How has your taste in music changed over the years?

[Carl]

I saw a topic like this on IGN and figured we could use one here. As best as I can remember this is how it went down for me:

The early years:
Early Beatles, Phil Collins/Genesis, Mellencamp.. pretty much what my dad listened to.

Middle school:
Limp Bizkit, Korn, Rage Against the Machine, Kid Rock, Slipknot… bad music.

Early High School:
Foo Fighters, Fuel, Stone Temple Pilots, Californication era RHCP

HS Sophomore summer:
Classic rock like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd (resulted from listening to only classic rock stations at work)

Late High School: popular alternative.. anything from 311 and Disturbed to Weezer so long as it was on my alternative radio station 92.3 kroq. yeah my 311 phase was senior year for those of you that can remember.

Early Freshman year:
Ben Folds, Guster, classic rock again, but mainly Ben Folds phase

Late Freshman year:
now I get my first taste of Built to Spill, Dismemberment Plan, Belle & Sebastian and Beck notably though I’m sure there’s others

Sophomore year:
Big Radiohead phase… pick up a liking for Sufjan and Decemberists… pitchforky bands as well. Talking Heads obsession might have also occurred around now. Pixies and Pavement phase occur around the end of my sophomore year.

Past year:
Indie pop hit home pretty big. Rediscovered The Beatles as well and had one of those phases. That got me liking a lot more of the Elephant 6 bands. I also started liking electronica and in general became more open to various sounds. My current music taste is hard to describe really as I wouldn’t call myself very indie (despite popular belief) but I like a lot of that type of sounding music.

I had a pretty deep explanation of how all this happened but I figured that was waaaay tl;dr so I kept it short and direct to give a general idea. I feel genres are vague so I tired to give examples as well.

What about you people?

 

[Mike B]

Elementary/junior high, KLove. I never really had a taste for music then .-.


Freshman-Dashboard Confessional/Evanesence

Sophomore-Enya mostly

Junior/Senior- Jason Mraz, Sigur Ros, Sarah McLachlan, Bj'o'rk.

So basically it reflected the mood I was in for that year. Mraz being upbeat, DC from the worst time of my life and so on :S

 

[Arcturus]

Young boy: 80s metal, new-wave, Michael Jackson. Anything my parents listened to pretty much.

10 years old: Started on punk rock. Street punk, mind you. My two favorite cousins in the whole world are big on punk, walking around with a mohawk and some crazy ass hair that she likes to have. I was really into The Casualties at the time, and I still love them.

11: Got into early grindcore and crust. Nasum became one of my all time favorite bands at this point, when I heard Inhale/Exhale I was so impressed by the brutality. Other bands I loved at this point were Nausea, Napalm Death, Amebix, and Terrorizer.

12: My cousin Hernan (RIP mang :() got me onto metal. He wanted me to like thrash metal like him, but I ended up liking more extreme shit more. I was in love with Metallica though, and for a few years I'd still love them. I only like their 90s stuff now, their 80s shit sounds so forced. I was big on Megadeth and Morbid Angel and Suffocation at this point. I also liked Korn and Sevendust. I still do tbh, although Korn hasn't made a good album since Untouchables.

Early freshman HS: I grew to be the stereotypical metalhead (BAN ME PLEASE). Long hair, crappy appearance, the works. I'm suprised I ever got pussy because metalheads look really ugly dude. I was into thrash metal a lot, like Anthrax and Dark Angel.

Later freshman HS: I went gangster for a little while, but I realized that I hated having a bald head. So instead I kinda just started looking like an average Mexican't. Started getting into rap, like Tupac and Wu-Tang. Still loved Metallica at this point.

Sophomore HS: Grew out of Metallica finally. Started loving black metal with like an insane passion. I already loved Emperor but it just got worse. Death metal also made a comeback. Started liking Joy Division again :-D

Junior HS: By this time I was telling anyone with mainstream tastes that they were (BAN ME PLEASE)s and should listen to Emperor. Seriously, I'd walk around with this big ass stick that I made in woodshop and it said "Listen to Emperor or get spanked". Of course I used it on guys, since most of you will probably say "oh how gay" anyway. lmfao. idk. Started liking ambient at this point, like Lustmord and Eluvium. Started making my own ambient shit. Fell in love with Portishead right here too.

early Senior: Arcturus was my favorite band at this point, and had been since like, early Junior year. I got into more trip-hop, stuff that was electronic-made and not by a full band. That's where I started liking electronic music period. I thought it was real cool to hear all those weird sounds that no regular instrument could make. Was on a big jazz kick too. Ornette Coleman and Thelonious Monk were owning my face so bad.

late Senior: Got most of my current tastes. I started listening to drum'n'bass, trance, and IDM. Nowadays I will listen to most of anything, as long as it's good. Will listen to indie but only if I get paid ok indie sucks wtf is indie anyway did they just like misspell indian or something. Also Katatonia took over and now owns my face so bad that theres no way another band is going to be my favorite. it's so beautifully depressing.

