Featuring John 5, the track finds the former Van Halen frontman wistfully recall throwing a TV off a balcony, and that one time his bandmates safety-pinned a tablecloth to his pants
(Image credit: Paul Bergen/Redferns)
David Lee Roth has shared a reflective look at his time with Van Halen with a new single, entitled Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway.
The track, which features a picture of the original Van Halen lineup – Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony – as its cover on YouTube and streaming services, is an acoustic guitar-driven country-flavored number, with lyrics detailing his time with the legendary rock outfit.
Memories Roth touches on include the time the band threw a television off a balcony, when an unnamed member – possibly Eddie Van Halen – pinned a tablecloth to his pants, and the time they were kicked out of a restaurant, and finished the night drinking beer and eating McDonald’s on a park bench down the street. Listen to the track below.
Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway originates, according to Louder, from acoustic sessions recorded with guitarist John 5 in 2007, alongside drummer Gregg Bissonette and keyboardist Brett Tuggle.
In a 2012 interview with Guitar World, John 5 revealed that he and Roth had recorded roughly an album’s worth of music.
“Dave and I have about 12 or 13 songs in the can for a future record,” he said. “And it’s all acoustic. But not strummy, campfire stuff – I’m talking lots of cool, crazy jazz chords, and 50 or 60 overdubbed guitar tracks, with all this harmonising and other weird stuff going on. Dave’s vocals are incredible. He sings his ass off.”
Nothing Could Have Stopped Us is my favorite song that I’ve ever done with Dave, and it is beautiful
John 5
Other songs that have emerged from the sessions include 2020’s Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill, Giddy-Up!, and possibly the reflective Pointing at the Moon, which arrived earlier this month, though John 5’s involvement in the latter is yet unconfirmed.
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John 5 mentioned the release of Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway in an interview with Darren Paltrowitz last year.
“There’s a song that I just can’t wait for Dave to release,” he said. “It’s called Nothing Could Have Stopped Us and it’s about Van Halen. It’s my favorite song that I’ve ever done with Dave, and it is beautiful. I don’t know why he’s not releasing that one yet. And I just can’t wait for people to hear that one. It’s just absolutely wonderful.”
Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.
