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
Recorded	1986
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 in 1986. It is a duet featuring Starship vocalists Grace Slick and Mickey Thomas. 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. The single became the first number one single by songwriter Diane Warren.^[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. The music video was released in late 1986 to promote Mannequin.

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.

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]

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]

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

Weekly Charts

Chart (1987)	Peak Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[13]	3
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[14]	3
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[15]	5
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[16]	1
France (SNEP)[17]	16
Germany (Official German Charts)[18]	3
Ireland (IRMA)[19]	1
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[20]	8
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[21]	21
Norway (VG-lista)[22]	2
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[23]	2
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[24]	4
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[25]	1
US Billboard Hot 100[26]	1

Year-end charts

Chart (1987)	Position
Austrian Singles Chart[27]	17
Canadian RPM Top Singles	5
Dutch Top 40[28]	9
French Top 50[29]	16
Swiss Singles Chart[30]	8
UK Singles Chart[31]	2
US Billboard Hot 100[32]	5

Certifications

Country	Certification	Date	Sales certified
Canada[33]	Gold	April 22, 1987	50,000
Sweden[34]	Gold	September 7, 1987	10,000
UK[35]	Gold	June 1, 1987	500,000
U.S.[36]	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

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. "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – CHART POSITIONS PRE 1989". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
14. "Austriancharts.at – Starship – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
15. "Ultratop.be – Starship – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
16. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0796." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
17. "Lescharts.com – Starship – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
18. "Offiziellecharts.de – Starship – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
19. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
20. "Dutchcharts.nl – Starship – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
21. "Charts.org.nz – Starship – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
22. "Norwegiancharts.com – Starship – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". VG-lista. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
23. "Swedishcharts.com – Starship – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
24. "Swisscharts.com – Starship – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
25. "Archive Chart: 1987-05-03" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
26. "Starship – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Starship. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
27. 1987 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved September 3, 2008)
28. "Single top 100 over 1987" (PDF) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
29. 1987 French Singles Chart
30. Steffen Hung. "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1987". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
31. "1980s Singles Chart Archive". everyHit.com. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
32. "1987". Longbored Surfer. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
33. "Gold and Platinum". Cria.ca. 2014-04-01. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
34. Archived February 11, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
35. Archived September 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
36. "Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - May 02, 2014". RIAA. Retrieved 2014-05-02.

External links

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