A demo of "Little Things" received airplay from two radio stations and by early 2000, Good Charlotte had signed to Epic Records.

Recording sessions with producer Don Gilmore for the debut album took place in four studios in California and New York.

Between March and May 2001, the group went on tour with MxPx and appeared at HFStival, where a music video for "Festival Song" was filmed.

The band Good Charlotte was formed in Waldorf, Maryland, in 1995, after identical twin brothers Joel (vocals) and Benji Madden (guitar) had seen a Beastie Boys show.

[2] The Madden brothers focused on getting the band signed, reading books and magazines that would aid them to achieve this goal.

[4] Soon afterwards, the brothers recruited their fellow high-school pupil Aaron Escolopio as a drummer[1] and began playing clubs in the D.C. metro area.

[2] A Sony Music employee passed the band's demo to regional promotion manager Mike Martinovich, who was impressed by the group's writing ability and the autobiographical nature of the songs.

[2] He contacted talent manager Steve Feinberg, who flew to Annapolis to watch the group perform and later began working with them.

[2] As the track became a hit in the area, record labels began showing interest in Good Charlotte.

[9] Starting in 2000, the band became a full-time touring act, performing support slots for Lit, Goldfinger, Sum 41 and Mest.

[12] David Massey, executive vice president of A&R at Epic Records, signed the band to the label in May 2000.

[15] Drums and bass were recorded at NRG Studios in Los Angeles with assistance from Matt Griffen[14] in May 2000.

[16] Guitar and vocals were recorded in June with assistance from Paul Oliveira at Battery Studios in New York City.

"Change", "Seasons" and "Thank You Mom" were mixed by Tom Lord-Alge at South Beach Studios in Miami, Florida.

Vlado Meller mastered all of the tracks except for "Little Things" at Sony Music Studios in New York City.

[14] Musically, the album has been described as pop punk,[17][18] drawing comparisons to Green Day, Smash Mouth,[19] Eve 6 and Lit.

[22] The album's hidden track "Thank You Mom" is a tribute to the brothers' mother, who raised them after their father left, reminiscing on childhood memories.

[14] The Japanese edition included "The Click", a cover of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's "If You Leave" and a live, acoustic version of "The Motivation Proclamation" as bonus tracks.

[27] In October and November 2000, the group embarked on a US tour with Fenix TX,[28] and another with MxPx that lasted until the end of the year.

[38] The video was directed by Marc Webb;[30] it depicts the band members lying on the ground, waking up one-by-one and beginning to playing together.

[54] It was reissued again in January 2010 in a box set alongside The Young and the Hopeless, The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004) and Good Morning Revival (2007).

[55] AllMusic reviewer William Ruhlmann said, "The beats come fast and furious, the simple guitar chords noisily fill the middle range, and the vocals are sung with snotty belligerence".

[20] The website said Good Charlotte is "energized with angsty teenage punk, and though the lyrics are cynical, the music is peppy and autobiographical".

[20] David Hiltbrand of Entertainment Weekly said "crosscurrents of anger and optimism" appear throughout the album,[56] and that the band has an "astringent punk style" combined with "crafty pop underpinnings".

[57] The Morning Call reviewer Joe Warminsky said the group "spares nothing in its effort" to join its contemporaries "of lame pop-rock bands that populate non-hip-hop radio".

[72] In 2016, Benji Madden said of the album; "We were young and excited kids who were full of dreams and still trying to figure out our musical identity".