How did you first find out about your favourite band(s) ?

[sjpolyguy]

I don't really have a single favorite band/artist, I have a bunch of favorite bands/artists.  I have a really difficult time deciding what criteria I should use to determine which one is my highest rated favorite.  Is it the one with the most favorites? (that favors prolific bands)  Is it the one with the highest percentage of favorite songs? (that favors groups that have a sound I like but don't experiment much) Etc...

I did a ranking of artists by different methods and then did an average over all of the ratings and one band stood out as a top band, that is 100 Watt Smile.  100 Watt Smile was a bay area band put together by Carrie Bradley of Ed's Redeeming Qualities and The Breeders.  They broke up quite a while back, but I still love most of the songs off of the two albums they put out.

• How old were you when you first found them?
  I was probably between 40 and 42
  
• What were the circumstances in which you found hem?
  I'm pretty sure I used to see them listed in the concert listings for the San Francisco area and had wondered about them.  I definitely saw them on the old mp3.com website and downloaded their songs from there.  I may or may not have heard them before that, but I'm not sure.
  
• Are there any special people connected with the find ?
  Nope, it was a self motivated and isolated find.
  
• What attracted you to the band?
  I love Carrie Bradley's vocals, she writes interesting and intelligent lyrics that often have clever wordplay, some of the songs feature Carrie on violin and I love strings in rock/pop and I like the sound of their songs, it's a solid rocking sound.
  
• How has your admiration for the band developed over the years ?
  It hasn't really changed.  I've listened to them regularly enough to so that I know them rather well, but occasionally I'll notice something I haven't noticed before and will have yet another reason to love them.
  
• What is the story of your exploration of their catalogue: Did you queue to get the releases on their day of issue/
  They have never been popular enough so that they got any coverage, so I relied on learning what they were up to when seeing them live.  As far as I know they didn't have a fan club or email list, but I might just have missed it.
  
• Have you sen them live ? If so how often and what were your impressions?
  I saw them live three times and loved them every time.  They had great stage presence, yet were very approachable.  They also seemed very down to earth.
  
• Are there any other anecdotes you can share about them.
  The last time I saw them was during a free afternoon 4th of July show at The Cannery in San Francisco to a very disinterested audience.  I was loving it because it was almost like a personal concert, but I felt bad that they didn't have more interested audience members.
  
• How do you feel about them today , have you attitudes changed ?
  I love them as much as I always have and really miss them.  I would have liked to see how they evolved.