lifestyles of the rich and famous

mix by dave jackson / ultimix

"Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" is a song by Good Charlotte, released in 2003. It was the first single released from their 2002 album The Young and the Hopeless. It reached #20 on the U.S. Hot 100.

The lyrics parody and make reference to Marion Barry, a former mayor of Washington, D.C. who was convicted on drug charges ("and did you know if you were caught and you were smokin' crack/ McDonald's wouldn't even wanna take you back/ you could always just run for mayor of D.C.")
They also reference Johnnie Cochran, a famous attorney who represented stars such as O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted of murdering his wife ("Well did you know when you're famous you could kill your wife/ and there's no such thing as 25 to life/ as long as you got the cash to pay for Cochran").
The video features cameos from Kyle Gass and Chris Kirkpatrick. They appear in the courtroom scene - Gass plays the prosecutor whilst Kirkpatrick plays the witness "Chadwick Merryweather Hardy III".
The ditzy female witness is called Anna Nicole Smith, a reference to the Playboy cover girl.
The dog questioned in the video is Benji & Joel's dog, Cashdogg.
Unused court room footage was later used to create "Trial TV", a parody of court room television shows. It was included as a bonus feature on their first DVD release, Good Charlotte Video Collection.
This was the first Good Charlotte single to be released in the UK. As such, music channels don't acknowledge the band having the 3 previous singles from their debut album, and often refer to The Young and the Hopeless as their debut album.