Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous

With allusions to hometown ne'er do wells OJ Simpson and Marion Barry, "Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous" takes on materialism in Hollywood and looks at how money can corrupt the legal system. Also mentioned are movie stars and singers who are always complaining about their lives. Good Charlotte are from Maryland but did a lot of their recording in Los Angeles, so they got an outsider's perspective on this lifestyle, which can seem truly bizarre if you weren't born into it.

Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous was the name of a syndicated TV show that provided an inside look at the lives of celebrities. Hosted by a very loud and proudly pretentious Robin Leach, it ran from 1984-1995 and showed famous people enjoying expensive cars, jewelry, and other luxury items that most of us can't afford. The album title, The Young And The Hopeless, is also a TV reference, a play on the soap opera The Young And The Restless.

"Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous" was the first hit for Good Charlotte, which formed in 1995 when they were high school students. After writing some songs and doing time as an opening act for bands like Sum 41 and Goldfinger, they signed with Epic Records and released their first album, Good Charlotte, in 2000. It didn't get much attention, but the band refined their sound and wrote catchier songs for their next album, The Young And The Hopeless. "Lifestyles" was the first single. Released in the summer of 2002, it didn't catch on until early 2003 after MTV started playing the video. Somewhat ironically, the song made them rich and famous. They embarked on a co-headlining tour with New Found Glory and watched as their next single, "The Anthem" also took took off. The album ended up selling over 5 million copies just in America.