Better Man (Pearl Jam song)

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"Better Man"
Song by Pearl Jam
from the album Vitalogy
ReleasedNovember 22, 1994 (1994-11-22)
VenueFox Theatre, Atlanta[1]
Genre
Length4:28
LabelEpic
Songwriter(s)Eddie Vedder
Producer(s)Brendan O'Brien, Pearl Jam
Audio sample

"Better Man" is a song by the American rock band Pearl Jam. It is the eleventh track on the band's third studio album, Vitalogy (1994). The song was written by vocalist Eddie Vedder. Despite the lack of a commercial single release, "Better Man" reached the top of the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and spent a total of eight weeks at number one. The song was included on Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album, rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003).

Origin and recording

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The song was written by vocalist Eddie Vedder when he was in high school. He said, "I wrote 'Better Man' before I could drink—legally—on a four-track in my old apartment."[3] In another interview, Vedder stated, "Sometimes I think of how far I've come from the teenager sitting on the bed in San Diego writing 'Better Man' and wondering if anyone would ever even hear it."[4]

He first performed it with a San Diego, California–based group called Bad Radio, with slightly faster tempo but altogether quite similar to the Vitalogy rendition.[5] Vedder later recorded it with Pearl Jam, although his bandmates were initially reluctant to record it and had initially rejected it from Vs. because it had a more mainstream, pop-oriented sound than their usual material.[6]

Producer Brendan O'Brien said of the song:

There's a great song we recorded for Vs., "Better Man," which ended up on Vitalogy. One of the first rehearsals we did they played it and I said "Man, that song's a hit." Eddie just went "uhhh". I immediately knew I'd just said the wrong thing. We cut it once for Vs., he wanted to give it away to this Greenpeace benefit record, the idea was that the band was going to play and some other singer was going to sing it. I remember saying to the engineer, Nick [DiDia], "This is one of their best songs and they're going to give it away! Can't happen!" And we went to record it and I'm not going to say we didn't try very hard, but it didn't end up sounding very good. I may have even sabotaged that version but I won't admit to that. It took us to the next record, recording it two more times, before he became comfortable with it because it was such a blatantly great pop song.[2]

The version of the song released on Vitalogy consisted of several different recordings. The introduction was originally recorded for another song, while the majority of the tracks were recorded during three different live performances of the song while the band was on tour in Atlanta and overdubbed with studio recordings.[1]

Lyrics

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Al Weisel of Rolling Stone called the song a "haunting ballad about a woman trapped in a bad relationship."[7] When Pearl Jam performed "Better Man" on VH1 Storytellers in 2006, Vedder introduced it as a song about "abusive relationships."[8] Before a performance of the song at Pearl Jam's show on April 3, 1994, in Atlanta at the Fox Theatre, Vedder clearly said "it's dedicated to the bastard that married my Momma." He was referring to his stepfather, Peter Mueller, a California attorney whom Vedder had long believed to be his biological father and who divorced his mother in the early 1980s.[9]

Personnel

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Personnel taken from Vitalogy liner notes,[10] except where noted.

Pearl Jam

Additional musician

Reception

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Although never released as a single, "Better Man" nonetheless became one of Pearl Jam's most-played songs on the radio in the U.S. "Better Man" became the most successful song from Vitalogy on the American rock charts. At the 13th annual Pop Music Awards of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, "Better Man" was cited as one of the most-performed ASCAP songs of 1995.[11] Chris True of AllMusic proclaimed it as "arguably the stand out track on 1994's Vitalogy—and equally arguably—[one of] the band's better songs in the whole of their career." He added, "Vitalogy was, admittedly, the end of Pearl Jam's reign as top rock act and it's because of songs like "Better Man" that they were able to stay there without succumbing to all the traps of stardom and shameless marketing."[12]

In 2021, American Songwriter and Kerrang each ranked the song number six on their lists of the greatest Pearl Jam songs.[13][14]

Various performances

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Pearl Jam first performed "Better Man" live at a concert in May 13, 1993 in San Francisco at Slim's Café, almost six months before the release of Vs.. At the time, the song had more of an up-tempo beat attached to it.[15]

The band often performs the song live as a medley with The English Beat's "Save It for Later", a song that inspired Vedder to write "Better Man".[16]

