“’Life Changes’ is a song that we feel really connects to the spirit of our band and our fans. It’s got that positive vibe we always want to put out there, and the message – no matter how many times you get knocked down, always get back up – will forever be part of the GC story.”
― Benji Madden
“I think the soul of Good Charlotte is just feeling good.”
― Benji Madden
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this album cycle for ‘Cardiology’ is the funnest couple years we ever see. We’ve made all of our mistakes; we’ve kind of learned. Now we know what to avoid, we know what to embrace, we know how to take a deep breath and enjoy the moment.”
― Benji Madden
“It does feel really good when you play a new song, and it’s the loudest singalong of the night. It means just as much when we’re playing the old songs, and people are singing along to those, too.”
― Benji Madden
“It’s really hard to do this life – to be a human being alone.”
― Benji Madden
“Maryland is such a special place, man… You miss that warm, friendly love. It ain’t like that everywhere else in the world.”
― Benji Madden
“As young kids, we had a lot of tenacity. Life was tough at home, so it was easy to go out in the world and try.”
― Benji Madden
“I think what defines our band is really that, you know, we’re just living our dream and making records that we love and having a good time.”
― Benji Madden
“It’s hard to talk about childhood trauma. It’s hard to talk about depression. It’s hard to talk about anxiety. And we thought – I wonder if we just open up our subconscious and the things that we think about and hide from people every day and just let them come out in some of these lyrics.”
― Benji Madden
“I think about people whose lives maybe hadn’t turned out as well as me and Joel’s lives, and I just think it’s just pure luck and the grace of God. I also think we were lucky to have each other as brothers.”
― Benji Madden
“All we can do is just think about what we can put into the world – not really kind of what we can get out of it.”
― Benji Madden
“I think that ‘Prayers’ is a really interesting one because we wrote it well before the border crisis was happening, and in that first verse, I was actually writing about the experience of me and my wife’s relationship and finding someone who you feel safe with and you relate to and can ponder existence with.”
― Benji Madden
“I’ve started to see records as just a snapshot, a portrait of where you were at at that time. And if you’re comfortable with that, sometimes it’s like an old high school year book picture – it makes you blush a little bit, but you gotta learn to really appreciate each stage of your life and where you’re at.”
― Benji Madden
“I prefer a good review. A bad review that dismisses us… I take it with a grain of salt. I go, ‘Okay, they didn’t even try.’”
― Benji Madden
“We were all 16 and 17. When you’re that age, you’re just daydreaming all day. We had bands we loved – Green Day, Weezer, a lot of bands in the ’90s – and we just wanted to have fun. We didn’t overthink it too much.”
― Benji Madden
“I didn’t fly on a plane until I was 19.”
― Benji Madden
“I feel like, if you’re writing the same songs you were writing when you were 17 in your 30s, something’s wrong. As a grown man, you’re more confident, and you have less to prove.”
― Benji Madden
“Anyone who’s followed our band through the years has heard about the teenage angst.”
― Benji Madden
“Straight up, I’m from Waldorf, Maryland, you guys. Let’s not forget that.”
― Benji Madden
“I got a little tattoo on my face. I’ll never be able to work another real job, so I consider that to be kinda forcing myself to stick to music.”
― Benji Madden
“’Nevermind’ by Nirvana. That was a big one for me.”
― Benji Madden
“Nothing worries me in life anymore. When you find that best friend, that love, all your worries kind of go away.”
― Benji Madden
“That’s just the music industry. They always want you to write something like the one that was popular.”
― Benji Madden
“I think, a lot of times, people think they know what they want, but what they really want is something that’s genuine.”
― Benji Madden
“I think Good Charlotte has definitely always been for the underdogs and the misfits. We haven’t ever really been the critics’ darlings.”
― Benji Madden
“Novelty always sparks ideas.”
― Benji Madden
“The least punk thing I ever did was open a money market account. Blue chip stocks. Mutual funds. They’re a very safe and dependable way to grow your money long-term.”
― Benji Madden
“We grew up in the middle of nowhere. We didn’t have a rich uncle in the music industry or some contact through someone that our dad worked with. And we went into the world blindly, and just through believing, dreaming, and working hard, Good Charlotte came to fruition.”
― Benji Madden
“There are so many bands I am starting to see: Waterparks, Potty Mouth – they’re all garage bands that started in the garage. Kids are loving them.”
