Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series on comments from selected YouTube discussion threads about the song "Uptown Funk!" and two other Funk records - the Gap Band's "Oops Upside Your Head" and Morris Day & The Times' "Jungle Love".
Part II provides selected comments About "Uptown Funk" from two YouTube discussion threads of The Time's (also known as Morris Day And The Time's) 1984 record "Jungle Love". Some of these comments are about Uptown Funk allegedly "ripping off' the image of the Time's band itself if not the music of The Time's "Jungle Love" song and/or other Time's songs. Other commenters discuss the Time band and/or the "Jungle Love" song itself and/or in comparison with the musician/singer Prince and other Funk bands.
I'm particularly interested in documenting and sharing the use of African American Vernacular English that may be found in any of these comments.
Part II also includes and information about and a video of The Times and a video of their record "Jungle Love. Information about and a video of "Uptown Funk" are also included in this post.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/02/youtube-comments-about-record-uptown.html for Part I of this post. Part I provides information about the Gap Band about their record "Oops Upside Your Head". Information about the record "Uptown Funk" is also given in this post. One sound file and one video of "Oops Upside Your Head" and one video of "Uptown Funk" are also featured in this post.
Part I also provides selected comments about "Uptown Funk" from two YouTube discussion threads of the Gap Band's late 1979/early 1980 record "Oops Upside Your Head". .
Neither of these pancocojams posts include any comments from the featured YouTube discussion thread for the video "Uptown Funk".
The content of this post is presented for cultural and aesthetic purposes.
I believe that some YouTube discussion thread comments should be preserved, studied, and shared for educational and folkloric purposes alone or along with the YouTube sound files or videos that prompted them.
Some of the comments quoted in this post include those on the topic of Uptown Funk's use of the image and spirit -if not the actual music - of the Time's Jungle Love and/or other Time's music. Other comments are about the Time and other Funk Music groups, particularly Prince and the Revolution. I'm also interested in preserving and sharing examples of African American Vernacular English that are found in these YouTube discussion threads.
I recognize that other compilations of these YouTube discussion threads would probably be different than the one that I'm compiling and sharing.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who were associated with the performances of both the videos showcased in this post. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these video on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT MORRIS DAY AND THE TIMES
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Original_7ven
"The Original 7ven (also known as The Time as well as Morris Day and the Time) is an American musical group that was formed in Minneapolis in 1981. Their work has been a part of the formation of the 'Minneapolis sound', featuring a mix of soul music and dance music with funk, rock n roll, and more. Led by singer-songwriter Morris Day, the band members are close Prince associates, and the group is arguably the most successful artist who have worked with him, achieving particular popularity with R&B fans with tracks such as "Jerk Out" and "Jungle Love". Band members Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are also long-time collaborators with Janet Jackson, producing all of her most successful albums."
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Because there are a number of comments below about the musician and singer Prince, his band Revolution, and the movie Purple Rain, I've also included this information and these links:
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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_(musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson (born June 7, 1958), known by his mononym Prince, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actor, and has been a major figure in popular music for over three decades. Prince is renowned as an innovator and is widely known for his eclectic work, flamboyant stage presence, and wide vocal range. He is widely regarded as the pioneer of Minneapolis sound. His music combines rock, R&B, soul, funk, hip hop, disco, psychedelia, jazz, and pop"...
-snip-
Also, click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revolution_(band) for more information about The Revolution.
And click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Rain_(film) for information about the 1984 movie Purple Rain.
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "JUNGLE LOVE"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_Love_(The_Time_song)
"Jungle Love" is a song from The Time's third album, Ice Cream Castle. The track was one of the first songs recorded for the album, being cut in late March 1983 during Prince's 1999 tour. "Jungle Love" was also one of the first Time tracks to involve other members of the band in the creation of the song. Morris Day and Jesse Johnson both contributed to writing the song. Day provided lead vocals and Johnson played guitar on the recording. Prince played all the other instruments.
"Jungle Love" is a funk-pop offering relying mainly on bass and drums (drum machines), although there are elements of new wave keyboards and a rock guitar solo, allowing the song to cross musical boundaries. Added to this are animalistic sound effects by Day and sexual lyrics that are sometimes good-humored but at other times allude to rape and false imprisonment.* All this, combined with the Purple Rain momentum, propelled the song to The Time's second-highest position thus far on the pop charts (#20 on the Billboard Hot 100). Their highest-charting song was "Jerk Out" at #9.
