgivable for the band to take substantial time away or try to replicate their success. However, they quickly went back to the studio and released two versions of the 51-minute LP with variant artwork and bonus tracks.
“We were trying to push the boundaries at a time when everyone just wanted The Anthem or another Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous” - Joel Madden
Selling 199,000 copies in its first week and debuting at number 3 on the Billboard 200, Good Charlotte's previous success gave Chronicles the biggest platform to further rocket into the mainstream.
By 2007, the album had sold 1.1 million copies and gone platinum but GC didn't care about popularity, they wanted to make a statement, much to the chagrin of their record label. Benji Madden said it was a risk worth taking.
"We said, ‘No, we aren’t just going to rehash something for success, we’re going to try to dig deeper.’"
The album is still rooted in pop punk, but more theatrical and cohesive. Standout track 'I Just Wanna Live' sees the band hold themselves up to their own satirical critique and, while not blatantly obvious at the time, steers us in the band's future musical direction.
If any Good Charlotte album were to be described as a "concept" album, it's this. Despite spanning many genres, it somehow fits together nicely.