The birthday twins formed Good Charlotte in 1996 after watching a Beastie Boys show the year prior. Joel took on lead vocals while Benji took on lead guitar as well as backing vocals. After graduating from high school the next year, the brothers began playing shows in the DC area, and eventually gained the opportunity to open for bands like Blink-182 and Bad Religion.
The band attracted the attention of many major record labels as their song “Little Things” began getting radio airplay. The song remains one of their biggest hits and is their eighth-most performed song!
By 2000, Good Charlotte had become a full-time touring band supporting bands like Lit and Sum 41, and signed with Epic Records. The boys put out their self-titled debut album later that year and went on tour supporting MxPx, as their single “The Motivation Proclamation” became a sleeper hit, and remains a track they perform often, ranking as their 14th most performed song!
In 2002, the band’s most iconic album, The Young and the Hopeless, was released and gained the band mainstream success, debuting at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and charting in countries around the world. Their hit singles and three most-performed songs, “The Anthem,” “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous,” and “Girls & Boys,” gained Top 40 radio play and were huge successes on MTV’s TRL. The band went on their first headlining tour in support of the album, beginning with a US arena tour before traveling across the world to Japan.
Their third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released in 2004, and featured “I Just Wanna Live,” one of the band’s most successful songs and their fourth-most performed track. The band went on a series of tours across the world with punk veterans Sum 41 and Simple Plan.
They released their fourth album Good Morning Revival three years later and recreated the massive success of their sophomore album. With lead single “The River,” the band’s seventh-most performed song, and follow-up single “Dance Floor Anthem,” the band’s sixth-most performed song, Good Charlotte once again achieved mainstream success with the latter charting on numerous Billboard charts.
Cardiology, the band’s highly anticipated fifth album was released in 2010 with lead single “Like It’s Her Birthday.” The band headlined the 2011 Kerrang! Relentless Tour, and went on their own tours across the US with bands like Yellowcard, Forever The Sickest Kids, This Century, Runner Runner, and Four Year Strong before announcing a hiatus in 2011.
During the hiatus, the brothers continued making music together, this time under the name of The Madden Brothers. The new band released only one studio album, Greetings from California, which was hugely successful with hit song “We Are Done” achieving mainstream success. It's their third most performed song, but their last performance under this moniker was in 2016
The band reunited in 2015 with new album Youth Authority released the following year, and a special Christmas themed EP released in 2017. In 2018, the band released Generation Rx, the title of which was inspired by the ongoing opioid epidemic, and explores more serious themes of inner struggles like those of mental health and self-esteem.
The band is currently touring Mexico, and will be playing a variety of music festivals before hopping on the Warped Tour 25th Anniversary festival this summer. Check out what the band is up to here!
We hope our favorite twins are having a great birthday on tour!