["Jungle Love's] Writers: Prince (as Jamie Starr), Morris Day, Jesse Johnson]
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Click http://www.metrolyrics.com/jungle-love-lyrics-the-time.html for the lyrics to "Jungle Love". These lyrics include one word of profanity.
In my opinion, "Jungle Love" is a good example of a song whose rhythm and beat are far more memorable than its words. Although I remember seeing and hearing this song performed in the movie Purple Rain and I remember hearing it since then, I never knew the words of the song, except for its hook, and its "Oh wee Oh wee" lyrics (which are probably what Wikipedia is referring to as "animalistic sound effects"). I'm surprised to learn that the lyrics sometimes "allude to rape and false imprisonment". I can see how the "oh wee oh wee oh" lyrics allude to the jungle. But, I always thought those sounds were a different version of the marching soldiers from the Wizard Of Oz movie.
Also, since I first heard that record, I thought that the Times' record title "Jungle Love" referred to interracial romantic relationships. I came to that conclusion based on that term's similarity to the African American Vernacular English term "jungle fever". "Jungle Fever" is the title of a 1991 movie by African American producer Spike Lee. It's possible that the Time's record "Jungle Love" may (also?) mean "jungle fever", but I'm not sure of that anymore.
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INFORMATION ABOUT "UPTOWN FUNK"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uptown_Funk
"Uptown Funk" (stylised as "UpTown Funk!")[6][7] is a song recorded by British producer Mark Ronson, with vocals from American singer Bruno Mars, for Ronson's fourth studio album, Uptown Special (2015). RCA Records released the song as the album's lead single on 10 November 2014...
The single received widespread critical acclaim from music critics, receiving two Grammy Award nominations for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The song was also a global commercial success, spending fourteen consecutive weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, seven non-consecutive weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart, and topped the charts in several other countries including Australia, Canada, France, Ireland and New Zealand.
In 2015, "Uptown Funk" won Ronson the Brit Award for British Single of the Year.[11] The video for "Uptown Funk" was also nominated for five MTV Video Music Awards in 2015, winning Best Male Video...
The song features heavy inspiration from the Minneapolis sound of 1980s-era funk music, having a spirit akin to works by Prince as well as Morris Day and The Time.[4] Copyright controversies about "Uptown Funk" have dogged Ronson and Mars, with The Gap Band's three core members being added on as songwriters as part of a mutually settled agreement given the inspiration given to the track by "Oops! Upside Your Head"...
The video received its billionth view on YouTube on 15 September 2015 (UTC), becoming the ninth video on YouTube to receive over 1 billion views"...
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YOUTUBE VIDEO OF "UPTOWN FUNK!"
Editor's Note: I'm featuring this video first because comments in the discussion threads for the Time's YouTube video refer to it.
Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk ft. Bruno Mars
MarkRonsonVEVO, Published on Nov 19, 2014
Mark Ronson's official music video for 'Uptown Funk' ft. Bruno Mars.
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Mark Ronson is the chief writer and producer of this song. Bruno Mars is the lead singer. He's shown in the pink jacket in this video.
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This same video and information is provided in Part I and Part II of this pancocojams series.
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YOUTUBE EXAMPLES OF MORRIS DAY AND THE TIMES' SONG "JUNGLE LOVE"
Morris Day And - Jungle Love
Missao Informatica, Uploaded on Apr 23, 2010
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Selected comments from this sound file's discussion thread:
These comments are given in chronological order with the oldest comments given first. However, these comments may not be in consecutive order. I've assigned numbers to these comments for referencing purposes only.
2014
1. Nick Knight
"I'm used to hearing the faster tempo version from Purple Rain"
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2015
2. Joel H
"Uptown Funk is good, but this is still better. This is where it all started baby! It is good to see an artist bring back what was....but let us first pay homage to Morris! #GoodOleDays"
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3. Doug Klima
"FUNK IS BACK !! Bruno knows...nothing wrong "uptown funk "!!
