I think I most often serve this purpose for other people, in fact, one of my friends said yesterday that I was a "pioneer" for taking it upon myself to discover so much interesting music through alternative means. My parents don't have interesting tastes, and I never had any older siblings or anything like that, so I guess I did pave my own path in that sense, but it would have been nearly impossible without the internet. Thanks, internet! Aside from that, there have been quite a few bands that friends have turned me on to: Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Skinny Puppy, Pain of Salvation, Opeth, Anathema, Boards of Canada, the list goes on.
