I grew up with a classical-listening dad that also had an open mind to just about any type of music. He bought me the Star Wars soundtrack in the late 70s, discovered that I had a passing interest in electronic music, so bought me Kosmos by Tomita on LP, lived for 80s pop as a younger child and teen, discovered Vangelis' Direct when I took a behind-the-scenes tour of the only OmniMax (Dome) Theatre that's fully owned by a museum at the old Science Museum of Minnesota (the changed from lease-to-own to pure rental after the SMoM had made their final payment). What I didn't realize was that Vangelis had done Cosmos and, even though I knew of the music for Chariots of Fire and loved it, I guess I didn't realize it was Vangelis at the time. Direct was being played as Muzak and I went straight to their gift shop only to discover that they only had it on tape, so I went to a local CD shop and bought it there (CDs were only a few years old at the time).
The very first CD I owned, my dad gave me with my first CD player for Christmas: Yanni's Keys to Imagination. I still listen to his first three albums regularly.
I didn't appreciate any form of metal until 8th grade. Hell, I saw "U2 Rules" on the bathroom wall and thought of writing "Metal SUCKS!" after it in 7th grade...lol. Oops.
I started the forum Ambient Online and sold it to a friend of mine that was a far better and more proficient composer than I could ever be.
Now, I go from orchestral movie and TV soundtracks to death to melodic or drone ambient (check out the tracks for the MMPO game Eve Online) to 80s pop. I can handle some country, some rap, smatterings of just about anything.
I really, really love folk and Celtic metal. Skyclad is, by far, my favorite, though I only have one of their albums (Wayward Sons of Mother Earth) and used to listen to the singer's previous band, Sabbat.
Thank you for introducing me to Ayreon and a couple of other bands you've posted here. Loving your tastes.