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Cover of The Principle of Moments by Robert Plant
Cover: The Principle of Moments

Song · Robert Plant

“Big Log” by Robert Plant

From the album The Principle of Moments (1983)

“Big Log” by Robert Plant appears on 27 radio countdowns from 11 stations between 1983 and 2025. It was first released in 1983 on the album The Principle of Moments. Its best result is #17 on the KISW Top 25 Rock Songs from 1983. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #819 classic rock song of all time.

27countdowns
11stations
#17best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1983–2025years charted

Robert Plant sent "Big Log" out in 1983 as the first single from The Principle of Moments, his second solo album, and it glides where you might expect it to stomp. It began with co-writer Jezz Woodroffe fooling around on a TR-808 drum machine until he had a beat and handclaps; Robbie Blunt walked in, liked the groove, found the chords in no time and dreamed up the haunting theme, while Woodroffe's Godwin string synth supplied the middle eight. It was written in the dead of winter, with the fuel gone and one end of a fallen tree some 15 feet long pushed into the fire and slowly burnt until it went hollow. Neither word of the title turns up in the lyric.

Phil Collins drums, and Plant produced it with Benji Lefevre and Pat Moran. It gave him his first solo top 40 hit: 11 in Britain, 20 in America.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Classic Rock

Hard Rock & Metal

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1983 17 KISW Seattle-Tacoma, WA KISW Top 25 Rock Songs from 1983 25

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1997 834 102.3 WBAB WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997) 1023
1997 409 100.7 WZLX WZLX Memorial 500 (1997) 499
1997 240 104.5 KZEP KZEP Memorial Weekend Top 500 (1997) 500
2002 916 92.3 KGON KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2002) 923
2002 962 KISW KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) 999
2002 437 100.7 WZLX WZLX Memorial 500 (2002) 500
2004 916 92.3 KGON KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2004) 923
2010 538 WXPN WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) 885
2011 399 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1100 Countdown (2011) 1100
2012 403 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1200 Countdown (2012) 1200
2013 292 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 500 (2013) 500
2013 537 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Grand Jam 1000 (2013) 1000
2014 666 Big 100 BIG 1000 New Year's Countdown (2014) 1000
2014 336 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX 1K Countdown (2014) 1000
2014 144 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 400 (2014) 400
2015 260 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 500 (2015) 499
2015 538 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Classic Rock Countdown (2015) 1007
2016 666 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Countdown for 2016 1007
2019 871 102.5 KZOK KZOK Top 1025 of 2019 1025
2020 990 102.5 KZOK KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020) 1025
2022 475 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Big 500 (2022) 500
2022 978 102.5 KZOK KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2022) 1025
2023 197 Qfm96 Qfm96 Memorial Day 500 (2023) 500
2024 206 Qfm96 Qfm96 Memorial Day 500 (2024) 498
2025 270 102.5 WDVE DVE Memorial Day 500 (2025) 500
2025 196 Qfm96 Qfm96 Memorial Day 500 (2025) 498

Charting alongside it in 1983

Best songs of 1983 →
  1. 1New Year's DayU2
  2. 2Let's DanceDavid Bowie
  3. 3The LovecatsThe Cure
  4. 4Every Breath You TakeThe Police
  5. 5Rebel YellBilly Idol
  6. 6In a Big CountryBig Country

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