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4. lorie v
"IT ABOUT TIME"
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5. EAB82
"He ripped this song off imo"
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6. Alex Banks
"+EAB82
Watch the TED talks feature of Mark Ronson, the man who wrote Uptown Funk. I bet you won't feel that way afterwards."
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7. AmericanKopite21
"+Jacari Jacobs
Why?"
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8. Alex Banks
"+AmericanKopite21
Watch the video and see; he will argue, very well, that sampling is not ripping someone off. That's what TEDtalks is for, shedding new light on old ideas."
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9. Dj Billman
"I think perhaps Bruno Mars took Jungle love / Prince / parliment and a couple others and just morphed their sounds for uptown funk. It's definitely not original it's like a carbon copy of these old school songs."
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ohmixmaster
"10. Wait, is this Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars? (note sarcasm)"
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The video for "Uptown Funk" credits "Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars". Mark Ronson is the chief writer & producer of that song.
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11. David Eberhart
"Bruno Mars 'Uptown Funk' comments section is filled with kids who think 'Uptown Funk' and Bruno sound more like Michael Jackson, LMFAO! They obviously haven't heard Morris Day and the Time. Melody, clothing style, dance in 'Uptown Funk' IMHO, are a tribute to the funk that 'Morris Day and the Time' brought to the genre in the 80's. Even the '...Say whaaaat...' are in Uptown Funk after the 4:00:00 mark. You hear it about three times."
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12. VoodooChild
"as soon as I heard that faux funk, I knew I was hearing somebody pay homage to Morris Day and The Time."
-snip-
"faux funk" = fake funk
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13. David Eberhart
"+VoodooChild Well said!"
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screeningmimi
14. "+VoodooChild Me too, I thought I was hearing something new by Morris Day & The Time, until I looked it up and saw this sad guy who was 'borrowing' heavily but can't begin to carry the look and attitude off like Morris."
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15. Arthur Hawkins
"+David Eberhart I just posted something on that site telling them that uptown funk is more Morris Day and the Time than Michael Jackson....amazing how they get Michael out of that.....Uptown funk is really a tribute to Funk music from back in the day....I was happy that somebody actually did a funk tune with the beat on the one...it sounded like back in the day and that's what I remember....like boogie body from the bar kay's...not that groove was serious....like so many other songs that had the funk..."
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16. One Glove Movement
"+David Eberhart Yes.. but "Uptown Funk" horns samples sounds like MJ's "Jam" and the video is taking place at the same place the Jacksons made a pepsi commercial back in 84. Also you makin it look like MJ has nothing to do with funk..."
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17. Arthur Hawkins
"This song is much less Michael Jackson than it is Funk from Morris Day and the Time...along with other Funk jams from the past...Michael did some funk, but he was more pop than funk....These younger folks are listening to this and hearing funk for the first time and they like it....every recent event that I've gone to...this song comes on and the kids go crazy....It's not Michael's horns as it it funk horn sections from the mid to late 70's and 80's...check out the Bar kays, confunction, brass construction and Mandrill, these guys laid the ground work for the funky horn sections....This was during the time of Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 which was Michael and his brothers......Know your musical history...I will say that the short slap bass rif pays homage to Louis Johnson in the Jackson 5 song "get on the floor" I will give you that..."
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18. Sarah Simpkins
"The new generation don't know nothing about morris day and the time.good music"
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19. SingtingzIsReady
"Oh snap. Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars are gonna get sued for this!"
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20. Reply
Jude Samuel
"+SingtingzIsReady Actually... The lyrics are different the tones are different the instruments are similiar but the beats are diiferent"
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21. Balzac T. Bagher
"+Jude Samuel it would still be enough for them to get sued."
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22. Jude Samuel
"+Richard Mongler They have to be exactly the same. Just a slight change in the pitch could change a copy right."
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23. sierranovember6
"+Richard Mongler Getting sued and winning the lawsuit are two different things."
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Judy Doherty
24. "Before there was Bruno Mars, there was Morris Day & the Time!"
