Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"
Single by Starship
from the album No Protection
B-side	"Layin' It on the Line"
Released	January 30, 1987[1]
Format	7" single & 12" single
Genre	Rock
Length	4:30
Label	Grunt
Writer(s)	Albert Hammond, Diane Warren
Producer(s)	Narada Michael Walden for Perfection Light Productions
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
Starship singles chronology
"Before I Go" (1986) "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (1987) "It's Not Over Til It's Over" (1987)

"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is a song co-written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren,^[2] recorded by the American rock band Starship. It is a duet featuring Starship vocalists Mickey Thomas and Grace Slick. Featured as the theme to the romantic comedy film Mannequin,^[3][4] it hit No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 on April 4, 1987 and reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks the following month and became the UK's 2nd biggest selling single of 1987. The song also reached the top 10 in six European countries.^[5] At the time, it made Grace Slick (aged 47) the oldest woman to have a number one single in the United States^[6] though the record was later broken by Cher's "Believe" in 1999 (aged 52).

The song also received an Academy Award nomination for "Best Original Song" at the 60th Academy Awards. In addition to appearing on the Mannequin soundtrack, the song was also released on Starship's album No Protection in July 1987.

Background and writing

In a radio interview, Albert Hammond said that the idea for the song came from his impending marriage to his live-in girlfriend of seven years, after his divorce from his previous wife was finalized. He had said to Diane Warren, "It's almost like they've stopped me from marrying this woman for seven years, and they haven't succeeded. They're not gonna stop me doing it."^[7] The song has been considered "feel good" propelled by a strong synthesizer beat.^[8]

Music video

A music video (released in 1986) was produced for the song. It shows Mickey Thomas pursuing a mannequin come to life, played by Grace Slick, wrapped around footage from the film. Meshach Taylor, who plays window dresser Hollywood Montrose in the film, makes a cameo.

In popular culture

The song had played a major role in 1993 for the Montreal Canadiens NHL team during their 24th conquest of the Stanley Cup. While driving home after a lost game, head coach Jacques Demers heard the song playing on the radio and realised it was an empowering song. The next day, he brought to the Montreal Forum a cassette tape with the song on it and distributed among players a small card saying "We're on a mission, nothing's gonna stop us". They soon started to win. He played the song throughout all the playoff games and they eventually won the Stanley Cup that year, over Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings in the Finals.^[9]

The song was also used frequently during the Portland Trail Blazers' 1990 NBA playoff run to the NBA finals. It was usually played during critical time outs during the 4th quarter of home games at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

The song in recent years has been played as a "backing song" on the show The X Factor when reviewing some of acts back to the viewers.

In 2013, the song was used in an advertising campaign by UK telecommunication company Talk Talk. As a result, on Sunday 8 September 2013, it charted at number 39 on the Official UK Chart.^[10]

The song was used in the final scene of the 2014 Korean film Hot Young Bloods.

In the 2014 film, The Skeleton Twins, a brother and sister (played by Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig) lip-sync the song together.^[11][12]

The song was performed by Anjo Yllana, Jimmy Santos, Ruby Rodriguez, Allan K., Ryzza Mae Dizon and Ryan Agoncillo during the opening number of the special episode of Eat Bulaga! entitled "Sa Tamang Panahon" at the Philippine Arena in October 24, 2015.

Track listing

1. "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" – 4:29
2. "Layin' It on the Line" (live at Stopher Gym, Louisiana State University) – 4:15

Charts

Year-end charts

Chart (1987)	Position
Austrian Singles Chart[13]	17
Canadian RPM Top Singles	5
Dutch Top 40[14]	9
French Top 50[15]	16
Swiss Singles Chart[16]	8
UK Singles Chart[17]	2
US Billboard Hot 100[18]	5

Certifications

Country	Certification	Date	Sales certified
Canada[19]	Gold	April 22, 1987	50,000
Sweden[20]	Gold	September 7, 1987	10,000
UK[21]	Gold	June 1, 1987	500,000
U.S.[22]	Gold	February 24, 1989	500,000

Chart successions

Personnel

• Mickey Thomas – Vocals
• Grace Slick – Vocals
• Donny Baldwin – Drums, Vocals
• Craig Chaquico – Guitar
• Pete Sears – Bass

Additional personnel

• Walter Afanasieff – keyboards
• Narada Michael Walden – additional drums
• Corrado Rustici – charvel MIDI
• Bongo Bob – drum sampling and percussion
• Kitty Beethoven, Jim Gilstrap – additional background vocals

Cover versions

• Hong Kong Cantopop singer George Lam covered the song for his album Flower Street No.70 under the title 'Gan Ai Gan Zuo' in 1987.
• The song was covered by Filipina singer & actress Julie Anne San Jose and Filipino actor, singer & rapper Elmo Magalona for the movie Tween Academy: Class of 2012 in 2011.
• Filipino actor & singer Daniel Padilla and Filipina singer Morissette Amon did a cover of the song for the movie Crazy Beautiful You in 2015.
• It was also covered for a Foundation for a Better Life commercial. ^[23]

References

1. "Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - May 02, 2014". RIAA. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
2. Nothing's gonna stop us now and the hit songs of Diane Warren MUSIC SCORE.D WARREN – 1991
3. King, Alex P. (2004). Hit-parade – 20 ans de tubes (in French). Paris: Pascal. p. 340. ISBN 2-35019-009-9.
4. theguardian, 28 March 2014, Dave Eggers article,
6. Gotta revolution, 1987: Grace slick, Paul Kantner, and "volunteers of America" W Glausser – Popular Music & Society, 1988 – Taylor & Francis
7. Archived October 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
8. The when, where, and who of pop lyrics: the listener's prerogative. T Murphey. Popular Music, 1989 – Cambridge Univ Press
9. Leclerc, Mario (2005) (in French). Jacques Demers – En toutes lettres. Quebec: Stanké. p. 472. ISBN 2-7604-0976-7
10. "Starship’s sales rocket following X Factor ad campaign". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
11. Buchanan, Kyle (2014-04-14). "Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig’s Epic Lip-Synch". Vulture. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
12. "Sundance 2014: Bill Hader & Kristen Wiig Make 'Skeleton Twins' a Hit". FirstShowing.net. 2014-01-19. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
13. 1987 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved September 3, 2008)
14. "Single top 100 over 1987" (PDF) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
15. 1987 French Singles Chart
16. Steffen Hung. "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1987". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
17. "1980s Singles Chart Archive". everyHit.com. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
18. "1987". Longbored Surfer. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
19. "Gold and Platinum". Cria.ca. 2014-04-01. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
20. Archived February 11, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
21. Archived September 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
22. "Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - May 02, 2014". RIAA. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
23. "View the Pass It On Commercials - April 23, 2016". Foundation for a Better Life. Retrieved 2016-04-23.

External links

• "Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" on YouTube
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics