K, don't laugh.....
All the way up to high school, I had next to no direct electronic music influences. It just wasn't represented where I lived, just rock and alternative, so that's what I listened to. I was always into anime (spent much of my early childhood in Japan) and loved arcade games, so I got into anime soundtracks and DDR. I found one of the many PC emulators for DDR and began amassing tracks for it, as well as getting further into J-Pop.
In college, my dorm roommate was into happy hardcore, J-Pop AND DDR, so we had mini-tournaments and shared our music. At this point I was expanding my music horizons in all directions, and started listening to literally every genre. This is around when I discovered The Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers, and from then on 90% of my music has been electronic.
I know, DDR is a LAME way to get into the EDM. But hey, it's a fun arcade game, and the tracks for the emulators include songs from many well-respected artists. Also, most of the J-Pop I listened to has an electronic influence, so the transition was natural.
These days I can't stand happy hardcore. I like trance, psytrance, electropop and house. The other 10% of my library is Korn, Tool, Incubus, and various hip hop. And yes, I have recovered from my DDR days and can now actually dance.
