One day when I was like 9, I heard the Beatles on the radio, and I asked my dad who they were. He told me they were the best band in the world, and I became obsessed. He started giving me their albums in sequential order, and I listened to them - and only them - until I was probably in high school.
No matter what you do, if you're trying to create something new, your environment has a massive impact on you.
The worst enemy of human hope is not brute facts, but men of brains who will not face them.