Hi carl.

 

[Glen]

this is a really good thread

up until about halfway through grade 7, i only listened to stuff on the radio. then my dad, for my birthday, bought the two of us tickets to see gorillaz in toronto, ontario, which was 5 hours away from us (yes my dad is really fucking cool). that was the first concert i ever went to, and it blew me away. i loved every second of it. i still only really listened to stuff on much music, however.

in grade 8, i forget how, but i was introduced to system of a down. they fucking blew me away, and were the main band i listened to for a long while. nowadays i still listen to them every once in awhile, if only for the nostalgia.

then at the beginning of grade 10, my friend, who was fairly active with concerts, invited me to go see death from above 1979 with him. it was an astoundingly good show, and i remembered thinking to myself 'why the fuck dont i go to concerts?' so i started listening to dfa a huge amount, and broke away from system of a down. i started going to local shows a lot, as well as moderately big-name bands, and my musical taste increased in size around a hundred fold in like half a year. metal was my love, specifically grindcore; if its fast, angry, and off the fucking wall, i was down. fuck the facts, see you next tuesday, ion dissonance, from a second story window, etc. griiiiind <3

at the beginning, grade 11 was pretty much a continuation of this. i was still in love with grind, but through the hardcore shows i went to, i decided to check out oldschool hardcore to get a glimpse of where it all started. with that, punk became a large factor in my musical life. bad brains, black flag, vietnom, charles bronson, dropdead; oldschool hxc was the fucking bomb, so were punk shows. i started listening to more and more types of punk music. street punk kinda pissed me off, but i became infatuated with crust punk, and discharge quickly became one of my favourite bands. thanks to my dad playing him all the time when i was younger, billy bragg was a staple in my life. the most beautiful folk music ive ever heard. i also discovered and fell in love with psychobilly. heh.

then i discovered against me!, and my life changed. i was in awe. this was the first time music had ever brought me to tears. their new stuff is rather bad by comparison, but the first few albums are the best things ive ever heard in my life. everything changed. if you've never heard them, you wouldn't understand, and if you have heard them, then you know, and there's nothing else for me to say.

the summer of grade 11 carried with it some rapid changes. i discovered indie! indie rock, indie pop, indie grind, indie folk, indie hip hop, it was all amazing to me (especially the grind because i still have a huge fondness for normal grindcore). i started listening to more and more of it, and its now the music i listen to most. also, thanks to my friend, pop punk became a huge part of my life. no, not that fucking trash you see on much music or mtv or whatever, i mean REAL pop punk; the lawrence arms, latterman (my favourite band for awhile, and the second best live act ive ever seen), none more black, the falcon, lifetime, etc. i still have a soft spot for metal and punk, however, and against me! remains my favourite band to this day.

the bands i listen to most often now would probably be, according to my itunes: the books, xiu xiu, the falcon, the unicorns, think about life, why?, cLOUDDEAD, see you next tuesday, despised icon, beneath the massacre, billy bragg, latterman, the lawrence arms, AIDS wolf, XBXRX, fake shark - real zombie!, stick men, black eyes (laz you fucking rock), manitoba, matt and kim, the meteors, mirah, sundowner, test icicles, islands

edit: oh yeah i am in grade 12 now heh!

 

[DM]

Hmmm, I'll do my best to break it down from my memory the best I can.

