Quotes

I got kicked out of class so much and it wasn't fair because I was just talking. In class, if there was a pretty girl, I would just try to talk [to her] all the time. I like to talk, especially to girls. And I got kicked out of class all the time. The teacher would be like 'All right, stop,' and I'd be like 'Okay,' and keep talking. Then I'd try to impress her and it wouldn't really work. I'd get kicked out for trying to be funny, like they'd call me up to read and I'd read the wrong thing. I didn't take high school very seriously.

I think that our goal in Good Charlotte is just to be Good Charlotte, and whatever happens, whatever that means, we don't even know, we just push on and tour and make music and do whatever.

I like clothes, and I think Hilary Duff looks good in her clothes. I like her low-key, in jeans.

[2003] Alcoholism runs in the family. Benj is an alcoholic. My dad's an alcoholic, his dad's an alcoholic. Benji doesn't like talking about it. But he had to stop. He counts his months. He's been sober for a year and a half.

[2003; on Good Charlotte not minding their nice-guy image] You know, it's funny. You're probably the first person who hasn't focused on why we are or are not punk this whole interview. It's very cliché for rock & roll journalists to go, 'Well, you're not punk.' We don't care if we are, we don't care if we aren't.

[2003; on Good Charlotte not being afraid to show off their sensitive side on songs such as "Emotionless" and "The Story of My Old Man", both of which address the Madden twins' dad] Even though we might blush when we sing and we might get embarrassed because the songs are so personal, I think it's worth it.

[2003] I was like, 'I can't finish this song [Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous]'. Me and Benj would get into fights about it. And then one day I went in alone and I just finished it in a matter of twenty minutes. When we gave our record company the album, they were like, '"Lifestyles" is a great song.' And I was like, 'Really?'

[2003] [As teens, when they should have been studying or hanging out, the Madden twins worried about more urgent things] like the electricity getting cut off or the car breaking down or the phone getting cut off. Or oil running out, for heat. Sometimes there was no heat for four or five days till you could get more oil,' cause it's, like, a hundred dollars.

[2003] When my dad left, I was always the one that was kind of, like, crying about it, like, 'Why us, why us?' Lucky for me, I had Benj. We've always been sidekicks. The chip he had on his shoulder was more out of necessity back then. But we always had each other all the time to say, 'Man, don't worry. It'll be all right, it'll get better.'

[on Australia] This place has always been our home away from home.