That's a good question...and a tough one. I don't think that I can pinpoint any one instance or place in time. With two older brothers, both listening to prog (although Barry was always the bigger music geek and proghead...and I mean that in a good way), I was raised on prog. Some of the first albums that I recall hearing were Yes, Kansas and King Crimson (along with Bowie and Alice Cooper). I remember borrowing Barry's Leftoverture album when I was about 14 or 15, to hear Carry On Wayward Son, and just totally being blown away by the rest of it! I didn't even know what Prog was or that Kansas was Prog. I just knew that I liked it.

Now, having said that, I was a Metalhead before I became a Progger. I spent my teens listening to Sabbath, late Floyd (which I don't consider prog), 80's era Rush (also not prog), Iron Maiden and lots of 80's hair bands. It wasn't until my early 20's when I started to go into some of these bands back catologues and listen to albums like Meddle, WYWH, 2112, Hemispheres, etc. And lots of Yes. Old Genesis came into the picture only about 5 or 6 years ago. And, of course, newer bands like Porky Tree, Spock's Beard, IZZ, Dream Theater, only came into my life in the last three years, since I joined this board.

Although I was listening to it, I don't think that I ever really started defining anything as "progressive rock" until I came here. I never thought of music in terms of genres. It was just "stuff I like" and "stuff I don't like".

In the last year, I've taken a break from prog to focus on expanding my horizons and discovering some of the great Indie bands talked about here. But in the last month I've found myself migrating back to my prog and metal CDs. It's in my blood.