A guy I knew my Senior year of High School who was mentally ill (Seriously. He should have been on meds, but that wasn't common at the time), and he participated in all kinds of bad behavior (He recklessly put both our lives at risk on one occasion, the last time I would get in a car with him.). But one of them I couldn't resist taking advantage of; he would boost armfulls of LP's from the drug and variety stores that sold them back then. He invited me to pick out a bunch I wanted, which I did (Yes, I'm ashamed.). He then went into the store and brought them out under his jacket (He was fearless). He brought out a stack of LP's all right, but it was not the stack I had assembled!
Amongst the LP's he boosted was The Beach Boys Smiley Smile album. It had been years since I heard one of their albums, having lost interest in them after 1964's All Summer Long. They had become extremely unfashionable in the time of Cream, Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, the doors, etc., but I listened to it anyway. Holy sh*t, what the H*ll is this?! My little teenage mind was blown!! I had by then heard some very strange music, but this was truly revolutionary, unlike anything I had heard (I wouldn't hear Stravinsky and Penderecki for a few more years ;-). So began my years-long obsession with the Brian Wilson/Smile saga.
Next: I read a quote from Merle Haggard in praise of Iris Dement, but that in no way prepared me for what I would hear when I listened to her My Life, an album that changed my life. I was left speechless, an emotional wreck. My God, this is what it's all about. She is as good as Pop (non-Classical) music gets.