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mikeyj122
25. "Instead of everyone bashing Bruno Mars, how about try and appreciate what they are doing here, they are single handedly bringing back a lost form of real music. I bet Morris would appreciate it. If you like Uptown Funk, as I do, go out and find some other great funk artists like Morris Day and the Time. Earth, Wind, and Fire, kool and the gang, parliment funkadelic, James Brown, sly and the family stone, and others are all great bands and artists, do yourself a favor and go and check them out. I think it's awesome that this kind of music is making a come back, in 33 years old, I grew up watching purple rain, so I know Morris Day well. I think we should encourage this funk revival instead of worrying about what Bruno took. He helped create a great song that is the best thing that's been done musically in over a decade, maybe longer. Yes he took inspiration from guys like Morris Day, but we all come from somewhere. Don't hate, appreciate."
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Fern Gully
26. "Hey Morris!! Did you know Bruno Mars has completely ripped off Jungle Love and is selling it under the name, Uptown Funk???? Yours is 100 million times better and funkier. The original always is. Sue his ass."
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Kia James Barkley
27. "Sue Bruno mars he took jungle love beat for his song it is so not right"
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28. Caroline Perkins
"I thought uptown funk sounded familiar. My friends didn't seem to notice(we're 16 hahaha)...well. Depresses me to know how untalented artists these days are."
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29. sonicfreak12
"+Caroline Perkins I actually applaud Bruno for bringing this stuff back. Its about time something new get you grooving rather than whine about all their relationship problems"
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30. Caroline Perkins
"+sonicfreak12 I love Bruno for that also. But I personally dislike when artists sample other artists. It seems so unoriginal to me."
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31. Smokey Spur
"Damn its like im one of a few in my generation that knows there is nothing new under the sun. Most of these new artist just rip off older pioneers because the new audience is way too ignorant to the history of music."
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32. The Salty Spittoon
"Yeah this and uptown funk have basically the same chords... Lol and there everyone was saying 'finally something original'"
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ricosuave14
33. "Agreed. Uptown funk is an unimaginative ripoff"
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j Hughes5 months ago
34. "+ricosuave14 Let's not get ridiculous. Uptown Funk is [profanity deleted] awesome."
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35. Shirley Ann
"The first time I heard Uptown Funk, I thought it sounded exactly like this on so many ways!"
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36. ricosuave14
"Yup, uptown funk lacks imagination."
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37. Clare Fries
"+Shirley Ann Tell me about it. The second I heard it on the radio, I knew it was Morris Day and the Time's style. I thought it was great...but I also thought it was a rip off. Why can't these singers just straight up acknowledge these songs as tributes to the original artists? They know they're stealing. If they would just be up front and say "Hey, I did this song and it's this artist's style, because I wanted to do something that emulated their brilliant work..." people wouldn't think they're such thieving dillholes and would probably give them more credit for the work that went into the production. Because they would also be crediting the original artist. It might also stem the tide of lawsuits. There's nothing wrong with creating a tribute work as long as you acknowledge that you are not the originating artist of the style."
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preciousbash
38. "All of the Prince related bands were it..Jesse Johnson, the Time, The Family...etc...."
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Rainn M
39. "I thought this was Prince the first time I heard it."
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40. Rainn M
"My mistake; it is Prince, in his earlier band."
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41. lowlowseesee
"+Dann Rain nope, this is Morris Day with The Time. Wouldnt doublt if Prince had his hand in the writing though, he was all over the place"
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42/ Rainn M
"Yes, but Prince was a part of The Time. It was his band before he went on his own."
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43. lowlowseesee
"+Dann Rain we are both correct it seems. This is Morris Day but I just looked up the writing credits and it is Prince as well, he is credited as Jamie Starr I think. great stuff"
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44. Crunkboy415
"+Rainn M Actually Prince wrote all or most the Time's music. He created the band as his opening act, brought in his old childhood friend Morris Day as the singer."
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45.Norm H
"+Rainn M It was in the movie "Purple Rain""
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46. Crunkboy415
"+Rainn M Kinda right. Prince, Morris Day, and former bass player Andre Cymone were all in a band called Grand Central back in their high school days. Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Monte Moir, and Jellybean Johnson were in a rival band called FlyteTime. So the competition btw the two bands in the movie was sorta based on real life."
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[Editor: This was written in response to a commenter who said that Morris Day copied Bruno Mars]
47. ricosuave14
"Jungle love released 1984 A.D.
