Music speaks for its generation. Albums and songs consciously and subconsciously echo the emotions, events, and experiences of audiences at large.

Over twenty years into a storied career, Good Charlotte consistently amplify the voice of their era. Similar to how they spoke for a restless post-Y2K zeitgeist at the turn-of-the-century, the iconic multiplatinum modern rock mavericks—brothers Joel [vocals] and Benji Madden [guitar, vocals], Billy Martin [guitar], Paul Thomas [bass], and Dean Butterworth [drums]—pick up the mantle for a world anesthetized and numbed by quick chemical fixes, social media obsession, and pervasive tragedy on their seventh full-length, the appropriately titled Generation Rx [MDDN/BMG]. As always, they encode a hopeful message inside a capsule of D.I.Y. punk energy, expansive rock unpredictability, and widescreen orchestral scope.

It’s as if the quintet siphon the spirit of their formative years through a prism of wisdom gleamed from two decades in the game.