Jerk Out

"Jerk Out" is a song from The Time's 1990 album Pandemonium. The song was originally recorded in December 1981 by Prince at his home studio during sessions for What Time Is It?. Prince originally performed all instruments and vocals and this recording remains unreleased. Prince reworked the song in the spring of 1985 for the band Mazarati. The song was ultimately left off the Mazarati album, though circulates among collectors. Again, the song was reworked in late 1989 for inclusion on Pandemonium and contains input by the band.

Contents

• 7 single
• Maxi single
• References

"Jerk Out" is a pop-funk offering driven by multiple drum machine patterns and an infectious bassline. Some spacey sounding keyboards are important in the mix, as well as a "Controversy"-like funky guitar. Bass and guitar solos are provided by Terry Lewis and Jesse Johnson respectively. The title refers to acting like a jerk (unpleasant person), supposedly inspired by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on an airline flight. The song was originally rejected due to some harsh lyrics in the third verse. They survived the Mazarati take but were revised for Pandemonium.

The song was released as the debut single from Pandemonium and became the group's highest-charting single, reaching number one on the U.S. R&B chart and number nine on the U.S. pop chart. "Jerk Out" also peaked at number six on the dance chart. A maxi-single was also released with several remixes of the song. The Sexy Mixes were remixed by Steve Hodge, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Lance "L.A." Alexander and Tony "Prof-T" Tolbert.