The Time (November 14, 1981) – Soul Train Television Appearance – “Get It Up” / “Cool”

SOUL TRAIN

The Time appeared on Soul Train on November 14, 1981, performing “Get It Up” and “Cool” from their debut album. The television appearance placed the Minneapolis group before a national American audience during the earliest stage of their career, presenting Morris Day and the full performing line-up associated with The Time’s distinctive mixture of funk, dance, humour and carefully choreographed stage presentation.

FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS

FEATURE	DETAILS
Artist:	The Time
Programme:	Soul Train
Broadcast Date:	November 14, 1981
Country:	United States
Songs:	Get It Up / Cool
Album:	The Time
Principal Performer:	Morris Day
Guitar:	Jesse Johnson
Bass:	Terry Lewis
Keyboards:	Jimmy Jam / Monte Moir
Drums:	Jellybean Johnson
Performance / Percussion:	Jerome Benton
Format:	Television Performance
Principal Theme:	The Time bringing the emerging Minneapolis sound to national American television

ORIGINAL SOURCE MATERIAL

THE TIME – SOUL TRAIN

INTRODUCTION

THE TIME ON SOUL TRAIN	NOVEMBER 14, 1981
The Time appeared on Soul Train during November 1981, performing two songs from the group’s recently released debut album.	“Get It Up” and “Cool” provided television viewers with an early look at the group that Prince had assembled around frontman Morris Day.

THE TIME

MINNEAPOLIS	A NEW GROUP
The Time belonged directly to the rapidly developing Minneapolis music scene surrounding Prince.	By late 1981 the group had moved from the recording project represented by the debut album into a fully realised performing act with its own strong visual and stage identity.

MORRIS DAY

LEAD VOCALS	FRONTMAN
Morris Day occupied the central frontman role within The Time’s television presentation.	Day’s singing and deliberately theatrical stage personality gave the group an identity recognisably separate from Prince despite the close creative connection between the two projects.

THE PERFORMING LINE-UP

MEMBER	ROLE
Morris Day	Lead vocals
Jesse Johnson	Guitar / backing vocals
Terry Lewis	Bass / backing vocals
Jimmy Jam	Keyboards / backing vocals
Monte Moir	Keyboards / backing vocals
Jellybean Johnson	Drums
Jerome Benton	Percussion / performance / backing vocals

GET IT UP

THE DEBUT ALBUM	EARLY TIME FUNK
“Get It Up” came from The Time’s self-titled debut album.	The song belongs to the first recorded chapter of the group and formed part of the material through which audiences were being introduced to The Time during 1981.

COOL

ANOTHER DEBUT-ALBUM TRACK	THE TIME’S IMAGE
“Cool” was also drawn from The Time.	The song provided an especially suitable vehicle for the group’s developing combination of attitude, humour, choreography and Minneapolis funk.

THE TWO PERFORMANCES

GET IT UP	COOL
Early material from The Time’s debut album and an important part of the group’s initial repertoire.	Another defining early Time recording, built around the group’s deliberately confident public persona.

SOUL TRAIN

NATIONAL TELEVISION	A MAJOR R&B PLATFORM
Soul Train gave The Time exposure through one of America’s established televised showcases for contemporary Black music and dance.	The appearance placed the Minneapolis group alongside performers from the wider American soul, funk and R&B world.

PATTI LABELLE

THE SAME EDITION	ANOTHER FEATURED PERFORMER
Patti LaBelle also appeared on the same edition of Soul Train.	The surviving programme provides a broader snapshot of American R&B and funk television during late 1981.

PRINCE BEHIND THE TIME

THE CREATIVE CONNECTION	A SEPARATE BAND IDENTITY
Prince was central to the creation and recorded music of The Time.	The live group nevertheless developed its own public identity, with Morris Day as frontman and the complete stage band providing a distinct visual and performance character.

THE DEBUT ALBUM

THE TIME	1981
The group’s first album was simply titled The Time.	“Get It Up” and “Cool” both came from that debut project and were consequently natural choices for an early national television appearance.

THE MINNEAPOLIS SOUND

PRINCE	THE TIME
Prince’s recording work was central to the rapidly developing Minneapolis musical identity.	The Time gave that sound another vehicle, emphasising hard funk grooves, keyboards, rhythm and a tightly constructed group persona.

FROM RECORDING PROJECT TO STAGE BAND

THE STUDIO	THE PERFORMANCE GROUP
The Time’s origins were unusually closely connected with Prince’s studio work and songwriting.	Television and concerts required those recordings to become the repertoire of a functioning group capable of creating its own performance identity in front of audiences.

