Same for me with regards to music always playing. I work from home most of the time and if not I am in the car and KEXP is almost always the go to. There are some days/times where I might listen to some other stations, but primarily KEXP. And also my main source of new music. When we travel I will listen to songs/albums I have downloaded on the plane where there is more focus. I also walk quite a bit and always have earbuds in. I do like nature and surroundings, if I am in nature on a hike, but around town it's more to engage in music and drown out traffic. I used to frequently lay on my bed or the floor and just absorb full albums and liner notes, the whole thing and sadly that just doesn't happen very often. I do have turntable and some vinyl, but it's not easily accessible, so it sits far too often.

I have an older brother and he definitely influenced my early listening. Our grandma always gave us Tower Records gift cards, so when we would go visit in the San Francisco area we'd go shopping. But I was young enough, I just gave him mine and let him buy whatever, similar to your examples above. Some that stuck more than others were Boston, Molly Hatchet and then Tom Petty. The Cars were the band that changed everyting for me. I quickly vered from his classic rock styles and move in a completely different direction. By high school I was listening to punk, reggae (another influence from my brother) some ska and post punk, as well as the radio we were stuck with (Madonna, etc). My taste is pretty varied now, but KEXP is my big brother, guiding a lot of my music for the last 22 years. Though I skip over to country on KCBS on Sunday mornings before Vandy comes on. I learned to like rockabilly, also in high school and still like some good honky tonk country.

My first band was the Clash at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz, CA in '81. My friend (wasn't that great of a friend, but got me to go) and I rode our bikes there. We sat in the seats and he wanted to go down on the floor, but we never did for whatever reason. He may have given me a beer!? International Clash Day happens on my birthday, which John must have planned for me! 😅