The Anthem (Good Charlotte song)

"The Anthem" is a song by American pop punk band Good Charlotte. It was released on February 28, 2003 as the second single from their studio album The Young and the Hopeless.

Production and release
"The Anthem" was the band's third U.K. single, as the release was delayed to six months after the American release, and "Girls And Boys" was released in its place. According to Benji Madden, the band was asked to write a new song for a movie soundtrack, and the studio wanted it to be a loser anthem. The song was not used on the film's soundtrack, but somewhat ironically, would go on to feature in more films and television shows than any of Good Charlotte's other songs.

"The Anthem" is the second of three 'anthem' songs that Good Charlotte has recorded. The first was "East Coast Anthem" from their debut album, Good Charlotte, and the third is "Dance Floor Anthem" from Good Morning Revival.

Track list
CD 1:
 * 1) "The Anthem"
 * 2) "If You Leave"
 * 3) "The Motivation Proclamation" (Live Acoustic Version)
 * 4) "The Anthem" (Video)

CD 2:
 * 1) "The Anthem"
 * 2) "Acquiesce" (Live on BBC 3)
 * 3) "Complicated"

Soundtracks and uses
"The Anthem" became one of Good Charlotte's most popular songs, and has been featured on numerous film and video game soundtracks. In 2003 alone, this song appeared in Madden '03, the movies American Wedding, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, commercials for the film Just Married and promotional advertisements on Nickelodeon for their summer all-day-long television show marathons. Since then it can be heard in The Pacifier and American Pie Presents Band Camp as well as on the soundtrack of Project Gotham Racing and Guitar Hero Live. Cover versions of the song can be found on the Nintendo DS video game Elite Beat Agents as well as the North American release of Donkey Konga 2. It also appeared in the 2011 film Hop.

Music video
The song's music video premiered in January 2003 on MTV. It features cameos from members of Mest and Home Grown. Members of New Found Glory were also present at the video shoot, but they did not appear in the final video. The video went on to win "Best Rock Video" at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan in 2004.