Before the days of the internet and if one wasn't stopping by Tower on Broadway and 4th to read the latest Billboard or Ice magazine (remember that), it was possible to be surprised by record releases.

On a summer day in 1991, I was randomly checking out a Sam Goody or Musicland in a mall in Warwick, RI when I stumbled onto the cassingle of Prince's Gett Off.

I has no clue that a new Prince song was on deck.

It had the funky handwritten 1999-style letters on the packaging.

And the song was banging! It was the perfect blend of old school Prince musicianship and swagger with a new and fresh sound. I was hyped again for my man Prince.

I listened to that cassingle nonstop until the fall when the album (which ultimately was not as good as Gett Off promised) came out.