― Benji Madden
“Today, somewhere in America, there’s a kid who’s got a laptop and a guitar and a couple of his friends he’s putting together to play drums and bass, who’s gonna change the way we say things, the way that we dress, the way we view things, the music we hear, everything.”
― Benji Madden
“I really love ‘Cold Song.’ If anyone really listens to that song and thinks about their life, there’s a lot of good material deep down in there. I think if you listen to the lyrics, it may take you on some sort of a journey.”
― Benji Madden
“I think we live in a time where we can all distract ourselves from facing the pain or the reality of all of our lives – tons of ways to hide, to kill pain, to deal with pain.”
― Benji Madden
“Hopefully, the people that would look at a Good Charlotte record and dismiss it for maybe what they think is a certain kind of content, if they do discover something meaningful, then it’s a nice surprise. I like those kinds of contradictions.”
― Benji Madden
“I feel like we’ve had a front row seat for the last 20 years to watching culture and youth.”
― Benji Madden
“Our fans are very much like us; they like the same things we do.”
― Benji Madden
“As hopeful as I am, there are some times in my life when I get to low points. Luckily, I still have music to get me through things.”
― Benji Madden
“It really is draining: when you sing a song, it means so much to you, and every time you sing it, you feel it ,and these emotions come back.”
― Benji Madden
“To write a song and have it embraced by someone, even one person, I don’t think that’s something that everyone gets to experience.”
― Benji Madden
“You don’t know how a song is gonna do; you don’t know where it’s gonna live. You know if it feels real, if it feels authentic.”
― Benji Madden
“One thing I never worry about is money, because I have my health and my family, and I can always go back to work.”
― Benji Madden
“We’ve all had a million day jobs. We got by fine then.”
― Benji Madden
“The songwriting process is different on every record because you’re never coming from the same place when you’re writing.”
― Benji Madden
“When I have kids, they’re definitely gonna work.”
― Benji Madden
“We’ve made a lot of party music; we’re definitely not Thom Yorke. But there’s also depth to our records; we get emotional.”
― Benji Madden
“A lot of our fans have grown up, but they’ve stuck by us for the songs that dig a little deeper.”
― Benji Madden
“Good Charlotte fit in a lot of different genres – it’s one of the coolest things our band has been able to do.”
― Benji Madden
“Joel? He’s the rock star! When you see Joel step on stage… he’s born to be a rock star.”
― Benji Madden
“Our music contradicts our look.”
― Benji Madden
“We can guarantee you that 15 to 30 seconds of any of our songs are going to be good. The rest, we can’t guarantee.”
― Benji Madden
“As a kid, you’re like, ‘Do they have Preakness everywhere or just in Maryland?’ You hear people talking about it, and it was like, ‘Oh, everyone goes there to hang out and party.’ I didn’t even know it was a race until I got older.”
― Benji Madden
“I really was thinking a lot about the energy on the first couple records that we ever put out and how young and excited we were. I just really wanted to make it more fun than anything.”
― Benji Madden
“There’s this wave of new pop-punk bands that has come out that’s bigger than ever. I’m really glad that we got to be a part of helping push that forward, if we did at all. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
― Benji Madden
“What we’re most known for is the catchy choruses and the big hooks.”
― Benji Madden
“You’ve got to think, when we started our band, none of us had a computer until we were 21.”
― Benji Madden
“One of the most harmful things in the music industry is ‘record-by-committee,’ where 10 people from the label gather around, and they make you write a 100 songs and decide which one’s a hit. That takes the inspiration out of it.”
― Benji Madden
“The youth is always going to decide the future.”
― Benji Madden
“Prince led by example. As prolific as he was as an artist, he was just as courageous in the business.”
― Benji Madden
“It’s important for artists to value themselves – whatever that means. Everyone’s going to take that in a different way. If you don’t value yourself, you will be bought and sold.”
― Benji Madden
“The one thing that nobody else in the world can touch is the coffee in Australia.”
― Benji Madden
“Coffee in Italy and some places in Europe is great, but there’s just something about Australian coffee.”
― Benji Madden
“When we were younger, we fought, but that’s what kids do, right?”
― Benji Madden
“When we were babies, mum had to dress one of us in one colour, like blue and green, and she’d put a little mark on our hand or toe… she definitely had to sort us out.”
― Benji Madden
“I’m a really easy guy to read.”
― Benji Madden
“I’m always happy to work with my brother and especially to be a part of ‘The Voice Kids.’”
