Trouble (Lindsey Buckingham song)


"Trouble" is a song written, composed and performed by Lindsey Buckingham and released as the lead single from his 1981 debut solo album Law and Order. The single was Buckingham's first hit as a solo artist, peaking at number nine in the US and number 31 in the UK, where it remained charted for seven weeks. It was most successful in Australia, where it topped the chart for three weeks and became the eighth biggest-selling single of 1982. It experienced similar levels of success in South Africa, reaching number one for two weeks and finishing 1982 as the country's 13th best-selling single.

Background

Buckingham approached "Trouble" differently from his other songs, wanting the song to have more of a "live feel". He recruited his Fleetwood Mac bandmate, Mick Fleetwood, to play drums. However, Buckingham believed none of the takes were solid from start to finish, so a taped loop of the drum track was used throughout the song: "The irony of that was that the original reason for having Mick play on the song was to approach the track completely live, as opposed to my usual technique." Buckingham would later overdub some additional drum fills and cymbal crashes, in addition to other percussion instruments, creating the illusion of live drums.
George Hawkins was brought in to play bass guitar. Hawkins had worked with Fleetwood on his first solo album earlier that year. "Trouble" was the only track on "Law and Order" on which Buckingham played neither bass or drums. Buckingham was also particularly proud of the Spanish guitar solo. Some of Buckingham's vocals for the song are sung in falsetto.

Music video

The distinctive music video for "Trouble" features a multi-instrumental "big band" consisting of male musicians—four as guitarists and two bassists, besides Buckingham, and six as drummers, including Mick Fleetwood. Walter Egan also appears in the music video as the second guitarist from the front. The video also features ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarists Bob Welch and Bob Weston, as well as Dwight Twilley and Andy Ward.

Track listings

7": Asylum Records / E-47223 (US)

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In other media