The early years:
Phil Collins/Genesis, Michael Jackson, New Kids on the Block, whatever played on the radio station my mom put on

Middle school:
I think it was 5th or 6th grade when I first heard "Disarm" on the radio, that started a long obsession with The Smashing Pumpkins. Also, still Phil/Genesis, Goo Goo Dolls, Nine Inch Nails, and around sometime in 7th grade I first heard Hum's "Stars" on the radio, I immediately went and bought the album

Early High School:
Here's where I diverted from the norm. I had become quite enthralled with Hum's album, so I found the Hum Mailing List on the internet one day. That opened the doors to Built to Spill, Pedro the Lion, Nada Surf, and Morphine, primarily. At the same time I was discovering classic rock as well (Zeppelin/Floyd mostly)

Late High School: heh, to be honest, my best friend and I were HUGE into Insane Clown Posse. I was still discovering that wonderful emo, like Shiner, At the Drive In, etc. Started my love affair with Mineral. Found Radiohead after "Talk Show Host" from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack blew my mind with its awesomeness.

Freshman year college:
I thank the deities every day for the wonderful program that was Audiogalaxy (for those of you who even know what it is). Through it, I found... EVERYTHING. Sunny Day Real Estate, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Gloria Record, Fireside, The Appleseed Cast, The Casket Lottery, etc. My roommate was a gothy dork, and his friends were the same, and they ended up turning me on to VNV Nation, amazing British Industrial techno. This same year was the year a friend of mine introduced me to hardcore, specifically Hatebreed, from there I found Diecast and Lamb of God and some others. Shit fucking rules my face, and the live shows are unparalleled.

Sophomore/Junior year:
kind of a lull in finding new bands, to be honest, mostly older names like Slint, My Bloody Valentine

Late college: Minus the Bear. God yes. Also, I finally got into Moby around this time, Death Cab For Cutie, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, The Dears, The Walkmen, etc.

Since graduation: Honestly, I don't actively search out new music like I used to. Carl and cloud have been recommending me tons of shit, but I suppose I'm too lazy to find it. Lately, I've been into Arab Strap, Silver Jews, Murder By Death, The Life and Times, and Slowdive especially.

EDIT: Added in hardcore.

 

[cookie]

I never had much interest in music until just over two years ago, and until then all I really listened to ws random Turkish music (some of it is quite good but not to my current taste) that my dad listens to. Then about two years ago I started listening to XFM and heard Green Day, and realised my obsession with rock. I don't listen to them much any more, though. Their earlier stuff is still cool but American Idiot just reeks of faux-political statements aimed at misguided teenagers that I just can't ignore.

Soon afterwards I heard System of a Down and Garbage (words cannot describe how much I love them), my two favourite bands to today. I first heard Disturbed in the soundtrack of Dawn of the Dead, and from then on I picked up random bands from radioblogclub.com and mis-labelled downloads, which is how I started listening to Slipknot, Rage Against The Machine and Nine Inch Nails.

Then about a year ago I found Last.fm (via smogon), which opened me up to a whole load of new bands. The main ones I can think of are Within Temptation, Rammstein, Drowning Pool, Betty X and American Head Charge. I can't possibly think what I'd've been listening to without it. Nowadays I listen to a lot more industrial, female vocalists and less 'crazy' music (relatively speaking), which is how my rock-intolerant friends put it. It really sucks being around a bunch of people who listen to grime/rap/hip-hop, I can't wait until I move out/go to university. ;/
Currently listening to a lot: Within Temptation, Rammstein, Mankind is Obsolete, Enigma, Stone Sour, Snake River Conspiracy. Now I'm starting to get into more of Megadeth and Metallica, the latter of which I couldn't bear to listen to before.

I always imagined Glen to be a lot older for some reason ;/.

 

[Arcturus]

^ rap rules face.

 

[Glen]

I always imagined Glen to be a lot older for some reason ;/.

have you not seen my pics? o _ O

 

[Misty]

My music taste never really meant anything until around 14 when I actually started listening to music - before that, my only encounters with music were video games or the ten songs my parents liked.

I've always been big on video game music, mainly because music fuels my imagination. Movie scores are cool too. As far as real music goes, I've always liked metal, generally fake metal, because... well, because I just do. I'm not indie in the slightest, a lot of stuff I like is mostly from very well-known bands. But I try to keep an open mind to new music and I always grab stuff if it's posted in #smogon :]

 

[gorm]

gonna try to not tldr this

grade school: top 40 basically. i know sooo many 90s songs by heart becuase i exclusively listened to top 40 radio. Its embarassing
grade stupid: weezer/rage aginst the machine lol. Bauhaus and sisters of mercy later (lol minigoth)
high school: uuuh like pixies, arcade fire and Sonic the fuck youth
now: lesse whats on the pod: M.I.A. (yessss), Radiohead, VU, Paul SImon (im an old man lol), Nick Cave (see prev.), Spank Rock (yesss New face of hip hop CALL IT) and still alot of SY+pixies


ALSO THE SOUNDTRACK TO LIFE AQUATIC

 

[gene]

In middle school I mainly listened to Korn and Limp Bizkit because it was popular among my friends. Later, it was more into "pop" and other shit that I hate now but was popular back in 7th/8th grade.

