Sunday Music: Prince, Roger Linn, And Dave Garibaldi Were Behind The Time's "777-9311"

It was 1980. Prince was there. Working on what would become The Time’s first record. With Roger Linn, basically the creator of the modern synthesizer and drum machine. Dave Garibaldi, Tower of Power’s funk drumming legend, was there too. In one form or another, but more on that in a minute.

The mission wasn’t so much to redefine funk as it was to do something original with it.

They succeeded.

To understand funk, step out to the story for a second and into what D’Angelo told Nelson George, “Rock and roll is the blues, sped up.” What’s funk then? Paraphrasing D, funk is either rock and roll slowed back down, or the blues turned up just a sexy little smidge or two. Or three.

Funk obviously existed before Prince. But Prince extended the form. He explored more of the space between blues and rock than we often talk about.

Sly has his part too (and a pantheon of others, from the Parliament Funkadelic crowd to all the James Brown offshoots), but Prince took it to anther level, commercially and musically.

Questlove, in an outtake from Finding the Funk, in conversation with Nelson George explains,

It’s absolutely no secret that Prince was his own competition. We would like to imagine that The Time was indeed six brothers from Minneapolis funking away up in the studio, but, the first three Time records were all Prince. His bass playing on “777-9311” — that to me is one of the most daring funk songs of all time. Because, not only does he rewrite funk’s “on the 1” rule… The only thing that is on the 1 in “777-9311” is the hand clap. Everything else is all over the 1. It’s almost as if the silence of the 1 is the funk.

For my non-drummers or non-musicians reading along, you at least know that in most of blues, rock, and funk you can count along like 1-2-3-4 (repeating). Grooves, or pockets, or the thing you sway along to happen as you put emphasis in different places. 1-2-3-4 is different from 1-2-3-4 is different from 1-2-3-4, and so on, through all the variations.

Funk is known for the kick drum being on “the 1” as you start the count.  There’s a shaker counting the beat here. Press play, and notice how funking hard this track avoids the 1.

Prince avoided the 1 all the way to #2 on the R&B charts with that song. Baffling to Questlove in the interview, baffling to me my entire life in hearing it. “777-9311” is jazz-level complex and yet Prince made it commercially viable. It even hit #88 on the pop charts. Listen to that beat again!?!

Back to the original story. Prince was drawing influence from everyone, and the original idea for the drum syncopation we’re nerding out over today, was none other than T.O.P.’ s Dave Garibaldi. Pre-programmed Beat #5 on what would become the LinnDrum, it’s instrument, genre, and idea defiant.

Questlove continues, talking now of Prince’s 1999,

Prince’s “1999” holds just as much weight as “There’s a Riot Going On.” Yes, “There’s a Riot Going On” was the flag-planting, established, alpha to 1999’s Omega… In my opinion, “There’s a Riot Going On” was sort of like a reality show, or an accident that you couldn’t turn away from. As genius as it was, it’s also very painful to absorb, because you’re listening to a man’s life come apart at the seams.

He goes on to explain Sly’s evolution, from Utopian poster children of all that was beautiful in the Civil Rights era, to “Spaced Cowboy.”

Click play on these so you can understand what he’s saying (and note the 1-heavy “Dance to the Music”

Hear the progression? Hear the differences? So cool.

This is the torch Prince picked up and carried forward. Because by 1999, we get Prince at, perhaps, one of his many peaks. He’s using technology, much like Sly did on Riot, but Prince is totally sober, and totally dialed in to what can be done with his new, expanded toolbox. It’s rock and roll, slowed down, naturally, with all the awareness of the roots of the blues, coupled with all the imagination to what that shift could mean.

Dig, if you will, this drum-machine enabled groove in “Lady Cab Driver,” as an example,

Note all the people who make the journey possible. Note all the technology that helps along the way. Note the significance of the figure-heads who move the shifting narratives forward.

Riot came out in 1971. What Time is It? and 1999 came out in 1982.

I know we’re all caught up talking about generative AI and stuff like this in 2024, but looking back to how tools shaped expression in prior eras, I can only imagine what’s actually transpiring under our creative feet here and today.

There’s always a revolution going on, you just have to look for it.

That’s what Time it is.

Credit to Jesse Johnson for sharing these stories, even if they got passed along by others.

Here’s Questlove telling it in his own voice. Totally worth your 10 minutes if you like this kind of stuff:

psst. Want more Morris Day? I’ve got you covered.