UK Number 40s: Def Leppard - Long Long Way To Go (2003)

 

At the point this record came out it had been 16 years since Def Leppard made their Top 40 debut and 27 years since the band formed. The fact they were still having Top 40 hits would have been seen as quite an achievement. How did they manage this then?

For their album "X" they called on the in demand team of Swedish songwriters. This included Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson who had helped succeed in bringing Bon Jovi into the 21st century.

This single though was written by Wayne Hector and Steve Robson. Wayne Hector is best known for writing hits for Westlife amongst others, whilst Steve Robson was writing songs for Busted around this time amongst others.

This wouldn't have held much credibility amongst the aging rockers, but then again they would have probably only wanted to hear the old stuff by this point. It therefore made sense to target the younger pop demographic, but as Def Leppard themselves were aging rockers it didn't really work.