― Benji Madden
“I always jump at the chance to mentor kids when it comes to music.”
― Benji Madden
“I love the gym; I do a lot of curls.”
― Benji Madden
“I answer the questions I want, and I don’t the ones I don’t.”
― Benji Madden
“I have a great family, so I’m lucky I’ve gotten to experience all the joys of having a family.”
― Benji Madden
“I think it’s a known fact that Joel and I have always loved Australia since we started coming here 13 or 14 years ago. Everyone knows we love it here. Our only concern is will we wear our welcome out?”
― Benji Madden
“I’ve always been obsessed with girls.”
― Benji Madden
“I couldn’t grow, like, any kind of facial hair at 17.”
― Benji Madden
“The only time I only really made out with a girl in high school, my mom caught me.”
― Benji Madden
“I’ve done plenty of phoners for Joel when he’s been too busy. You’ll never know. Our voices sound so similar.”
― Benji Madden
“We have known each other for a long time, and I’ve always known the real Paris. I always knew she was like wife material or serious girlfriend material.”
― Benji Madden
“The Madden Brothers is definitely not a side project.”
― Benji Madden
“Good Charlotte became more than a band and more than the songs: it became something that the fans owned.”
― Benji Madden
“Good Charlotte is very special to us. It’s something we really cherish.”
― Benji Madden
“All of our lyrics are really personal, and we get a lot of personal letters.”
― Benji Madden
“The guy who runs Big Day Out doesn’t like us for some reason; I don’t even know why. We do all the other festivals, and we enquired about it. Who knows, maybe he’ll eventually crack, but maybe not. We’re just going to keep knocking on his door late at night saying, ‘Come on, dude!’”
― Benji Madden
“Every time we go to New Zealand, it gets harder to leave. Everyone’s always treated us like we’re at home.”
― Benji Madden
“I kind of live by this old thing that time will tell whether people are going to write about this or that; all we can do is be who we are and make records we love, and everything else will sort itself out.”
― Benji Madden
“When you’re making an album, it’s kind of like having a baby. You have to really put everything into it.”
― Benji Madden
“We started our band in a garage when we were 15.”
― Benji Madden
“Good Charlotte’s the first band we’ve ever been in, and back then, critics didn’t matter. There were no rules. There was no one we had to impress.”
― Benji Madden
“I may have punched walls when no one else was around.”
― Benji Madden
“We don’t take ourselves seriously; we make the records for fun.”
― Benji Madden
“There’s definitely a lot of moments in my life now where I go, ‘Wow, I get paid for this.’ I’ve had worse jobs.”
― Benji Madden
“Both of us are lucky because we married women who are amazing cooks.”
― Benji Madden
“Jessie J’s a funny, funny woman. What she does is she reels you in.”
― Benji Madden
“Australian bands are so self-deprecating – then they go on stage and blow every other band off the stage.”
― Benji Madden
“Good Charlotte, for us, comes from a place of youth for us, back when we were struggling and fighting for every inch, just trying to get by.”
― Benji Madden
“There’s an interesting thing I’ve seen with Australian bands: when you put them side-by-side with bands from other parts of the world, they’re just more musical. They’re just better.”
― Benji Madden
“We didn’t leave home until we graduated high school, but when we did, we genuinely left. We went out into the world with 50 bucks, backpacks, and acoustic guitars.”
― Benji Madden
“We became a really good gateway band for all the kids that went on to love My Chem or Fall Out Boy.”
― Benji Madden
“The American Dream – I believe in that cliche because I know what having nothing feels like.”
― Benji Madden
“We were kids that didn’t have any education. None of our parents were in the music business or even college graduates. We didn’t have someone guiding us. We were just uneducated kids from the middle of nowhere that suddenly had a band going around the world.”
― Benji Madden
“You’re just these kids from a small town. You get a record deal, and everything just goes so fast. In the span of five albums… in a way, the band that you started in your bedroom, or your basement or your garage, kind of becomes not your band anymore. It becomes something bigger than you could have known. No one really prepares you.”
― Benji Madden
“I read all the reviews. I remember the first review I ever read about our band was, ‘They’ll be gone tomorrow; they’ll be gone quicker than they came.’”
― Benji Madden
“You find, as the years go on and you have some success, people kind of start to say yes when they should say no.”
― Benji Madden
“A lot of time, I have to be the person who just goes, ‘Hey dude, don’t even trip. Don’t worry about it.’”
― Benji Madden
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