Young And The Hopeless, The [ECD] - Good Charlotte > Reviews > Good Charlotte - The Young & The Hopeless

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money

Advantages:	fun to listen to, thought inducing
Disadvantages:	people instantly discard it as kiddy music

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I write this as an 18 yr old who owns the album. Now I get that fact out of the way because all you ever hear these days (largely due to the number of copy-cat bands) is 'good charlotte are pop music for 12yr olds'. I have a problem with that statement - firstly no music in this genre is specifically aimed at any particular age group and secondly it isn't pop music. Good Charlotte's two main members, Benji and Joel Madden wrote this record with the aim of helping their fans get through the bad times that they are going through, and of which the Madden twins had already experienced themselves. So for anyone who has seen Good Charlotte at anytime, forget the 'fake' image and listen to the meaningful lyrics of these 14 fantastic songs.

Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous

The first singe to be taken from the album just before the album's release itself. As im sure you can figure from the title, the song is all about those wonderful people we like too call celebritys.

'Lifestyles of the rich and the famous, theyre always complaining, always complaining, if money is such a problem, well they got mansions, think we should rob them'

Its being sung from GC's perspective and talks about the fact that despite all that celebritys have (money, cars etc), they still moan about almost everything. Some will see the song as a joke, but in truth its a very honest dig at Britney, Madonna and Co (but of course that is funny in its own right)

Having grown up in Maryland, Washington, the Madden twins know what its like to go through hard times - their dad walked out on them at a very young age leaving them to fend for themselves. That event led to the birth of 'Emotionless' (track 13 on the album), which is a very touching ballad from the twins to their father .

'Its been a long hard road without you by my side, why weren't you there all the nights that we cried, you broke my mothers heart, you broke your children for life, its not OK, but we're alright'.

I give that example to display the seriousness behind this record that some will instantly write off purely as teen angst.

The Young And The Hopeless

This song is about not being good enough, about not living up to expectations that your parents or your peers set for you.

'cause im young and im hopeless, im lost and I know this, im going nowhere fast thats what they say, im troublesome, ive fallen, im angry at my father, its me against this world and I dont care'.

Again this is a very personal song which could also be seen as a dig at anyone that forced Good Charlotte to be something that they didnt want to be, or didnt accept them for who they are.
Its also about the fact that young people (including myself), do keep alot of feelings to themselves, particularly the sort of feelings that eat you up inside.

This, Good Charlotte's second album, following on from 2001's self titled debut (which didnt get a lot of coverage in the UK), will make a lot of people cringe due to the fact that, as I said, it is a genuinly emotional record that won't suit all tastes. So if your looking for a pick-me-up, then this isn't for you, but if your searching for an album full of great lyrics and songs with genuine feeling, then GC are for you.

Hold On

Probably the best song of them all. It is largely based around teen suicide, and says that if you can hold on then things will get better eventually.

'Hold on....if you feel like letting go, hold on....it gets better than you know'.

It is a very helpful song to people of my age that may be going through things that they can't tell anyone about (not that I personally would ever consider suicide) but if anyone ever was, then one listen to this will definetely change your mind.

Tracklisting

1. a new beginning
2. the anthem
3. lifestyles of the rich and famous
4. wondering
5. the story of my old man
6. girls & boys
7. my bloody valentine
8. hold on
9. riot girl
10. say anything
11. the day that i die
12. the young & the hopeless
13. emotionless
14. movin' on

Also, these days you find so many albums that have maybe 3 or 4 incredible tracks, whilst the rest is all filler. In the case of 'The Young & The Hopeless', there honestly isn't a filler on here. Each respective song has there own statement behind it.

So in conclusion, if you are looking for a very emotional record or basically some good music, then in my opinion 'Good Charlotte - The Young & The Hopeless' is for you.

ps - new album 'Chronicles Of Life & Death' out October 5th

(could i please ask for help from people to tell me what i am doing right and what im doing wrong with the quality of my writing. I believe this to be the weakest of my reviews so would very much appreciate any assistance with it or any of my other reviews - what to cover etc. any help would be much appreciated)