Uptown Funk released 2015 A.D.
Aint no way Jungle Love copied uptown funk..."
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48. Traye76
"Modern musicians...pull your pants up and learn some showmanship ---- Morris Day."
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Example #2: "Jungle Love" Morris Day & The Time 1984
SadisticPork, Uploaded on Apr 8, 2011
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Selected comments from this sound file's discussion thread:
These comments are given in chronological order with the oldest comments given first. However, these comments may not be in consecutive order. I've assigned numbers to these comments for referencing purposes only.
2011
1. hardrocker04
"all the other versions of the song the tone is different but the movie verion is the original when you hear it thank you so much for uploading this i've been lokin for this version for a long time"
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2012
2. Gunsmith67
"The speed is a little off..I had the fortune of living in MPLS in the 80's and going to see them several times.. the song never sounded like that!...lol"
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3. graysight [2013]
yeah, this is taken from the movie purple rain, Prince´s movie,a very good movie indeed
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4. Patricia W
I could do anything if I had a gold lame' jacket like that...
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5. notsusan
"if I hadn't been alive in the 80s to witness this movie would've made me think all black people dressed like this every day"
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2014
6. Thomas Hodge
"finally this one greatest unsung soul funk anthems of the 80s get on this"
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7. Snap Crackle
"The first time I heard this was I knew it was gonna be a hit. The Time had a dress rehearsal performance at First Avenue before the release of Purple Rain. Rocky Harris was on bass."
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Matthew Olden
8. "Be honest, who's funkier? The Time or The Revolution?"
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9. MrRamto13
"+Matthew Olden
"the Time"
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10. Matthew Olden
"+MrRamto13 Thank you! I was scared I was the only one lol. Which is ironic, because Prince is responsible for most if not all their early records."
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11. William Brown
"the revolution"
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12. UNDFTDGordon
"The Time. They are one of the best funk bands ever."
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13. Matthew Olden
"+UNDFTDGordon Exactly. Morris, Jimmy, Terry, Jesse, and Jellybean pretty much could've held The Time down on their own."
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14. UNDFTDGordon
"I love Prince though and he did write virtually all of their songs. I find myself playing much more Time songs than his ones though."
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15. Matthew Olden
"+UNDFTDGordon I'm the complete opposite lol. I listen to Prince more but I like The Time better."
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16. Kevin Vasquez (kevincho420)
"+Matthew Olden Both are great but the time definitely had those club jams!"
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Matthew Olden
17. "+Kevin Vasquez Oh, yeah, gotta give them props on that. The Time definitely knew how to get the people on the floor."
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18. MrDXW1213
"+Matthew Olden I don't think the revolution was really meant to be his [profanity deleted] group anyway. they were there moreso to play his stuff, which is a wide variety of genres. The Time is a FUNK group. I love their songs as I grew up on both prince and George Clinton so whenever I need a short break from prince, I go to the time for some funk lol"
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19. Matthew Olden
"+MrDXW1213 Yeah that makes since in that perspective XD it was Prince and his "background musicians", The Time was indeed a funk band."
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20. MrDXW1213
"+Matthew Olden They could've made it on their own tho, He's so charismatic and Jimmy Jam and Terry are musical geniuses in their own right"
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21. Matthew Olden
"+MrDXW1213 It's a shame, Prince was so controlling and as soon as The Time grew popular (more popular than Prince believe it or not) he went as far as kicking them off the 1999 Tour."
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Snap Crackle
22. "+Matthew Olden TIME"
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23. Kwisatz Haderach
"+Matthew Olden The Time most definitely."
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Reply [2016]
24. Larry Norris
"you ask who's funkier but do you realize that prince started in the time and then became their manager when he started the revolution. he basically built and directed the time musically so it can be argued that the times funkiness originates with prince"
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2015
20. Sincerely_yours31
"classic movie here!"
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21. lamujermaslinda
"had to come here to recover from watching bruno mars uptown funk"
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22. Claye Edou
"UPTOWN FUNK brought me here..."
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23. Mz Hyde
"I knew when I heard Uptown Funk that it had certain BEATS & words from Morris Day"
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24. J Wilson
+Claye Edou i am so glad some 1 else hear this other than i.....
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