Record Store Day is tomorrow, and among the special offerings being released for the occasion is a cassingle from MGMT. Yep, a real cassette single of a new song, “Alien Days.” The psychedelic rock duo have even made a stop-motion video to promote it.

That got me thinking of the cassingle, and the format’s relatively short history. I still have a handful of them — okay, maybe five handfuls — and Janet Jackson‘s “The Pleasure Principle” holds a special place in my collection as the very first cassingle I ever purchased. I was shopping at a record store at an out of town mall that I’d never been to before, coinciding with the first time I’d ever seen cassette singles, period. If memory serves, there was a counter card display to promote “The Pleasure Principle.” How I could I resist?

Released in May 1987 as the sixth single from Control, “The Pleasure Principle” reached #1 on the Billboard R&B chart in August, though it only eked out a #14 showing on the Hot 100. “The Pleasure Principle” is also only one of two songs on Control not produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

“The Pleasure Principle” did reach #1 on the Hot Dance/Club Play chart, and the music video for the song used the Shep Pettibone remix that took Janet there.

Purchase Janet Jackson – “The Pleasure Principle” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.