When I was growing up I was pretty different - I never liked GI Joes, superheroes were boring, cartoons were uninteresting, playing outside was uncomfortable, and being dirty was absolutely terrible. I was always much more interested in video games and the computer and stuff like that. You would think that I would listen to a lot of music with such an empty palette of activities to choose from, but the extent of my musical taste was video game music and techno. In fact, I hadn't casually listened to a song with lyrics until I was 11 years old!
Well, all this changed when I turned 13. Before then I didn't really have a favorite artist or genre, and at the time all I knew was that I hated rap, country, and metal (although now I love metal, older country can be kinda good, and I've discovered that not all rap is annoying gangster rap). As strange an occasion as any to get into a band, only a few days after having a pretty traumatic breakup with my first girlfriend, I began to listen to Radiohead. And I was instantly hooked. I loved their sound, I felt comforted by some of their painfully depressive lyrics, I was amazed by the creativeness and oddness of some of their songs, and although his singing was rather shit, I couldn't get enough of Thom Yorke's voice. I immediately began to buy and download every song of theirs I could get ahold of, and any song I couldn't get a file or CD of, I would listen to in constant rotation on Youtube. Even to this day I am a huge fan of Radiohead, and I can honestly say that they have hugely contributed to my behavior, views, and musical taste.
And then I came across Porcupine Tree and now my life is complete.