The Time



"What time is it?!"

- Morris Day's Catch Phrase.

"The real party's across the street, featurin' da greatest band in da world... MORRIS DAY AN'A TIME!!!"

- Jay, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

(Later moved to actual band and then no involvement)

The Time were the most successful of Prince's Associates, and Jay and Silent Bob's favourites. And probably the most famous too.

The members of The Time are as follows:
 * Morris Day - vocals
 * Jerome Benton - vocals, comic foil, percussion
 * Jellybean Johnson - drums
 * Jimmy Jam - keyboards
 * Monte Moir - keyboards
 * Terry Lewis - bass
 * Jesse Johnson - guitar

The Time were a pop-funk-rock ensemble that relied heavily on Rule of Funny and very long jams. They were largely defined by frontman Morris Day's hilarious lyrics and Chivalrous Pervert-Handsome Lech persona, with Jerome Benton serving as his Foil. This dynamic was observed through their appearance in Purple Rain as Prince's rival band, and Day's humorous persona proved to be one of the few points that critics liked, with many even commenting that he upstaged Prince's acting (not much of a compliment, admittedly... Prince's acting makes Keanu Reeves look like William Shatner).

As befitting an associate band, for their initial period of 1981-1985, Prince played all instruments on The Time albums and simply overdubbed their vocals. However, Prince got Hoist by His Own Petard here as The Time ably played the same songs live and occasionally would show up Prince when opening for The Revolution to get back at him for lack of input and low payments.

Day left the band after an argument with Prince in 1985, focusing on a solo career. The Time disbanded right then, with its remaining members being amalgamated into The Family and Jam and Lewis going on to be famous Record Producers, mostly for their work with Janet Jackson. Jerome Benton also starred as Prince's sidekick in Under the Cherry Moon, and similarly managed to out-act Prince and be considered the one character reviewers liked. Jesse Johnson put out a solo album named Shockadelica in 1986, which drove Prince to write "Shockadelica" since he felt an album with that cool a title needed a title song, but Johnson had neglected to write one.

The band reunited in 1990, this time with almost no involvement from Prince and complete creative control. The resulting album, Pandemonium, spawned their highest selling single, "Jerk Out". They also appeared on the soundtrack to Graffiti Bridge, on the songs "Release It", "Shake!", "Love Machine" and "The Latest Fashion" (the last in collaboration with Prince).

They then kind of disappeared again, spawning two different touring acts; The Time (which included Jam and Lewis) and Morris Day & the Time (which included the other members.) In 2011, spurred by a performance at the 2008 Grammys, all seven original members reformed under the name The Original 7ven (as Prince refused to license the name "The Time" out to them) and are recording together again.


 * The Time (1981)
 * What Time Is It? (1982)
 * Ice Cream Castle (1984)
 * Pandemonium (1990)
 * Condensate (2011)


 * Blatant Lies: "777-9311" includes a moment when Morris shouts "Terry!" before the song's bass solo, even though the song was entirely recorded by Prince.
 * Call-and-Response Song: A staple of their repetoire.
 * Catch Phrase: "What time is it?" and "Somebody bring me a mirror (so I can look at X)"
 * Chivalrous Pervert or Handsome Lech: Morris Day.
 * Dance Sensation: parodied with "The Walk", played straight with "Jungle Love" and "The Bird".
 * Epic Rocking: "Get It Up", "Cool", "The Stick", "Wild and Loose", "The Walk", "Ice Cream Castles", "The Bird", "Jerk Out", "Chocolate", "Skillet".
 * Intercourse with You: The lengthy jams on their first album, "Get It Up" and "The Stick."
 * Large Ham: Morris Day
 * Self-Titled Album
 * Stealth Parody: "Gigolos Get Lonely Too", "Onedayi'mgonnabesomebody" (okay, that one's more obvious...)
 * Something Completely Different: the heavy rock of "Skillet".
 * Spoken Word in Music: Most of their songs eschew ending in favour of repeating the backing track and adding dialogue that may or may not be all that funny. The song "Chili Sauce" is five straight minutes of seductive dialogue.
 * Title by Number: "777-9311" was named after Dez Dickerson's phone number. He had to change it after receiving unwanted calls.