The History of the Timex Social Club -
by: Marcus Thompson
Marcus Thompson founded the TIMEX SOCIAL CLUB in 1982. The intention
was to give a group of friends a club name to be known by while in high school.
The group was first known as just "TIMEX", but by 1983 I tagged on the name
"SOCIAL CLUB". Even then the group had not adopted music as the basis for
their formation.
The original members were: Marcus Thompson, Michael Marshall, Craig Samuel, Darrien Cleage and Gregory
Thomas. It wasn't until graduation that music came into the picture.
Late in the summer of 1983, I wrote a song called "RUMORS". I only had the
finished lyrics and just a hint of how the arrangement should be. I took
the song to my friend Michael Marshall.
Michael liked what I was doing with the song and we decided
that he would be the lead singer when we recorded it. I then took the song to my
friend Alex Hill who also liked it. I told him to think of some music to go with
it.
The three of us worked on the project (off and on) for three years. After
going through many versions, "RUMORS" finally evolved into a full song. The
collaboration of: Thompson, Marshall and Hill was a good one.
Things simmered until 1986, three years after its conception.
My
brother
Darryl
Thompson , knew an up and coming producer who was
looking for a new group. He took producer Jay King a 4-track demo
tape of the final version of "RUMORS". The next day, I received a call from
Jay. He wanted to know what I had planned to do with the song. We talked
for several days negotiating terms and such, before we went into the studio.
"RUMORS" was recorded on: January 3, 1986 at Starlight Studios in Richmond
California under the name of "TIMEX SOCIAL CLUB".