In early high school I was introduced to some indie/alternative and totally dumped my old music taste for that. As an addition, I heard Dream Theater for the first time in my Freshman year in high school and really loved the band, and my love for the band has only increased since. Starting really sophomore year, I have been really into metal, and remain to be so now.

 

[Altmer]

Well, here's basically how my taste went:

until I was about 7 or 8, I just listened to what my parents played often, then I picked up the guitar and explored various pop shit all over the place.
Don't remember specific artists that I was into, I do remember playing Metallica's Nothing Else Matters (I FORGOT HOW TO PLAY THAT STUFF DAMMIT) and 3 Doors Down's Kryptonite. I continued this, but my music interest had kinda faded out when I was 11. I just... listened to stuff and was annoyed by it or not.

When I turned 13, I got my first taste of metal through Linkin Park and Rammstein (I still love these guys.) I also played P.O.D.'s satellite till death. I augmented that with some alternative rock stuff. I did enjoy all this nu-metal crap stuff.

A year or so later, I got into pop punk, the whole Blink 182/Sum 41 thing (lol). I grew out of that quickly, but I still enjoy an older Fall Out Boy tune or two. I must have been 14 or 15 by this point. Basically I had kept some alternative rock influences, some mainstream rock influences, which is just what I was kinda into at this point. But when I turned 15, I started digging metal some more. I got some Nightwish records, some Metallica songs, and also Bad Religion (that's punk I know), Suicidal Tendencies and Damnation A.D. I also played Within Temptation at this point, and I started to explore the realms of the whole symphonic metal thing. I still love Nightwish to death. I also discovered Dream Theater during this period and started listening to Pink Floyd. I also found out about A Perfect Circle and later also Faith No More.

Then came Metallica and Iron Maiden, basically, and I kept Nightwish and Dream Theater around, and some other artists started making bigger and bigger parts of my playlist. I enjoyed In Flames, Dark Tranquillity (yep, Gothenburg-school death metal), and through that I discovered more and more realms of metal. Basically, around a year ago I started buying more and more records and collecting more and more stuff, and in October somewhere I started using my last.fm again. I found Sonata Arctica (second most played artist lately), and kept diversifying my taste, digging strongly into the realm of power metal, putting my Blind Guardian to good use, discovering Iced Earth, Helloween, Gamma Ray... that's what I'm currently digging. I also started playing Megadeth. Basically I've tried to explore more and more genres over the last year, and tried to diversify my tastes. I found Arcturus, Opeth, Darkane, all quite varied acts. I bought Priest and Sabbath and Rush records. I also found Katatonia, which has quickly risen to be one of my favourite artists lately; the stuff I have is not too loud, uses clean vocals, yet has so much atmosphere that I have come to love it. I still have trouble listening to black and death metal though. The vocals just turn me off.

So basically, I listen to about any metal genre that uses clean vocals or not-too-harsh vocals. Mostly power and heavy metal, with the occasional prog act or thrash act thrown in (Dream Theater is my most notable prog band, and actually my most played band anyways), and some other metal acts, some alternative rock acts such as Faith No More, A Perfect Circle, Tool (if you count them as alternative), some punk (Bad Religion, Dead Kennedys). Basically I'm really trying to branch out as much as possible and stop sticking to my tried-and-tested names, you know, your average Maiden and such. Although I still think the oldies and classic metal bands are pretty cool (my friends always tell people to talk to me when we're discussing metal haha)

 

[Kid A]

Before school: All classical...Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven etc. (never knew all their names)

Early grade school: Classic rock...Eagles, Beatles, Stones etc...