THE VISUAL PRESENTATION

TAILORED STYLE	CHOREOGRAPHED CHARACTER
The Time developed a deliberately coordinated visual presentation rather than appearing as an informal collection of backing musicians.	Clothes, mannerisms and choreographed interaction became increasingly important parts of the group’s identity alongside the music.

JEROME BENTON

MORE THAN PERCUSSION	STAGE INTERACTION
Jerome Benton contributed percussion and backing vocals within the performing line-up.	Benton also became an important part of the visual stage presentation and interaction surrounding Morris Day.

JESSE JOHNSON

GUITAR	A KEY MUSICAL PRESENCE
Jesse Johnson occupied the principal guitar position within the performing group.	Johnson’s guitar work contributed to the harder instrumental edge surrounding The Time’s keyboard-and-rhythm-driven funk.

JIMMY JAM & MONTE MOIR

KEYBOARDS	THE MINNEAPOLIS SOUND
Jimmy Jam and Monte Moir supplied the group’s keyboard line-up.	Keyboards formed a fundamental component of the sound heard throughout The Time’s early material.

TERRY LEWIS

BASS	RHYTHM SECTION
Terry Lewis appeared as bassist within the performing group.	Together with Jellybean Johnson, Lewis supplied the live rhythm foundation beneath the group’s keyboards, vocals and guitar.

JELLYBEAN JOHNSON

DRUMS	THE FUNK FOUNDATION
Jellybean Johnson occupied the drum chair.	The rhythmic drive was essential to translating The Time’s studio material into an effective live and television performance.

AN EARLY TELEVISION DOCUMENT

1981	BEFORE THE LATER HISTORY
The Soul Train appearance catches The Time during the group’s first year.	The later solo careers, production work, line-up changes and renewed interest in the group all still lay ahead.

JIMMY JAM & TERRY LEWIS

1981 – THE TIME	THE FUTURE STILL AHEAD
On this television appearance Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were members of The Time’s performing line-up.	Their later production career had not yet become the primary context through which many listeners would eventually recognise the pair.

THE TIME AS ITS OWN ATTRACTION

PRINCE CONNECTION	MORRIS DAY & THE BAND
Knowledge of Prince’s involvement adds important context to the group’s creation and recordings.	On television, however, The Time had to work as an identifiable attraction in its own right, and Morris Day’s frontman persona was central to achieving that separation.

WHAT THE APPEARANCE DOCUMENTS

THE TIME	SOUL TRAIN
Morris Day Jesse Johnson Terry Lewis Jimmy Jam Monte Moir Jellybean Johnson Jerome Benton	November 14, 1981 “Get It Up” “Cool” United States television Early national exposure Debut-album period

CONTEXT AND NOTES

HISTORICAL CONTEXT	ARCHIVAL SIGNIFICANCE
The November 14, 1981 Soul Train appearance featured The Time performing “Get It Up” and “Cool”, both from the group’s debut album.	The programme provides a particularly useful visual document of the early performing line-up during the first phase of The Time’s career.
Prince’s creative involvement forms an essential part of the recording history behind The Time, but the television performance presents Morris Day and the touring musicians as a clearly identifiable group.	Keeping both sides of that story matters to the Prince archive: the creative relationship with Prince should be documented without reducing The Time’s onstage identity simply to a Prince side project.
The surviving programme also features Patti LaBelle.	This places The Time within the broader contemporary soul and R&B environment represented by Soul Train in November 1981.

CONCLUSION

THE TIME ON SOUL TRAIN	MINNEAPOLIS FUNK REACHES NATIONAL TELEVISION
The November 14, 1981 Soul Train appearance catches The Time at precisely the stage when a studio-created musical identity was becoming a fully visible performing group. “Get It Up” and “Cool” provided the material, while Morris Day and the complete seven-person line-up supplied the personality and stage presentation.	For the Prince archive, this is an important early satellite moment. Prince’s creative presence lies behind the music, but the television screen belongs to The Time. The result is an early national document of the Minneapolis sound beginning to expand beyond Prince under another distinctive and increasingly confident identity.

SOURCES / COPYRIGHT & ARCHIVAL USE

SOURCES

Prince Vault

Soul Train

November 14, 1981

Contemporary The Time television documentation

Contemporary The Time album documentation

COPYRIGHT & ARCHIVAL USE

All television images, photographs, recordings, record artwork and original archive material referenced in this entry remain the property of their respective copyright holders. This Chronicle entry is a transformative, non-commercial archival summary created for historical documentation and educational reference. No ownership of the original material is claimed or implied.