Coming from Jefferson Airplane with the band’s 1960s classics “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit,” then transitioning into Jefferson Starship in the’ 70s and finally Starship by the 1980s, the band had their third hit within two years of their new iteration. Starship’s 1985 debut, Knee Deep in the Hoopla, produced No. 1 hits “We Built This City” and “Sara,” then came the band’s next hit album, No Protection, in 1987.
A year before singer Grace Slick left Starship in 1988, the band released their third No. 1 hit, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.”
Written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” was inspired by the former’s new relationship folowing his divorce. When he and Warren were commissioned to write a song for the romantic comedy Mannequin, starring Kim Cattrall and Andrew McCarthy, Hammond reflected on his fiancé, Claudia Fernández, and initially started writing “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” as a wedding song for his new bride.
Lookin’ in your eyes
I see a paradise
This world that I’ve found is too good to be true
Standin’ here beside you
Want so much to give you
This love in my heart that I’m feeling for you
Let ’em say we’re crazy
I don’t care about that
Put your hand in my hand
Baby, don’t ever look back
Let the world around us
Just fall apart
Baby, we can make it
If we’re heart-to-heart
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[RELATED: The ’80s Starship Hit Grace Slick Called the “Worst Song Ever”]
And we can build this dream together
Standing strong forever
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers
We’ll still have each other
Nothing’s gonna stop us
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
Sung as a duet by Slick and Mickey Thomas, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” was a pure anadultered anthem of love and also marked Warren’s first No. 1, following her hits for DeBarge (“Rhythm of the Night”) and Laura Branigan (“Solitaire”).
I don’t like to sing songs where I don’t believe the lyrics.
Grace Slick
A Chick-fil-A Ad and Slick’s Dismissal of the Starship Hit
In 2017, “Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now” resurfaced in a Chick-fil-A ad that ran during the Grammy Awards. Slick allowed the song to be used, then donated the profits to Lambda Legal, which supports the LGBTQ community, in response to the Chick-fil-A CEO’s anti-LGBBTQ comments.
Though Starship was at the height of their career with the release of “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” Slick, who was at least a decade older than her bandmates, parted ways with the band by early 1988 at age 47. Slick also admitted that she never liked their biggest hit because she didn’t believe its lyrics.
“I don’t like to sing songs where I don’t believe the lyrics,” said Slick. “Diane Warren is an amazing pop songwriter, and she, I’m assuming, believes in that state where you’re in love, you get kind of crazy. But I’m older now. I am damn near 50, and I’m singing, ‘Nothing’s gonna stop us now.’”
She added, “I know goddamn well how fast a relationship can come apart. So I’m getting up onstage, and I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, right.’ It’s distracting and disconcerting to me.”
Photo: George Rose/Getty Images
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