the first music i listened to, like really listened to, was michael jackson. then queen. then the village people. then debbie gibson and tiffany and 38 special and phil collins and janet jackson and the woodstock album.
...then vanilla ice and after that i was saved. or rather, after that i had to be saved.
thankfully, i was rescued by the cure and the violent femmes and the smiths and the misfits and many many other bands that frightened my parents. i even threw in some cannibal corpse and christian death to really upset them. it was only a phase.
college brought me leonard cohen and frank zappa and ween and beck and the pixies and so much fun crazy music. i went through a period where i only listened to female voices like ani difranco and bjork and lush and hole but you can only do that for so long. there was sad music, too, like sitting in my dark room listening to radiohead or portishead or any other band ending in the word 'head'. i was a radio dj so i had access to any and everything. black sabbath records were played backwards and scratched to, roger miller was discovered and memorized. bands i'd never even heard of that had come and gone and left no mark were listened to, if only for having fun names like "elvis hitler".
the music you listen to throughout your life forms a soundtrack and mine feels like it's been on repeat forever. i haven't discovered any earthshaking bands in some time now. i think it's been at least 5 years since i've bought a CD and played it more than 3 times.