Musically inclined

Did you ever wonder why you listen to the music that you do? How a certain song can bring you back to an exact moment in your life? Can you hear a song from beginning to end in your head as if it were being played on a CD (or record, or dare I say cassette tape or 8-track)?
I was thinking recently after a conversation with one of my male friends about music, how did I find out about different groups? Let's take a looksie...
I grew up listening to the radio. This was AMJAMS people. There was country, disco, rock and roll, OLDIES (you know stuff MY parents grew up with), and at my grandparents house there was Gospel.
I used to dance in my living room to 8 tracks of "oldies" music. I had a dance routine that I made up for each song, and it usually had to do with this old oriental rug that we had at the time. It was probably a 4'x5' rectangle. I remember it was light blue and I would "Stroll" along the edges...
Billy Joel has been and will ALWAYS be my favorite. I remember listening to records with the next door neighbor DIANE (who I guess I wanted to be called Diane after, but don't call me that now if you want to live).
As I got older, we would listen to American Top 40 on the way to and from church. I used to get "Song Lyrics" magazine and learn to sing along with all of the songs. 
I always listened to country too, even though it wasn't "cool". But Barbara Mandrell understood that I was country when country wasn't cool. I loved variety shows, especially Donny and Marie, and any Osmond family show. Let's not get into tv right now...
I always listened to the radio. Mostly top 40 because that's what I was familiar with. My sister introduced me to Depeche Mode and Violent Femmes. I still have the tape that has The Alarm on the one side, but I don't think that I ever listened to it.
High school~ I had a best guy friend in a band, SUB-ZERO, I don't want to insult them but I can't remember if they were supposed to be speed or death metal? Anyway, I'd be the girl in the pink outfit while everyone else wore black. But I LOVED my Anthrax "Among the Living" tape. 
In college, I was introduced to NIN and Sisters of Mercy by my first roommate... Still listened to top 40, and country( hello Shania Twain!) mixed in with a little techno and some hip-hop. Don't forget my former fellow choir member's band- Rusted Root...
My first memory of listening to Sublime was when Ja (former boyfriend's brother) was driving me somewhere around Cleveland.  Oh how I LOVED being introduced to what I was told was SKA.
Thank you Mighty Mighty Boss tones...
 After 9/11 I ONLY listened to country. for awhile. At least a year.
Well, whatever boy I liked at the time was how I learned about music... Of course, my female friends played a BIG part as well... I might not have ever learned about Wolfsheim, or Sophie Ellis Baxter, learned how to HEAD BANG correctly to the Smithereens, or there's this one girl who introduced me to a local Chicago band that I can't say enough about...

Don't get me started on Vivian Green's " love story" or Norah Jones...
Nowadays? I'm still listening to all of that... less on country now. My favorite cd's that are on repeat in my car... Adele "21" (best new female cd since either Norah Jones or Vivian Green), Abba "Gold", and of course Otter Petter "Nice night for a knife fight"...
But I've always wondered how people found this other music. Who decides what band is the hip, underground, cool new thing? Maybe I'll never know, or maybe I'll be apart of the next big thing... I am in a band you know... LMAO!