When I was 13 I purchased Tiny Music from a BMG music catalog because I had heard Dead & Bloated on the radio and liked it (yeah probably should have gotten Core instead if that's the song I liked, but hey I was 13 and stupid). I was going through a Metallica phase (much to my mother's displeasure), and I hated the album so I let it sit on a shelf.
About a year later I started taking guitar lessons and the first thing I was taught was the intro to Sex Type Thing. I liked that song anyway, so I finally went out and got Core. I liked it, but still didn't listen to it that much (was still in my Metallica phase).
About a year after that (when I was 15), shortly after my Metallica phase ended, I was getting ready for school one morning with MTV on, and the video for Down came on. The intro immediately grabbed my attention and I stopped what I was doing and sat down and watched it. I loved it. Everything about it. The guitar, the vocals, the man in the video, the energy captured in the concert footage in the video. I was instantly hooked. No. 4 wasn't out yet, but I went out and got it the day it was released; picked up Purple too while I was at it. I also gave Tiny Music another listen and couldn't imagine how I could have hated it before.
For the rest of high school, I would start out my mornings with a bowl of cereal and trip to this site (wasn't it stonetemplepilots.org back then?). I don't think I ever posted on the forum back then, and I still don't much today.. but nearly 9 years later this is still my favorite band. Their music just feels like home... I know that sounds silly.. but I'm sure you guys know what I mean.
