Track Listing

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 And Boys
7. My Bloody Valentine
8. Hold On
9. Riot Girl
10. Say Anything
11. The Day That I Die
12. The Young And The Hopeless
13. Emotionless
14. Movin' On

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5973 in Music
• Released on: 2003-01-13
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Good Charlotte's frontmen, MTV hosts Joel and Benji Madden, had two major concerns with The Young and the Hopeless. One is that, despite the piercings and the spiky hairdos, people do not consider them "real" punks. The other is that their father left them when they were 16. Actually, the two dovetail quite neatly as it was their father's departure that sent their family spiralling into poverty, thus presenting the brothers with their tough "street" background (as well as the lyrics to the bouncy, tribal "The Story of My Old Man" and the maudlin, more gentle "Emotionless"). Musically speaking, though one line in "The Anthem"--"I'm just a minor threat"--points to a hard-core influence, the filth and the fury of punk are not in evidence here. Rather, Good Charlotte lean towards the sunny, chanting power-pop of the lighter Huntingdon Beach outfits. Nevertheless, with the title track and the aforementioned "The Anthem", the band appeal directly to high-school outsiders, and address their perennial relationship problems with "Wondering" and "Say Anything". They even find space for the comedy-horror of "My Bloody Valentine". So, they're not as intense or enraged as Black Flag, or even Linkin Park, but their undeniably strong melodies will see them sell millions to the young and mildly peeved. --Dominic Wills

CD Description
'The Young And The Hopeless' is the second full length album and debut UK release from US punkers, Good Charlotte. The band, inspired to form after seeing the Beastie Boys on their 1995 Ill Communication tour, play bratty American punk rock in the vein of fellow artists, Blink 182, Green Day, and New Found Glory.

Customer Reviews

Pop/Punk fun!
The main thing to remember when you're listening to GC is that they're NOT hardcore punk, but that doesn't mean that their CD isn't great for basically any occasion. Take 'em with a pinch of salt instead of picking holes in their image, and enjoy the music!

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.

aMaZiNg AlBuM!!!
I only just got into good charlotte about a month ago but i loved all the songs on this album and their other albums as soon as i heard them. The lyrics actually mean something and they are not making any thing up just to make money unlike other bands around today!! I don't really care if people say their not punk or whatever cause the bottom line is their music is gr8!! Emotionless, The Anthem, Girls and Boys, The Young and The Hopeless and Hold On are all my fav tracks on the album. I would recommend it to anyone who does'nt care on what they look like or if they are punk or not just if they want to hear some good music!!!! Every song on this album is worth listening to!!
Good Charlotte Rocks!!!

the missing link between The Offspring and Blink?
Mixing fast rock, with pop-punk anthems, Good Charlotte produce the first great album of 2003.

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.