Later grade school: Pretty much any rock music MTV put out...Sum 41, Green Day, Treble Charger or whoever the fuck

Late late grade school: Led Zeppelin/ACDC phase

Late late late grade school/early highschool: Pink Floyd/Nirvana phase (interesting combination)

Early high school: Quick transition to alternative/indie...Smashing Pumpkins, Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene (overcast by huge Radiohead phase that would leave a mark as my favourite band of all time)

Middle High School (now): Maintaining the alternative/indie (possible Modest Mouse phase), but with some slight but considerable movement into including more electronic and experimental stuff...also taking much liking to famous movie scores/classical music and some Jazz =o


If this trend continues it looks like I'll be watching MTV again in about 8 years.

 

[Doomsday]

Well, when I was a kid I didn't even like music very much. I remember liking michael jackson and some pearl jam I think because that was what my father heard! Also Psycho Killer from Talking Heads.
By 5th grade or so, I listened to Around the World in the radio, and after weeks trying to figure out who the fuck sang that, I found out that RHCP did and my father bought me Californication, my first album ever!!!!!
By 7th/8th grade I listened to rap and linkin park!!! That includes some really cool portuguese rappers, eminem and already mentioned linkin park.
Around early 9th grade I had discovered the magnificent smogon. After meeting hazerider, I got into SOAD, Metallica, Iron Maiden and still in a Linkin Park phase.
By now, 10th grade (early highschool for you americans), I listen to mostly metal, including Twilightning, Machinae Supremacy, Sonata Arctica, and I kinda went back and started listening to Eminem and Linkin Park again, although considerably less than in last year.

 

[Jackal]

Great Thread

Early Years:

Top 40 Radio + my dads music which is all classic rock. I got lucky and pink floyd was pretty the most played band throughout my childhood.

Grade 6:

Discovered MuchMusic, huge Linkin Park, Green Day, Sum41 etc phaze. Whod din't have this phaze

Grade 7:

Dumped the MuchMusic thing early (thank god) and picked up a guitar. This got me into better music as I realized there is more to music than power chords and I did some searching through my dads CDs (he has tons) so I started playing Pink Floyd and Beatles and such on my own accord, and I noticed Mellon Collie and Californication but didnt touch them.

Then one car ride 1979 came on the radio and i remembered it from my top40 days, and when I heard it was by SP i hurried home and to my delight it was on Mellon Collie. I popped this album in and it really changed my life, at least musically. I could not describe how much I loved Tonight, Tonight (and still do). This album really opened me up to try different and less popular music, as I grew to love songs like Porcelina, Muzzle, etc. I listened to Californication soon after and loved it also.

Grade 8:

Early grade 8 consisted of a Ramones/Nirvana/Pearl Jam/punkinsh phaze that was fun. Also, I had a close friend 2 years older who also liked SP, and after i told him i really liked it he introduced me to 90's Alternative/Indie. I soon grew to love Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, Modest Mouse, Flaming Lips, Pavement, etc, but Smashing Pumpkins remained my favourite band. I bought Siamese Dream and it remains one of my absolute faves to this day. My friend also showed me pitchfork, and from here i managed to get in on all the new "trend" bands, specifically the Canadian ones: Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, DFA1979 (Fuck you glen i want to see them), The Stills, Metric, etc. This really brought me to where I am today, and specifically Arcade Fire and BSS remain as some of my favourite bands today. Other bands I got into include: Interpol, The Strokes, REM, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Grade 9:

Biggest thing really was going to my first concerts, Rush and Interpol. The Rush one made me really respect the music of the 70s and I have since maintained respect for the music, although the only music I actually listen to now more than like once a month is Pink Floyd. The interpol concert really was amazing, I was in awe. Such a small venue, everyone standing near the stage, I could see the sweat on the lead singers face as he angelically sang the opening lines of "Evil".

I got more into indie, finding some bands I liked including the Go! Team, Sufjan Stevens, Xiu Xiu, Decemberists and Wolf Parade. Kind of a slow year, I just really had and still have a LOT of CDs to buy from the bands already know i like.

Grade 10: (Now)

I am starting to accept more types of music, i could be considered to be going into reverse in a sense, but before i was really ONLY INDIE MUSIC IS GOOD. Now I am gaining respect for different styles, although I maintain the mainstream is shit. Stuff that has gotten my attention recently is K-os, Gnarls Barkley, M.I.A, David Bowie, Bjork, GYBE, and even some Jazz. I know this still could be tagged "indie/alternative" but they represent varying sounds contrasting a typical popish song like Pavement or Interpol.

