Cardiology - Good Charlotte's Fifth Album

Good Charlotte's fifth album was released on November 2, 2010. Describing the sound to MTV news, Joel Madden said it would sound a lot like Blink-182. Joel Madden went on to say in the same MTV interview that "There's nothing dance-y on the record, though, at all, which is different from our last one," further implying a movement away from the sound of Good Morning Revival. On December 3, 2008 Kerrang! magazine announced that Good Charlotte would be releasing their fifth studio album, Cardiology in 2009. The title of which, according to Joel, comes from the lyrical content of the album, which he explained is "all connected to the heart". Madden also added that they had already written 20 songs for the new album, and are said to be heading back to their pop-punk roots.

The band frequently tweeted during the recording process, giving updates to fans. In late July 2009, Joel Madden mentioned that they were close to track listing the album. On August 9, 2009, Benji Madden mentioned on his twitter that they had yet to record the songs but they were written. On the August 25, 2009 Benji announced on the official Good Charlotte website that the band were in the final stages of tracking and recording the album. At the time, the album was being produced by Howard Benson, who is known for such albums as My Chemical Romance's Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, and The All-American Rejects' Move Along. However, the band didn't feel right about the sound of the album because Howard Benson focused on making it a commercial success. On January 24, 2010 Good Charlotte announced they had finished the album, but were going to completely scrap it and record with a different producer, Don Gilmore, who also produced their first and fourth records, the self-titled CD and Good Morning Revival.

Good Charlotte released their first single "Like It's Her Birthday" from the new album on August 24, 2010. The band posted the song online August 5, 2010, and wrote on their website that if the YouTube video of the song receives more than 100,000 views, they will post another song from the album. The video reached 100,000 views on August 15, 2010 and the band released "Counting the Days" as a video on their YouTube channel and announced that it will be the second single from the album. The music video for Like It's Her Birthday has camoes from The Maine's lead singer John O'Callaghan and guitarist Kennedy Brock and Boys Like Girls's lead singer Martin Johnson and guitarist Paul DiGiovanni.

Cardiology unfolds just as you’d expect it to, with a consistent batch of songs that border on blatantly formulaic, but provide enough catchy melodies to make you forget all of that as you sing along. Although the guitars are distorted and the percussion is driving, you’d be hard-pressed to call this a rock album, unless your entire music collection consists of Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift.

At times, Cardiology feels a bit forced (see “Introduction to Cardiology”) or overly gimmicky (“Counting The Days”), but there are some solid musical moments in between. Good Charlotte does attempt to expand its horizons on several tracks, but too often it backfires; “Like It’s Her Birthday” begins with a Franz Ferdinand-esque guitar line and Enrique Iglesias hooting before it returns to typical pop fare.

For a “rock” band, Good Charlotte doesn’t do quite enough rocking on Cardiology, and to compare this album’s “1979″ to the Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979″ shows just how wide music executives have stretched the rock genre to accommodate mainstream tastes and reach the teeny-bopper ears that dominate parents’ purses.

The final track on Cardiology is the titular track, and it’s another example of Good Charlotte trying too hard that comes off sounding awkward – is it a joke, or is the band trying to make a statement? Hard to say, but two things are certain – Good Charlotte to stick to its proven formula, and, joke or not, Good Charlotte is laughing all the way to the bank.