Morris Day looks back on the 40th Anniversary of The Time's debut album
In 1990, Prince, who was as competitive as he was virtuosic, made a rare admission of vulnerability: “To this day, [the Time] are the only band I’ve ever been afraid of.”
Prince had initially helped nurture the Time, a group of crack musicians from his hometown of Minneapolis that he formed into a band and wrote songs for. When they emerged in 1981 with an eponymous album full of knee-buckling funk and an impeccably choreographed live show, they immediately scored a pair of Top Ten R&B hits: “Get It Up,” a thoroughly convincing argument for “freaking all night long,” and the chest-puffing, highly danceable “Cool,” which ticks off the resume of an impossibly wealthy, indefatigable playboy embodied by lead singer Morris Day.
Do you remember when you first met Prince?
My mom moved us to Minneapolis from Springfield, Illinois. I was like eight years old. We were supposed to be coming to California, stopped in Minneapolis to visit a sick aunt, and ended up there for the next 20 years. When I was about 12, we lived on the North Side of Minneapolis on a street called Vincent. Prince lived right around the corner from me. He was a little dude, not just in stature but in age — I was 12, he must have been 10 or 11. I used to see him and his sister playing outside because we lived on the same block. But I didn’t know him, I put two and two together later.
In high school, we went to different schools, but we all lived on the North Side. I couldn’t find myself. I wasn’t a jock, and I wasn’t in with the in-crowd at that point in time. I couldn’t find my mix. One night I was at North High, they had cleared out the lunch room for a school dance, and this band Grand Central was playing. I go there thinking I’m going to meet up with a girl. I got there and I saw this band playing and I was mesmerized. I was in front of them the rest of the night. These guys were 13, 14 years old but playing like 25 year-olds. Prince was playing Carlos Santana guitar solos, crazy stuff.
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