The Young and the Hopeless

Track by track:

A New Beginning: Can't really rate this.. GC do some instrumental stuff which I'm sure will appeal to some people. Good background music.

The Anthem: Filled with bags of attitude ("another loser anthem") and a punchy chorus, a great opening track guaranteed to get you bouncing around. Nice. (8/10)

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: I bought the album on the strength of this single, and in itself it's great.. intense overplay, however, has lowered my love for it substantially. Puts quite a good message across, although somewhat ironic considering the bags of money Joel and the boys must have gained from MTV... (6.5/10)

Wondering: A nice catchy tune and some surprisingly meaningful lyrics make for a great song you'll be humming for the rest of the week. (8.5/10)

The Story of My Old Man: Benji and Joel take the sudden departure of their father lyrically quite lightly, but you can feel the pain in the song. After humming this on the way home, my friend thought I was singing some twisted version of Craig David's 7 Days.. I suppose it is like that a bit. But better. (8/10)

Girls and Boys: Good track. Simple lyrics, simple tune, but it's one of those tracks that stick in your head and that everyone likes.. nice one, boys. (7.5/10)

My Bloody Valentine: Comical song which is one of the closest to pure punk lyrics they're ever going to get. Fun stuff. (8/10)

Hold On: Wow. After a track of light-hearted jokey songs, we get to the nitty gritty stuff. And it's actually rather good. A great message, a good tune, an amazing song. (10/10)

Riot Girl: Catchy tune that gets irritating extremely quickly, quirky lyrics, no real meaning apart from to get girls all around the world to scream "BENJI! I'M YOUR RIOT GIRL!" (6/10)

Say Anything: Another damn good track… surprisingly good. Emotionally sung, one of the few times when Joel seems like a really good singer. (10/10)

The Day that I Die: Taking a deep, deep subject light-heartedly, GC thrash their way throughout this insanely memorable song. (9/10)

The Young and the Hopeless: The heaviest track on the album (which doesn’t really say that much), they confront the fact that no one takes them seriously. And I like the result, I must say… more of this on the next album, boys! (9.5/10)

Emotionless: One of the better songs- this one really tears at the heart-strings. Benji and Joel make, in a way, a peace offering to their father, and it’s really rather touching to listen to… quite beautiful if you’re in the right mood for it. (10/10)

Movin’ On: By far the most energetic song, the shouting vocals and thumping riffs are a great end to the album and show what Good Charlotte are really about. Great stuff. (9/10)

In conclusion, don't buy this if you're looking for really serious heavy punk tracks, but if you want some energetic pop/punk, this is the stuff for you. In my opinion, the second half of the album far betters the first half, and if their next album carries on that theme, I'm certainly going to be buying it.

Little known to me until about two weks ago, I saw the video for 'Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous' and thought it was funny, but more importantly the song sounded great.
The song takes a dig at celebrities who complain about life, although they have mansions and have lots of money.
The song shas a good bass beat, and catchy chorus.

But before that song (the first single from the album), Good Charlotte start things off with an intro track called 'A New Beginning' that opens with a piano played, which is followed by almost operatic voices echoing in the background, then it hits hard with a fast rock beat with the guitar, bass and drums making an appearance to get things into motion.
The first track is an instrumental track but is good way to open an album.

The second track 'The Anthem', is another good mix of fast paced track with pop melodies.
The lyrics are about going through life and not wanting to be like how everyone expects you to be, like going to college then university, then getting a job, with the chorus: 'I don't wanna be just like you, don't wanna be you, this is an anthem, throw all your hands up, don't wanna be like you'

Stand-out tracks on here are the slow paced 'Wondering', the perky 'Girls & Boys', the sad 'Bloody Valentine' and one of my favourites 'Riot Girl'.
'Riot Girl' is sparks off straight into a pop-punk riff, is a full-on rock anthem.

The chorus contains the lyrics 'Christina, wouldn't want a meet her, she hates you Britney, so you better run for cover', 'Emergency, call nine-one-one, she's p***ed off at everyone, police rescue, F.B.I., she wants a riot, she wants a riot', which pull off the type of catchy and amusing lyrics that have made bands like Blink 182 and Green Day so big over here.

But my favourite track is the real anthem on here, with the title track 'The Young & The Hopeless' pulling off the best and most relatable lyrics on the album.
With some lyrics as 'and if i make it through today, will tomorrow be the same, and if i tumble and i fall, will i get up and carry on, or will it all just be the same?'.
Also on the track the singer take a swipe at his critics with 'and no one in this industry understands the life i lead when i sing about my past, its not a gimic not an act, these critics and these trustfund kids try to tell me what punk is, but when i see them on the street they got nothing to say'.

Overall the album is top quality and stretches its punk-pop-perks over all the tracks.
The band show promise to the modern punk-rock scene, as Good Charlotte add the ability to sound heavy while maintaining their pop-punk sound that makes them sound so good.
So this band are for people who like bands from the diffenent sides of the punk spectrum, from The Offspring and Green Day, to New Found Glory, Blink to Sum 41 and NOFX.
What a bright start to 2003, lets hope there's more like this to follow.