To know a little better about your musical background, I'd be curious to know about your musical background.
The qustion I'd like to ask you first is : what kind of records were played at home when you were growing up ?

My parents were music lovers, not as much as I though.
My dad has a great jazz/blues collection (mostly pre-1965), not so big but high quality and old vinyls : Miles (first period), Cannonball Aderley, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Leadbelly, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, and an original 45 rpm of "What'd I say"
Traditional French chanson : Brel, Brassens, Vian, Piaf
And tons of classical, his favorite being Bach.
But no rock.
That explains a lot of my musical tastes.
Music is probably the only thing I've in common with my father.
I have 2 older sisters. When I was 5, an uncle gave one of them "Tea for the Tillerman" by Cat Stevens, which was the first rock album I ever had at home.
Then my older sister had a brief interest in folk/rock, resulting in the purchese of Simon & Garfunkel Live album at Central Park, "The River" and (nothing to do with folk-rock), "Scary Monsters".
After that I got old enough (10 or 11) to buy my own records.
First album : "Back in Black".
Thtat's why i love doing this '80s poll : That was the time I started buying music.

I was born in 1976.
My father was a Rolling Stone fan and my mother a Beatles fan.
During the 5 first years of my life, I was more influenced by my mother. The first records I listened to and loved were :
The Beatles - "1962-1966"
The Beatles - "Ballads" (a compilation of ballads, very McCartneyish, with the best cover art I've ever seen. I spent hours and hours to listen to the album while looking at the cover and let my child imagination work).
Wings - "Greatest"

There was also some good vynil singles my parents baught and that I loved :
Gerry rafferty - "Baker street" (amazing guitar solo ! I still like to hear that song today)
Some Bee Gees singles(disco period)
Sniff'n'the Tears - "Driver's seat"
Kate Bush - "Babooshka"

From 1982 to 1988, I was more influenced by my sister who is 7 years olders than me. She listened to all the typical '80s hit-parade and was a huge fan of Wham!

As a young innocent and influenciable child, I follow her music taste (Geoerge Michael, Michael Jackson, Spandau Ballet, Bronski Beat, Depeche Mode, Alphaville, ...).
At this time, I enjoyed to see the "Top 50" on TV (on Canal+ channel) and to listen to the radio NRJ.
In 1984, my mother offered me my first single : "Wild boys" by Duran Duran. I found the song great sounding and the band looked so wild, so rebel.
One year later : "Boys don't cry" by The Cure
I loved it !
In 1988, a friend of my sister offered her the album "Kick" by INXS. I think I have more listened to it and loved it than my sister did. I was 12 and this album was a real musical shock for me. I probably listened to it thousand of times in a single year.
1989-1991 (my first college years) : the '80s and their typical sound were over. I listened to more adult soft pop-rock (Phil Collins, Supertramp, Dire Straits).
1992 : I was 16 and as almosteverybody I fell into the grunge wave (Nirvana - "Nevermind") and some hard-metal albums of that time like Metallica - "Black album" and Guns'n'Roses - "Use your illusion I&II".
"November rain" became my favourite song of all-time.
1993 : the year where all the things really started for me. I heard "Cannonball" by The Breeders. An instant schock. The first I listen and love an "Indie" thing that was going to define my future love for non-commercial music.
Years after, I fell into the britpop wave (a huge fan of Oasis of the little bands that have emerged at that time) until 1997's "OK Computer". I've never heard an album like that, the greatest piece of my music ever recorded. I can't describe all the emotions this album gave me.
Late 90's-early '00s : Under the influence of the magazines I read (Les Inrocks, Magic!) I listened a lot of rock/indie stuff.
During the last 4-5 years, fed up with the buzz, fashioned-music bands, I stop listening to the radio, stop purchasing magazines. My bible is now RateYourMusic and Last.fm that made me discover more fantastic music in 4 years than the others media did during the 27 first years of my life. I've returned to
what I really like in music : harmony pop, power-pop, some singer-songwriters.
That's the story of my life (musical life)

I really should re-read myself before posting.
Sorry for that stupid first sentence

I was born in 1980, and I got interested in music very early. When I was 5 I learned to read and write, so that I could write my own hit lists. There was a program on the radio called Ti i Skuddet (meaning something like "Hot Ten"), which I was really in to. I used to tape it every week, and I also, as mentioned, made my own lists.

The music I listened to was mainly regular pop and rock, favorites being Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi and Norwegian rock bands Da Vinci and Return.

My mother listened a lot to artists such as Billy Joel, Joe Dassin and Leonard Cohen. I wasn't really into that then. My father isn't interested in popular music at all, and not really classical music either, but I've heard him play some.

I've got two older sisters, but they probably didn't have much to do with my music taste. The oldest one listened to Wham, Duran Duran, Limahl and stuff like that, while the youngest one loved Europe (she had a big crush on Joey Tempest) and Carola. She had a thing for the Swedish, I guess.

That's about it. I'm a self made man, so to say.

I was born 1980
Parents: Spanish TV & Mexican movies were main source.
Oldest Sister: 80s r&b and pop, Los Bukis, Menudo, Vicente Fernandez
Older Brothers: 80s rap
Older Sister: early 90s r&b
I grew up living next to a community center where there was jazz & singing going on all the time.
I can't leave out TV show theme songs & even commercials for late 70s music.
I didn't have my own radio until I was 13, and the first music I bought was New Edition's Greatest Hits when I was 16.

Very interesting
Where are you from Georgie ? I think you didn't post in the geo/demographic thread

My dad's really into classic rock, but he didn't really play it for me when I was a kid. All I remember is this 1954-1965 R&B collection with one CD per year that I liked, but I didn't listen to it very often.

My mother isn't really into music, but she likes folk.

My parents' tastes didn't really influence mine until I was like 19 and asked my father to start getting great albums from the 60s for me for birthdays and Christmas.

Nah my parents don't really know anything about music - all this discovering,it was mostly by myself. And I guess I wasn't very interested in music for many years - I don't think I bought any albums until about 2000(Red Hot Chillis). Not until the end of 2001 did I discover 'classic' music(starting with a Queen box set) - I guess I've bought about 500 cds since then...

I am a first-generation rock fan in my family. My mom and dad were just a bit too old for the Elvis popularity and later the Beatles. They like bluegrass (which might explain a lot about my taste), classical, opera, and 70's pop like The Carpenters, Gordon Lightfoot.

When I first discovered The Who as a kid, which was the first band I really loved, it was a bit disconcerting for my parents who couldn't really wrap their mind around the instrument smashing (they were "over 30" in the late 1960s), but they were pretty cool about it, since they let me drive my friends in the family station wagon to go see The Who at the local stadium when I was 16.

I think the music you grow up with has a big effect on your tastes. I'm convinced that all the bluegrass I heard made me like Hank and Cash when I discovered them in my late teens.