Having been born in 1970, I couldn't have been born at a better time for music. My mother was hip and liked The Beatles, The Doors. Etc. But she also loved classical, and would take me and my older brother to the philharmonic. I started playing cello. My brother, 4 years older, was big into metal by the time I was 10. Ozzy, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Zeppelin. But, at the same time, loved pop. The Cure, Roxy Music, Depeche Mode, you name it. I grew up listening to it ALL. Then, a few years later, he hands me a cassette by The Smiths. That was it. Not that I 'checked out' entirely because different music was played daily in my home, but by the time The Queen Is Dead came out, Morrissey was all I wanted, all I needed, and all I listened to. After seeing The Smiths live in 1986 at Irvine Meadow California, a girlfriend of mine asked me..."Do you think you'd be the same person if you weren't so into The Smiths & Morrissey"? -(by this time of course I was looked at as a sullen, lonely, loner who lived, (just barely), for death, quiet and solitude, and black on the inside & out. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. I loved and understood the music and what Morrissey was expressing, and it made me feel great.
By the way. My answer to her question...."I'm not into The Smiths & Morrissey. The Smiths & Morrissey are into me".