Local Twins Destroy Music Publications That Once Helped Them
Finding out the Madden brothers had a hand in killing Brooklyn Vegan, Alternative Press and Revolver is disappointing but not surprising, given their whole deal
I’m unfortunately no longer surprised when I see that publications—especially music or culture publications—are shut down and gutted by their financial overlords. It’s just the nature of the business. We pivoted to video and then pivoted to nonexistence.
What does surprise me is when I find out that the group of overlords behind killing much-celebrated and beloved publications like Brooklyn Vegan, Revolver and Alternative Press is made up, at least in part, by these guys:
I could never tell the Madden brothers apart. I didn’t know which one was Benji and which one was Joel, even when I had the CD as a kid and I’d see their videos on MTV2. I didn’t know which one was with Cameron Diaz and which one was with Nicole Richie, so tabloid pictures didn’t help me.
Their little costumes they’d wear over the years just made it more confusing. Which one was the “punk” one with occasional liberty spikes and a matching NOFX shirt and NOFX pickguard sticker in the video? Which one was the one who dressed like a West Coast Choppers guy or early 2000s rapper? Was it both of them? I have no idea.
Whatever the moment seemed to call for, that’s what they looked like. They were costumes, because underneath all of that the Maddens were capitalists first before everything. The costumes gave way to their own apparel brands pretty quickly.
They were the epitome of the “Other Ventures” tab on a Wikipedia profile.
Coming from an unglamorous place like Waldorf, Maryland, that’s understandable. People have been using their talents to escape rough economic conditions forever, and no one can blame someone for doing that. But, to use something like punk rock as the costume along the way potentially leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth if you’re predisposed to that sort of thing, because the costume seems to come with a tacit understanding that even selling out – the greatest sin one can commit—preferably wouldn’t come at the expense of actually killing part of the scene you came from.
That’s what really makes this feel worse for those of us with any skin in the music, journalism or music journalism world: it feels especially shitty because, while they’re obviously not the ones making every single business decision at Veeps or LiveNation, the Maddens’ involvement in gutting the likes of AP and BV feels like they pulled up the ladder and also tossed a grenade down for good measure, to make sure that no up and coming band could benefit from the coverage that a Brooklyn Vegan gives a punk band on the rise, or that AP would never give serious critical consideration and coverage to a band in a genre that is often not taken super seriously in the mainstream since its cultural cache has dwindled.
It’s funny how many Good Charlotte songs popped into my head upon reading this news. Now, in hindsight, it’s so incredibly clear who and what they were from the jump. I was just, you know, 11. So I didn’t think about it too critically at the time.
All of the lyrics in “Girls and Boys” read at release as guys without money pointing out the vapid nature of the wealthy and beautiful.
Girls don’t like boys
Girls like cars and money
Boys will laugh at girls
When they’re not funny
It was clever, it had a fun video. We all had a great time. But it’s also clearly not a takedown of that socioeconomic group any more than an online incel is talking about how girls don’t like nice guys anymore while he calls them bitches or doesn’t brush his teeth. And for the Maddens, it was not pointing out the flaws in a world where cars and money are the only keys to success—it was saying that’s where they wanted to get.
The same obviously goes for “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous,” at the time a pointed dig at corrupt politicians and even the ruling creative arts class, now reads as just jealous they weren’t there yet. The line about Rolling Stone especially now seems icky.
I am making the Madden brothers a scapegoat right now, I understand that. It is a massive oversimplification to say “they did this,” whatever “did” and “this” mean.
I understand that they did not unilaterally make a decision as twins (in unison, of course) to gut these publications—including one like AP that helped them achieve stardom and earn their riches. If you Google “Alternative Press Good Charlotte” right now, one of the top hits is a Good Charlotte commemorative issue of AP with a full oral history, song rankings and photos from over the years. It costs $22 and is still for sale.
Alternative Press has partnered with Maryland’s own era-defining rock band Good Charlotte for a one-of-a-kind special-edition magazine. Spanning 72 pages, this collectible issue features a striking embossed holographic cover, never-before-seen photos, and an in-depth, career-spanning narrative—from the band’s formation nearly 30 years ago to their rapid rise and lasting impact on alternative culture.
This came out last year. The result right under that is a news article about how they were part of the group that killed AP.
If that’s not enough, you can shop the entire Good Charlotte collection on the AP store.
I know there were many, many ghouls in that … whatever the word for a collection of ghouls is. Most were surely much more financially ghoulish than the Maddens. I am not that naive. But I can also believe, or at least naively hope, that as co-CEOs (cute) of Veeps, even if in name only, they could at least say, “Hey, wait a minute let’s not do this” and might have just enough pull to avoid what seem to be extinction-level layoffs of entire staffs.
I can also, as someone who has grown up with their music and the music and aesthetics that they have used to influence their own shit over the years, call them what they are: They are sellouts and they are posers, two of the greatest sins in the punk world they claim.
They are sellouts in the old sense of the word because it’s a direct betrayal of the people who helped them achieve their stardom. And in 2026, when publications and scenes are possibly more forgiving of financial success than ever—because lord knows it is pert near impossible to make a living in any of these fields and becoming even more impossible by the day if that’s even possible—it is so hard to be labeled a sellout. Yet, that’s exactly what they are.
Good Charlotte is just “We have Alkaline Trio at home.”
Today’s Snakes & Sparklers musical guest is BODEGA.