The Time

In mid 1980, Prince was deep in the recording sessions for Dirty Mind. He had given one of his regular jamming partners, Morris Day, free reign to use the studio for whatever he wanted. One of the first songs he started putting together was the groove that would eventually become the final track of Dirty Mind, “Partyup.” Prince was immediately enamored by the track and wanted it for his record, offering Day an ultimatum: $10,000 cash or a record deal. Day rejected the money, and the following year Prince kept up his end of the bargain. He became the frontman of The Time, was introduced to some ace local musicians, and worked with Prince to write and produce their debut album. The individual members are credited and appear on the album cover, though they hadn’t yet started working as a unit; almost all instruments are performed by Prince, credited under the alias Jamie Starr. It’s effectively a Prince and Morris Day duo record, a sidebar from “Partyup” taken to its funkiest extreme. “Get It Up,” especially, seems like another that Prince might have wanted to keep for himself.