My parents were 21 when I was born ('68) and I grew up listening to The BeAtles, Led Zeppelin, The Stones, James Taylor, Pink Floyd, Jimi, Traffic, etc.

I had a good friend who had an older brother in the Navy and he came back all excited about this new band he discovered and thought they were gonna become really big someday. It was 1975 and that band turned out to be AC/DC. About 4 years later he was home on leave again and had a boot Iron Maiden tape (this was before they had an album out yet).

In the early '80s my first serious girlfriend (well, serious for 7th grade, anyway) always listened to X- Los Angeles, a welcome change of pace after all of that classic rock and metal. I never did become a huge punk fan but certainly listened and learned to appreciate a ton of stuff I probably would have dismissed out of hand if it wasn't for her.