Slow Jam Saturday : Timex Social Club, “Only You”

You know the voice.  The moment Michael Marshall starts singing the hook in Luniz’s “I Got 5 on It,” anyone who grew up in the nineties knows exactly what time it is.  However, nearly a decade before that 1995 hip-hop classic, Marshall was already responsible for another instantly recognizable vocal.

“How do rumors get started?”  Yes, that’s the same guy.  Marshall was the lead singer of Timex Social Club, whose 1986 smash hit “Rumors” reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the R&B chart.  This success eventually led to the release of the group’s only studio album, *Vicious Rumors*.

While revisiting that album recently, I discovered something unexpected: Timex Social Club had a slow jam.  “Only You,” the fourth track on the U.S. version of *Vicious Rumors*, strips away much of the attitude associated with “Rumors” and allows Marshall to showcase another side of his voice.

And honestly, that voice is what makes the song work.  “Only You” isn’t one of those lost eighties masterpieces where I’d claim that Luther Vandross or Freddie Jackson should have been worried.  The production is unmistakably from its era, and stronger slow jams were certainly released in 1986.

But Marshall could sing.  There’s a vulnerability and smoothness in his performance that “Rumors” never really required from him.  Hearing “Only You” today also makes his appearance on “I Got 5 on It” nearly a decade later feel less random.

When producer Tone Capone was working on the Luniz record, he needed a singer for the hook and brought in Marshall, whom he already knew from Timex Social Club.  Marshall provided the melodic vocal that became arguably the record’s most recognizable part.

This context makes listening to “Only You” nearly 40 years later even more fascinating.  Before “I Got 5 on It.” Before a new generation discovered that voice.  Before Michael Marshall became one of those singers whom millions recognize without necessarily knowing his name, the evidence was already there on a Timex Social Club album.

So yes, Timex Social Club made a slow jam.  If you only know Michael Marshall from “Rumors” and “I Got 5 on It,” give “Only You” a spin.  You might discover that the most underrated part of the Timex Social Club story was standing behind the microphone the entire time.

Final Grade: B