I got my first taste of music listening to my older sister's LP's, which was 80's New Wave stuff.
Then I discovered Motley Crue and Iron Maiden. I would have become a typical metalhead had it not been for some friends who quickly introduced me to punk. Early Vandals, Exploited, JFA, the Sex Pistols (of course), Descendents, etc, etc, etc.
Because of my early exposure to heavy metal I always leaned more towards the harder sound - got into bands like Agnostic Front, Sick of it All, late 80's New York Hardcore, Slapshot, Starkweather, and on into the 90's.
These days, as age has weathered my tastes into a more rounded, eclectic fold, I still like that kind of music, and pretty much anything that has a sense of authenticity about it.
I hate most MTV crap, most radio crap, and all the biggest "hits" that everyone goes crazy over. I stick with the underground music, and those artists who actually have some substance to deliver.
Everything from Bjork to Dillinger Escape Plan, to Sublime, to Clutch, nearly any form of Southern rock, Dax Riggs, the Deftones, Fugazi, the Melvins, old gritty Jazz (early Coltrane, Miles, etc), Diana Krall, even Indian and Arabic (as someone above mentioned - just a very unique, soulful music to me). Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, Jesus Lizard, Avail, and so on - ad infinitum.
I guess I'm a music snob - so be it.
Top 40 blows, IMO.
