There was a lot of hype around The Time back in the early to mid 80s, most of it coming from Prince himself (dubbing them the only band he was ever afraid of, because they were like a beast etc), but there's something I always asked myself and still do nowadays, because it's difficult to judge "from the inside":

How commercially big and relevant to the average Joe are some of the things Prince does, really?

One more specific question would be: how big was The Time?

Were there any The Time fans who didn't listen to Prince, too?

Did every The Time fan knew they were associated with Prince?

How big were The Time shows and were there more like Prince-fan-get-togethers, or did they have their own, unique fan group?

How big are they nowadays, truly? Is it only us who got excited by their reuinion, or are there really lots of people from outside the "Prince-world" and the org who really, really cared and would say something like "hey, The Time are back, that's still one of my favourite bands!", but who don't know much about Prince?

Do news about The Time and their reuinion surpass the borderline of the org, the other fan sites and DrFunkenberry?

well i think it was mainly in the usa that they were popular...early 80s they had a few big r&b hits and a couple of albums that sold well ...in fact they werent that far behind prince's sales of dirty mind and controversy at that time......they had a billboard top ten hit with jerk out in the early 90s so..yes..the had a fair bit of success ...but mainly in the us i think...

some would lead you to believe that the time only found success with the lp "ice cream castles'

not true

the time was huge.but in r&b/black music.

the 1st 2 lps sold like 750,000 apeice which was pretty fucking good for a funk act back then that did NOT have a top 40 crossover POP hit at that time.however their singles did better on the black charts at that time than princes singles.example,"what time is it?" came out around the same time as "1999".the biggest single from that lp that Prince had on the black charts(as they were called) was "1999" which hit number 4."777-9311" was the big time hit and it sat at #2 for 4 weeks.

and the concerts were a real show.i rememebr my aunts,uncles and cousins going fucking bananas over the time .

and of course "ice cream castles" got a big push from the film.

dont forget chart politics were not like they are now.the black charts/pop charts/and country charts were really really segregated then BUT just because it wasnt a "POP" hit doenst mean it wasnt a hit.there is alot more to music than just pop

Between 1981 to 1983 The Time had their fair share of popularity. Their songs "Get It Up" and "Cool" were played quite a bit on the R&B stations back then. The only place to see the "Cool"

video were on shows like "Americas Top Ten w/ Kasey Kasem" or the late night music shows.

When "What Time Is It?" hit the streets they received major airplay with "777-9311". Everybody

that was into R&B loved that song. Even the die hard hip hoppers who didn't like Prince liked "777". I remember everyone talking about their peformances on "A.B" and "Solid Gold" in school on Monday.

By the time "Ice Cream Castles" came out, the world knew who The Time were by then. I remember also being upset (hearing the rumours) that they may be breaking up. This was back

in the day when you had to read the music mags to get info and wait long periods to hear the truth.

I think the only folks who were excited over the reunion are the old school diehards. Since the release, I've only seen the "Trendin" video on Centric twice and I've heard NO airplay at all on

the radio..(but I expected that). It's a different time and different place for the youth orientated R&B radio of today.

I know there's some folks on the org. that are upset over things like "the Jesse situation" and "they haven't changed their moves since 1983", etc........so what? They put out a decent new CD-DVD and they're still around. Enjoy them while they're here.

Prince is relevant to the average Joe when he breaks new ground with his sounds and lyrics. His futuristic visions and earth shattering new sounds/arrangements, can capture a casual listener's attention.

During this past year I found that there are some Time fans who are separate from Prince fans. Some of the individual artists in The Time also have some very loyal followings.

Condensate was getting rave reviews from a much younger crowd than I imagined but I think that most fans still associate The Time with Prince

Very big among Prince fans.

Kinda big among funk and R&B fans.

Basically unknown by everyone else, barring the whole "Purple Rain" era.

Great question. I remember The Time were a kind of "bridge" for generations. As a teenager, I was really into Prince and the style and all of that. My dad and uncles were having none of the make up, lace, thigh highs and falsetto and sex songs. The Time, on the other hand, were some cool dudes in suits, singing about the good life, smooth dancing...it was something to which they could also relate. And remember, at this time in history, it was not well known of Princes involvement in the the music of The Time.

blackbob said:

well i think it was mainly in the usa that they were popular...early 80s they had a few big r&b hits and a couple of albums that sold well ...in fact they werent that far behind prince's sales of dirty mind and controversy at that time......they had a billboard top ten hit with jerk out in the early 90s so..yes..the had a fair bit of success ...but mainly in the us i think...

number 1 r&b

Dren5 said:

Very big among Prince fans.

Kinda big among funk and R&B fans.

Basically unknown by everyone else, barring the whole "Purple Rain" era.

And heroes to Jay and Silent Bob

Big enough that where I'm from Morris Day was the draw for Purple Rain not Prince. I was rooting for Morris in Purple Rain. Never Prince. Of course by the end of Purple Rain, Prince had his hook in me, but I always found his albums to be kind of uneven for me even as a kid. Morris was a star in Detroit, and Prince, musical abilities aside, was just this oddball, possibly devil worshiping, freak.

In 1984, they were very big.

Not Prince or Madonna big, but big. Everyone knew who they were and knew the songs "The Bird" and "Jungle Love"

It was common for kids in my middle school to say "Ohh ee ooh ee ohh" from Jungle Love.

By Graffiti Bridge, they were still relatively known outside the Prince community,

and probably better liked than Prince himself at least until D&P and the first Prince

resurrgance (moderate that it was).

They were huge in the black community prior to Purple Rain. Like many have said, most brothas werent hip to Prince's femininity and rock/new wave tendencies...Morris and the fellas' pimp persona was the coolest thing going at that time. "Get It Up", "Cool", "The Stick", "777-9311", "Gigolos Get Lonely Too" and "The Walk" were all praised as "the pimpest shit ever" (at least in my neighborhood they were). Everyone knew there was a Prince connection, but we werent aware that Prince was behind the whole thing until after Purple Rain.

Over the years I have met many people that saw the 1999 shows in Detroit, St Louis, Houston, Birmingham, Dallas, San Diego, and Oakland. I always ask the Time vs. Prince question and every black male I know who went to these shows say that the Time made Prince look absolutely stupid. Some say, "Prince was good, but the Time was amazing!"

Personally I hate the comparisons. Wasnt that what the Time was created for? To make sure black folks didnt jump off of the Prince wagon while he continued to work toward crossing over? Of course they were going to put on a balls to the wall funk show to blow away the brothas before Prince came out and did his rock/pop/soul/mystical revolution thing afterwards. Two entirely different styles of shows...both utterly amazing.

But yeah...the Time was huge among black fans. And there are still those who say that the Purple Rain film would have sucked royally (no pun intended) without Morris and Jerome.

^ Thanks for this first hand account; paints a fascinating picture. I was 17 yrs old, and a UK Prince fan back then so reading stories like this is why I come on the org.

And it highlights why The Time/ TO7 fans feel so passionately still about their journey. We surely can all respect just what their contribution adds to the Prince experience.

As others have said,the Time were HUGE in the R&B/funk community.R&B radio also LOVED these guys.

Dren5 said:

Basically unknown by everyone else, barring the whole "Purple Rain" era.

That is true of Prince for some people. So that would be a fairly big era.

Never went to a house party that didn't play The Time. Not a lot of Prince.I even used to tell people...come ON! That is totally Princes voice all OVER those records. they didn't want to hear it. Princes fashion sense at the time did not score well in some communities no matter what the music was. Of course Purple Rain made it all acceptable.