I wrote a bit about this here, but in short: A friends older brother introduced me to distortion via the song Revolution by the Beatles and it made me want to discover more about distortion and the Beatles. Both would have profound impacts on my life.

Later, after learning how to play the guitar and various other instruments I started writing songs. When I was younger I would write voraciously but the songs never really satisfied me. They all seemed too "safe." Then I saw a documentary about the making of one of my favorite albums Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco*, the documentary is called I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, (below is a bit of it) and it changed me as an artist. In particular one line completely changed the way I approached writing and making music in general. At one point Jeff Tweedy, the chief song writer in the band says that their songs are theirs to "destroy."

That simple sentence was the most liberating thing I had ever heard. I was able to cut an invisible string in my mind that had attached my creativity to a perceived audience. I began writing songs because I had to for me and not because I wanted to please someone/anyone. I could experiment with the recordings of these songs as much as I wanted. I could try new things and if I wanted to "destroy" a pretty little song I wrote, then dammit.... I would. The art was mine and only I determined its worth. It's amazing what a simple little line in a documentary can do. If you've not seen the documentary before, check it out. It's fantastic.