As for where I can go next I don't really know, My musical knowledge is pretty vast for a 10th grader, I have come to terms with all classic rock and can enjoy it, cannot stand most metal/hardcore/etc, I have pretty much beatdown the 90s using pitchforks top 100 albums list, I guess I can expect to try and keep with the exploding indie scene and move into some of the more intelligent hip/hop and gravitate towards some jazz.

I had fun writing this, it's tl;dr but I hope someone read it ;p Also i noticed that most people really found indie/alternative in late highschool/early college, i guess I got lucky being exposed to great music at a young age.

 

[metalScyther]

From my early childhood till about 6th grade, I had no defining taste in music and just listened to what my brothers and sisters listened to: Backstreet Boys, Nsync, Aqua, Chumbawamba, Ace of Base, random pop radio shit like that.

7th grade marked my transition into rock. Linkin Park was my favorite band, and besides maybe a little Sum 41 was pretty much the only band I listened too.

8th grade was more of the same rock except different bands, I became a fan of Trapt, Mudvayne, stuff like that

Freshmen year was more of the same: Disturbed, System of a Down, Korn, Slipknot, etc.

Sophomore year is when I bought my first guitar, and my taste in music forever changed. I instantly became attracted to metal and hard rock. I fucking loved thrash Metallica(still do), Megadeth, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, RATM, Audioslave, etc. all of your staple rock bands. I stopped listening to most of the shitty nu-metal I did before, and started liking better bands.

Junior year, I got really serious about guitar, and my tastes kept changing. I got into one of my favorite bands - RHCP. I heard "otherside" on the radio and was amazed at how good it sounded. Not necessarily heavy or complext, just good. I downloaded all of their albums and have been a huge fan ever since. I also got into more "stoner" music that I still like today - 311, Sublime, and bands like that. I dropped my metal attitude. Today, I hardly like metal. I still blare some old school Metallica and Symphony of Destruction on occasion, and while I do like it, I can't ever see myself taking my music in the metal direction. It's just not for me, I like my music to be more melodic and easy-going.

Senior year was more of the same. I got into real easy listening music. Red Hot Chili Peppers, OAR, Third Eye Blind, 311, and stuff like that. I most recently discovered a somewhat local/statewide band called "Grasshopper Pie" which in my opinion is probably one of the best bands I've ever heard. I'm probably going to write a review for one of their concerts sometime soon.

 

[Ecnemalas]

From about my early childhood to around 11 or 12 I didn't really listen to music much and the only stuff I liked was mainstream pop and stuff. From then on I actually heard an album of some band (it might have been RHCP) and I started to show some interest in music after being drawn in by their still awesome sound. Over the years I developed more music tastes (but not much) and I once again got drawn into mainstream music.

Well when I actually started to post here I read some album reviews and after checking them out and listening to some stuff I really liked what I was hearing. I started out with RHCP and some Dream Theater, but as I read more and more I accumulated a lot of bands, all of which go far and beyond what I originally liked. It's changed a lot and right now I'm into primarily metal, but I doubt that'll stay for long and I'll move onto something else.

 

[Revamparts]

(pre-college)
Spice Girls > Sum 41 > Linkin Park > Fall Out Boy > Red Hot Chili Peppers

(college)
Kurupt > Talib Kweli > RJD2 > Fat Jon > Daft Punk > Aphex Twin > Pendulum

(in between phases)
Nicke Creek > Imogen Heap > John Mayer > Lunasa

 

[Impetus]

Early Years-
I listened to pretty much what my parents listened to, meaning I was into the oldies like The Cascades, The Beatles, The BeeGees, Tom Jones, and other similar artists.

5th/6th Grade-
During this time I got into what my friends were listening to, which was pretty much rap and hip-hop. You know, 50-cent, Eminiem, Tupac, Dr.Dre, and people like that. Didn't last long since I did this for some popularity gain.

7th Grade-
I ditched the hip-hop scene (or at least some of it) and went on to rock. This was greatly influenced by my moving into a new neighborhood rather than school. Audioslave, Hot Hot Heat, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The White Stripes, and Nirvana were some of the first bands I listened to. I'm very happy to have found Audioslave and Hot Hot Heat as they are the two bands that kept me listening to rock.

8th Grade-
Hip-hop has died at my school, and as everyone was just getting into rock, I dug deeper and found another genre within rock called Punk. After discovering Bouncing Souls, Rancid, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Bad Religion, Social Distortion, and others, Punk is what stuck to me until I went to...

