My parents listened to Neil Diamond and Bob Denver. I didn’t like it. My sister listened to classic rock that I was too young to appreciate. I thought it was weird. I assumed I just didn’t like music. I felt kind of abnormal, because “everyone” liked music, but oh well, right?

One day my best friend told me I needed to listen to a new album that had just been released that week - Hysteria by Def Leppard (laughably dated, I know, but it was huge in 1987). I didn’t even have a Walkman, so he let me borrow his. I LOVED IT. For the first time in my life, I was listening to music that I actually liked. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it changed my life.

Turns out, all I needed was a simple, accessible introduction to music that targeted me. It wasn’t long before I was able to appreciate my sister’s “weird” classic rock, and I found a Queen album in my parents terrible record collection. I was on my way!