Throughout Pearl Jam's Binaural Tour (2000), Vedder often performed the song "Romanza" as an intro to "Better Man",[17] with it being played most recently in 2005.[18] At the last Vote for Change concert on October 13, 2004, in East Rutherford, New Jersey at Continental Airlines Arena, Vedder made a guest appearance with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and sang "Better Man" upon Springsteen's request; the audience sang along.[19] Pearl Jam performed the song for its appearance on VH1 Storytellers in 2006.[20] At Pearl Jam's August 29, 2006, concert in Arnhem, Netherlands at the Gelredome, Vedder sang Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" at the beginning of "Better Man".[21]

Charts

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References

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  1. ^ a b c O'Brien, Brendan; Beato, Rick (May 23, 2024). Brendan O'Brien Interview: The Unsung Hero Of Rock Music. Retrieved June 7, 2025 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ a b Weisbard, Eric, et al. "Ten Past Ten". Spin. August 2001.
  3. ^ Marks, Craig. "Let's Get Lost". Spin. December 1994.
  4. ^ Hilburn, Robert (December 22, 1996). "Working Their Way Out of a Jam". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ^ Minepj (May 5, 2008), Eddie Vedder (Bad Radio) - Better Man live in 1989, archived from the original on December 21, 2021, retrieved February 3, 2018
  6. ^ Irwin, Corey (June 10, 2024). "How Pearl Jam Ripped Off John Paul Jones for 'Better Man'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  7. ^ Weisel, Al (December 15, 1994). "Vitalogy review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  8. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (June 2, 2006). "Pearl Jam Tells Its 'Story' At VH1 Taping". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012.
  9. ^ Corbett, Bernard M.; Harkins, Thomas Edward (2016). Pearl Jam FAQ: All That's Left to Know About Seattle's Most Enduring Band. Montclair, New Jersey: Backbeat Books. ISBN 9781617136122. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  10. ^ Vitalogy (Album liner notes). Pearl Jam. 1994.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ^ "Pearl Jam: Timeline". Pearljam.com. Archived from the original on January 9, 2008. Retrieved June 27, 2007.
  12. ^ True, Chris. "Better Man > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved on May 16, 2008.
  13. ^ Uitti, Jacob (December 30, 2021). "Top 10 Pearl Jam Songs". American Songwriter. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  14. ^ Law, Sam (January 19, 2021). "The 20 greatest Pearl Jam songs – ranked". Kerrang. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  15. ^ "Pearl Jam Songs: 'Better Man'". pearljam.com. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
  16. ^ Golsen, Tyler (June 1, 2022). "The hidden inspiration behind the Pearl Jam song 'Better Man'". Far Out Magazine. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
  17. ^ "Pearl Jam - Romance". pearljam.com. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  18. ^ "Pearl Jam - Mexico City, Mexico, México D.F. - 2005". pearljam.com. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  19. ^ Greene, Andy (February 25, 2016). "Flashback: Eddie Vedder Sings 'Better Man' With Springsteen". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  20. ^ "Pearl Jam Setlist at Club Avalon, New York". setlist.fm. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  21. ^ "Pearl Jam Concert Chronology: 2006"[usurped]. TwoFeetThick.com.
  22. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 7748." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  23. ^ "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (21.01 '95 – 27.01 '95)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). January 21, 1995. p. 20. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  24. ^ "Pearl Jam Chart History (Radio Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  25. ^ "Pearl Jam Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  26. ^ "Pearl Jam Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  27. ^ "Pearl Jam Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  28. ^ "RPM Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1995". RPM. Retrieved May 31, 2018 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  29. ^ "The Year in Music: Hot 100 Singles Airplay" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 107, no. 51. December 23, 1995. p. YE-32. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  30. ^ "The Year in Music: Hot Album Rock Tracks". Billboard. Vol. 107, no. 51. December 23, 1995. p. YE-76.
  31. ^ "The Year in Music: Hot Modern Rock Tracks". Billboard. Vol. 107, no. 51. December 23, 1995. p. YE-77.
  32. ^ "The Year in Music 1995: Top 40/Mainstream Top Titles". Airplay Monitor. Vol. 3, no. 51. December 15, 1995. p. 8.
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