Robert Plant — “Little By Little”

Entered Top 40:   June 15, 1985
4 weeks 
Peaked at: 36

In 1985 Robert Plant continued to do whatever the hell he wanted, confounding people still holding on to Led Zeppelin. The prior year he’d had a couple of big hits with The Honeydrippers, a supergroup assembled for some ’50s covers (including their #3 take on “Sea of Love.”

Plant’s Shaken ‘n’ Stirred album got mixed reviews; here is a nearly-two-hour video where a couple of guys try to rehabilitate its rep, if you decide you have time in your life for that sort of of thing. Plant supposedly got particular heat for one fairly experimental track, “Too Loud.” On his podcast (yeah, Robert Plant has a podcast), he claimed he was inspired by David Byrne for that one. “Little by Little” might also have a bit of Talking Heads in its opening bass riff; specifically “Once in a Lifetime.” Or is that The Police’s “When the World is Running Down?” Anyway, it’s not as present in the mix used for the music video. I barely recalled “Little by Little,” but I mentioned to my wife (who did not have a Zeppelin phase) that it was coming up, and she started singing it.

In a month, Plant would try to give the people what they wanted at the July 13 Live Aid concert, reuniting with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones for an unrehearsed Led Zeppelin reunion set with Phil Collins and Tony Thompson on drums. In 1988 Plant would hit the Top 40 one last time with “Tall Cool One” (#25) but again, he was never a singles act.