In 1981, Fleetwood Mac were taking a break. Their last album, Tusk, had been perceived as a commercial flop, and it was well known that hadn’t been getting along too well. This hiatus would see Stevie Nicks release her first solo album, Bella Donna, which sent four singles to the top 40 of the charts. The way she played it was to enlist outside help - The Eagles’ Don Henley on “Leather and Lace”, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on “Stop Dragging My Heart Around”; both songs were Top 10 hits.
Lindsey Buckingham, true to form, went his own way. On his 1981 solo album Law & Order, he plays nearly all the instruments himself. “Trouble” was the only song on the album that Buckingham didn’t play bass or drums on; his Fleetwood Mac bandmate Mick Fleetwood was brought in to do the drums (things didn’t work out so well in the recording session, and a tape loop of the drum track, about four-seconds long, was used for the song). From the goofy put-on voice in the intro (reminiscent of the over-the-top vocal performances of “What Makes You Think You’re the One” and “Not That Funny”) to the thin, trebly guitar and drums, it’s clear that this is not Lindsay Buckingham re-calibrating or aiming to please. These are the aesthetic ideas of Tusk followed to their conclusion. Funny, then, that it was something of a hit, reaching #9 in the US (and #1 in Australia, for three weeks).