9th Grade-
Went to a different school, so different musical flavors. I discovered Ska at this time and I loved it. Bands such as Operation Ivy, Less Than Jake, Suicide Machines, Goldfinger, The Aquabats!, Reel Big Fish, Catch 22, and Streetlight Manifesto, among others were what I listened to. So pretty much I became a Skanker (Ska/Punker, not the other term some of you may think about).

10th Grade (Now)-
I listen to pretty much everthing now since there isn't much I haven't already listened to (I've listened to Death Metal, Visual Kei, Underground Rap, Alternative, Pop, so yea). Anyway, me and my friends (who listen to emo music, but aren't) start up a band and start by playing covers by My American Heart, Fall Out Boy, and Senses Fail (so pretty much emo music), which kinda got me into listening to a kind of music I told myself 2 years ago I would never touch. I also started wearing tight pants which I also told myself I would absolutely NEVER do. Well, I'm still very much into the Ska/Punk scene, but for now I'm listening to emo music and playing in a band that plays emo music. Yep, just a bunch of filipinos posing as emo people =].

 

[Juuka]

Early: Listened to old stuff like my parents listened to.
5/6: R&B bands
7: Hip hop
8: R&B solo artists; rock.

 

[Vagabond Aeon]

Middle school, early high: Mostly country music (I used to be a huge Garth Brooks fan). Little bit of nu metal towards the end (Linkin Park weee) as well as Guns 'N Roses.

Late high/college: My first four CDs were...
Guns 'N Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond
The White Stripes' debut album
Pure Moods (some new age/techno hippie bullshit; used to see it all the time on TV ads. before anyone asks, my mother borrowed it from my aunt and then I guess gave it to me, I later got rid of it)
I'll let you interperet this one however you want.

Got into Sabbath, Maiden, Priest, Metallica, Opeth, Queensryche, Dream Theater, Slayer around this time. Also picked up Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced and some of Bob Dylan's stuff later in this period. Tried to listen to Napalm Death, gave that up because I wanted to rip Order Of The Leech's last track without the huge gap + some sample at the end but didn't know how and I found them hard to listen to anyway. anyone know what that was about by the way?

Present: Rush, Queen, Carpathian Forest, Arcturus, Atheist, Agalloch (thank you Arcturus the member for mentioning those two), Butthole Surfers, My Dying Bride, etc. Stopped listening to thrash around this time; it honestly doesn't do anything for me anymore (well the more well known ones anyway).

Also discovered a couple of indie bands called Puny Human (basically straight out of the 70's hard rock from New York) and Bulletproof Marshmellows (reggae/ska/rock group from Alabama, saw them live a month ago. and a friend has offered to take me to a show up there for his 21st, which is going to be nice :) ) which I really like.

Right this instant: Athiest. fuck me, I forgot I had one of their CDs XD time to go a diggin' on my Creative for the files

 

[Okashi]

err ok. When I was a little kid I listened to tons of crappy pop; I'm not even going to list the bands I listened to. Then, when I was about 10, I started liking some rock and nu-metal. I listened to bands like Green Day and Linkin Park, and I liked them a lot. This lasted maybe two years. Then I discovered metal, and started listening to Iron Maiden. Then, by chance, I heard Led Zeppelin on the radio. I fell in love with them, and then listened to Led Zeppelin so much that I'm surprised I still love them. From there, I started listening to Radiohead and Porcupine Tree/Modest Mouse. Currently I am absolutely mesmerized by The Moon and Anarctica, and may write a review on it if I have the time. That's pretty much where I am now. It's kind of brief, I know, but then again I'm not that old.

 

[DM]

Also i noticed that most people really found indie/alternative in late highschool/early college, i guess I got lucky being exposed to great music at a young age.

Heh, see, when I say I got into emo/indie in high school, keep in mind I'm fucking ancient, so for me that means 1997-ish.

 

[Bal-Sagoth_The_Grim]

Wildly.

When I was in middle school, I basically listened to what others were, as I was desperate to fit in.

But when I went to high school, I started getting into metal, and then by senior year, I got into classical music.

 

[spies]

Nothing, then top 40, discovered indie/alternative in high school, small prog rock/metal phase, went back to alternative (Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Pixies) and I'm now exploring various stuff: metal (Isis and similars mainly), shoegaze, hardcore, screamo, ambient, etc