“A Better Man”
Clint Black
Written by Clint Black and Hayden Nicholas
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
May 19, 1989
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
June 10, 1989
Clint Black’s first No. 1 single heralds the official arrival of nineties country.
Black is of Texas origin, though he was born in New Jersey and lived there for the first few months of his life before his family moved back home. A self-taught musician, he was proficient as a singer, guitarist, and harmonica player by his high school years, playing in a band with his brothers. He drew on several musical styles early on, but fully committed to country music in the early eighties.
His local circuit work eventually introduced him to longtime collaborator Hayden Nicholas, and with help from some industry contacts, a demo of their future No. 1 hit “Nobody’s Home” was enough to land Black a deal with RCA Nashville. By the time he recorded his debut album, Killin’ Time, Black had fused his country music with the signature sounds of seventies California rock. That sound, coupled with Black’s sophisticated contemporary songwriting, laid down the formula for nineties country and served as a clarion call to baby boomers looking for a musical home.
It’s actually striking listening to “A Better Man” through the lens of it being Clint Black’s introductory hit. He’s such a Haggard-inspired traditionalist, and the album’s title track has been its most enduring hit, and that track is more representative of Black’s sound than “A Better Man.”
This one is the sugar that helps the medicine go down, prepping new listeners of country music with a smooth pop vocal that isn’t very twangy at all. Same goes for the country instrumentation, which wouldn’t scare away any of the tens of millions of listeners that made the Eagles’ first hits collection the top selling album of all time. The cowboy imagery might be a throwback, but Black is a thoroughly modern man who knows how to rock, but is trying to roll with getting older in a changing world.
The empathy of a Twitty record is there, but Black’s a man coming of age in the era of two income households and an emerging idea that a relationship is stronger if both participants are working on their own personal growth. It made “A Better Man” the first country breakup song of the self-improvement age, and the genre will benefit tremendously by having genuinely better men at its forefront for the next few years.
“A Better Man” gets an A.
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Country music–real country music–had been safe for awhile, but this song assured us it would be safe for a long time to cone!
…he made drama sound smooth. i still sometimes binge-listen to his first four albums always finding me thinking how good they were/are time after time. this is just a perfect radio hit – simple and smooth.
Even though I was rarely plugged into the industry hype in the 80s and only knew country songs and singers from what I heard on my parents’ and babysitter’s radios, I recall quite a bit of early chatter about this new whipper-snapper out of Nashville named Clint Black in 1989. For the first time, I was familiar with the hype before I was familiar with the music. How did the music hold up? Quite well actually, at least early on….
I could never put my finger on it, but “A Better Man” broke through the noise quite effectively and became an earworm for me. I never had a visceral connection to Clint Black even in his heyday but concede that much of his early work was excellent. Unfortunately, a palpable annoyance eventually arose in me about Clint Black as the 90s progressed and his music got increasingly colorless while still managing to find its way to the top of the charts based on name ID. But I’ll continue to give credit where credit’s due for the early gems like this one which is as good of selection as any for the birthplace of 90s country.
Grade: A-
I was so sure this was Merle Haggard the first few times I heard the song on the radio, on KEEY K-102.
The more I heard the single, however, it was clear the voice belonged to a much younger singer.
And the single was in h-e-a-v-y rotation
As much as I was disappointed The Hag was not back on the charts, I was thrilled there was a Haggard acolyte in the world.
Once I found out who the new artist was, I was immediately hooked on this new Client Black fellow.
I was playing a game in my head, trying to remember which member of the Class of ’89 hit the top first. I had Travis Tritt or Garth Brooks on my bingo card.
But starting with Clint Black is a real fine place to start! It is thrilling to revisit just how explosively exciting the emergence of a singer this good was. Everything felt possible for country music.
Tracy Lawrence would later tip his hat to the spirit of this iconic debut single with his 1997 release “Better Man Better Off.”
Saddle up! We are in for a wild ride!
I could argue Killin Time is the greatest debut album in country music history, though there are many great contenders (Brand New Man, Connie Smith’s self-titled, Storms of Life, Garth Brooks’ self-titled, Wide Open Spaces, etc.). I wonder if Clint Black’s career would be looked at differently if he cut this in 1997 instead of 1989, but I would also argue that the greatness of Killin Time was that it came right from the start. A masterful album, and a stellar opening single.
I agree with CJ that this is one of the great debut albums (I would place this at #3 behind STORMS OF LIFE and COUNTRY CHARLEY PRIDE).
While I never mistook Clint’s voice for that of the Hag, I recognised him for the Haggard acolyte he is and eagerly awaited his subsequent albums.
I really cannot chose between “A Better Man” and “Killin’ Time”) as my favorite song off the debut album. Both songs had long runs as recurrent in my area.