Editing Any Trouble (section)

==Signed to Stiff Records==
Airplay for Any Trouble's debut indie single "Yesterday's Love" led to interest from major record labels including [[Warner Music Group|WEA]], [[Chrysalis Records|Chrysalis]], [[EMI Records|EMI]] and [[Stiff Records|Stiff]]. Any Trouble selected Stiff "because they were our kind of people".<ref name=coconut />

Their first release on the Stiff label, ''[[Where Are All the Nice Girls?]]'' was perhaps their most successful.<ref name="Larkin"/> The album was produced by [[John Wood (music producer)|John Wood]] (Fairport Convention etc.) and the band gained significant visibility after featuring on a ''[[Melody Maker]]'' front cover and in a gushing article by [[Allan Jones (editor)|Allan Jones]].<ref name=triste /> In some ways the band's career never recovered from this early rush of success and Gregson's singing was unfairly compared to that of [[Elvis Costello]] and [[Ian Dury]].<ref name=bbcmusic>{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Sid|title=The Best of Clive Gregson - Review (2009)|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/zz4h|website=BBC Music|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref><ref name=bandonthewall>{{cite web|title=An Interview with Clive Gregson of Any Trouble (18th November 2014)|url=http://bandonthewall.org/news/2014/11/an-interview-with-clive-gregson-of-any-trouble/|website=Band on the Wall|date=18 November 2014|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>

The band's second album ''Wheels in Motion'', with Martin Hughes replacing Mel Harley on drums, was produced by Mike Howlett;<ref name="Larkin"/> it would be the last recorded on the Stiff label in Any Trouble's original incarnation.<ref name=trouserpress>{{cite web|title=Any Trouble|url=http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=any_trouble|website=Trouser Press|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>

Despite frequent touring and the release of ''Wheels in Motion'', Any Trouble's record sales failed to grow. The band were dropped by Stiff during a 1983 US tour supporting [[Ian Hunter (singer)|Ian Hunter]],<ref name=coconut /> with their manager arranging for them to open for [[Molly Hatchet]] to help keep them afloat. At that point Clive Gregson "pulled my plug... threw in the towel... we straggled back to NYC, where our van was robbed whilst we were in the Stiff offices trying to wrestle return tickets to the UK out of the office manager". The band flew back to the UK on standby tickets.<ref name=booklet>Interview with Clive Gregson from ''Any Trouble: The Complete Stiff Recordings 1980-1981'' booklet</ref>