Mr. Bungle had been in my midst all of my life, and even though it took me five or so years after REALLY listening to music at age 9 did I start to dive into Frank Zappa, Fantomas, etc. Zappa's Hot Rats led me to Captain Beefheart, Beefheart truly opened my eyes to experimentation. I then found Zorn, This Heat, Albert Ayler, Derek Bailey, Zu, Marc Ribot, etc. And thank god for that, or else I would be listening to Nickelback crap.

What got me into experimental music was listening to Pink Floyd's A momentary lapse of reason. I was 15, and I was traveling through the Swiss Alps - I felt so alive.

Once you find Zorn, there's no return.

I think philosophy got me into avant garde music. I've always been philosophical and my ideas led me to become interested in musical expression that was irrational and or pushing the boundaries. The idea of avant garde and experamental music for me represents man's ancient past and distant future.

Mine was the most cliche route going... The Velvet Underground & Nico. I was stood there, in HMV, torn between investing in Ikara Colt's Modern Apprentice and an album with a banana on the front. That was essentially all I had to base my decision on. I then decided I wasn't that keen on Ikara Colt any way.

A banana changed my life.

^^yup

i still am getting into a lot of "weird" music - mostly Jap-noise

I'm not sure I could claim to be into avant-garde or experimental. I certainly like to think I'm open to most styles of music. At this stage in my life though I think I'm pretty susceptible to stress and I can find a lot of experimental music rather disquieting or unsettling so I really need to be in the mood. I tend to follow musical tangents when I am inspired by a particular album or artist. If I'm following a particular artist I try to keep an open mind even when they take a direction I'm not so comfortable with.

Well this is probably going to sound lame, but Revolution 9 off the Beatles White Album.

It gave me this moment of realization that all the boundaries and limitations I thought music artists had were pretty much BS and that I should be more open minded. I don't really seek out experimental music but every once in a while I find stuff that really speaks to me. And it feels great.

That's not lame, in fact that's a pretty reasonable entry point as The Beatles are sometimes the very early bands for teenagers to get into, so it would be obvious that it's your first. It's also pretty ahead of its time in some ways, and while other big name bands like The Velvet Underground were doing some strange things at the same time, to hear it from a band like The Beatles, who were always pretty accessible, just shows the variance in music at that time that we don't always see today.