David Lee Roth has posted a previously unreleased solo song at his official website and YouTube channel called “Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway” that finds the Van Halen frontman reminiscing about his old band.
Accompanying the track is a vintage photo of Roth and his three Van Halen band mates all jumping in the air at the same time. The stripped-down tune features multi-tracked acoustic guitars and sparse keyboards accompanying Roth’s vocals.
The song begins with the lines, “We laughed, we cried, we threw that television off the balcony/ That memory means so much to me,” and Diamond Dave sings later, “Remember when you safety pinned the tablecloth to my pants/ And I stood up to the sound of dancing, and the sound of our romance beginning.”
According to the fan site Van Halen News Desk, Roth recorded “Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway” several years ago with current Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 during the same sessions that yielded some of the other tracks Dave has released over the past couple years, including “Somewhere over the Rainbow Bar and Grill,” “Giddy-Up!,” “Low-Rez Sunset” and “Pointing at the Moon.”
In a 2021 interview with AL.com, John 5 mentioned “Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway” while discussing his sessions with Roth.
“Being a Van Halen fan and a Dave Lee Roth fan, it’s unbelievable because it’s about Dave singing about Van Halen and what it was like,” the guitarist noted. “Really something special, so I really hope that comes out.”
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