I'd say Can.
It was the first time I found music that sounded relatively normal superficially, but if you scratched the surface there was pure, otherworldly, crazy magic, completely different from anything else.

Love that band!

As a kid, I didn't really think about music, I just listened to it. Queen was the first band to catch my interest for real, but I still didn't look for more bands. I just thought there was Queen, and then there was the rest - it didn't occur to me that there could be more good bands out there. It probably wasn't until I heard Metallica on a jukebox in the longest bar in the Czech Republic (sic) as a young teen, that I started opening my eyes and ears and began buying music and exploring on my own.

Oh, and as far as the last six months or so, Mondo has been the man for teaching me about good music. He is the wind beneath my wings.

Did you ever tell him he's your hero, that he's everything you wish you could be?

I thought the dick pics I PMed him implied that.

Captain Beefheart and Ornette Coleman.... both got me hooked on avant garde and jazz

:drummer:

TMR had such a huge influence on me in terms of appreciating avant garde music, but I'd say that Zappa and Mr. Bungle laid the groundwork for that. Jazz is a little less clear for me, but Zorn and Ayler were a couple of my early loves.

I love Ayler but he is just pure avant garde. I think Zorn is very avant garde too. Ornette Coleman is avant garde but by appreciating The Shape of Jazz to Come not only made me appreciate avant garde/free Jazz but also Jazz in general.

The soundtrack to Jesus Christ Superstar. Raw, angry, gutsy rock. Music lover for life...end of story.