The Time — “The Bird”

Entered Top 40:   April 13, 1985
2 weeks 
Peaked at: 36

Prince assembled The Time —mostly out of Minneapolis bands Flyte Tyme and Grand Central—as a side outlet for his funky, silly compositions like “Cool” and “The Walk,” and as an opening act for his own tours. He kept the band on a tight leash early on, composing and performing much of their recorded material: aside from Morris Day playing drums and singing, members of The Time don’t play at all on their first album. The Time did jell into a fiercely tight live group, and as Prince’s opener, one devoted to showing up their boss whenever they could. Prince cast The Time as his band’s rivals in his film Purple Rain; “The Bird” is one of two Time songs off their Ice Cream Castle record featured in the movie (along with “Jungle Love”; a #20 hit). The album version is a live recording from an October 1983 First Avenue show; the single snips that down to about half the length.

The Time had more or less split up by this point, and had not been invited onto the Purple Rain tour. Morris Day and Jesse Johnson started solo careers (Johnson’s “Be Your Man” had entered the Hot 100 by this time “The Bird” entered the Top 40, and would eventually peak at #61, #4 R&B), while Jellybean Johnson, Jerome Benton, and Paul Peterson shifted over to a new Prince-created act, St. Paul & The Family. The Family put out one album and are now best known for being the group who originally released “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Meanwhile, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis —two original Flyte Tyme/The Time members sacked in 1983 after missing a gig—would start recording & producing Janet Jackson’s Control album as Flyte Tyme Productions in June. Control was seen as a statement album for Janet getting out from under her father’s thumb, but was as much about Flyte Tyme distinguishing itself from the Prince camp.

The Time’s original lineup (including Jam & Harris) would reunite in 1990 for the Pandemonium album and to once again appear in a Prince movie; this time the complete mess, Graffiti Bridge. Prince did give The Time the three best songs on the soundtrack, anyway. The classic lineup has gotten together a few times since, both as The Time and as “The Original 7even,” but Morris Day has toured under The Time name in the interim.