The Good Stuff

"The Good Stuff"
Single by Kenny Chesney
from the album No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems
B-side	"A Lot of Things Different"
Released	May 6, 2002
Recorded	2001–2002
Genre	Country
Length	3:20
Label	BNA 69172
Songwriter(s)	Craig Wiseman Jim Collins
Producer(s)	Buddy Cannon Kenny Chesney Norro Wilson
Kenny Chesney singles chronology
"Young" (2001) "The Good Stuff" (2002) "A Lot of Things Different" (2002)

"The Good Stuff" is a song written by Jim Collins and Craig Wiseman and recorded by the American country music artist Kenny Chesney. It was released in May 2002 as the second single from his 2002 album No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems.

The song was Chesney's fifth number one hit on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts.^[1] At the time, it was also his longest-lasting number one, spending seven weeks at that position (a record that has since been tied by his 2003 single "There Goes My Life"). The song also reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was named the number one country single of 2002 according to Billboard Year End.

"The Good Stuff" is a about a man who has just had a fight with his wife. In the song "The Good Stuff," the protagonist goes to a bar to drink away his troubles. When he arrives, he sees that the bar is empty except for the bartender. He then asks the bartender for "the good stuff," which is a good alcoholic beverage. The bartender explains that the "good stuff" is the love between a man and woman, and the memories they make together. Some of those memories are the "little things," such as dropping the wedding ring in the spaghetti plate, getting rice in her hair, and eating burnt suppers. The second verse describes the narrator and the bartender grabbing a milk and pouring a glass. As they begin to converse, the narrator notices a picture on the bar. The bartender tells the story of the picture behind the bar. It's a picture of his wife, who died eight years ago from cancer. For five years after her death, he drank heavily, until he realized that the memories of their love were "the one thing stronger than the whiskey." The bartender in the song's bridge suggests that the male go home and apologize to his wife. He says that when she starts to cry and says "I'm sorry," the male should say "so am I." He then tells the male to look into his wife's eyes and "drink it up," because that's the good stuff.

The music video for "The Good Stuff" was directed by Shaun Silva. It premiered on CMT on April 25, 2002, where it was named a "Hot Shot." The music video for "The Good Stuff" features Chesney performing the song in a recording studio. He is also shown singing in front of a wall containing a few pictures. In another scene, Chesney is at a bar talking to the bartender, who is played by his good friend and manager, Dale Morris.

"The Good Stuff" debuted at number 53 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for the week of May 4, 2002.