What is "R&B" music, and its genre?

As an Indian, how and why did you start liking Western Music, specifically to that genre of music, most usually referred to as Rock Music?

• I was born in 1991. The first time I ever heard a rock music piece, was the remix version of "Points of Authority" by Linkin Park on Cartoon Network. Out of curiosity, I requested my mother  to buy me a cassette. In those days, where as any Indian Music cassette would cost around Rs. 50-60, an English Music cassette would cost somewhere around Rs 125-150, minimum. So I bought just one. Of course, later on I would borrow CDs containing pirated mp3s, having a larger number of songs, but also by many different artists. This was how I had my exposure. Had it not been for the internet, and the technology of modern computer software, would we have had the same level and depth of exposure to Western Music?

• Answer:

  My first encounter with Rock music was, like with many of our generation, Linkin Park , specifically "Numb" and was very impressed with this new genre of music that I had previously never been exposed to, apart from a few classics from Queen and Pink Floyd. With this newfound vigor I searched over the internet for similar artists and remained fascinated by the music for some time. This all was easily forgotten by the onslaught of coaching classes and their horrors. Then came college and I find a sudden freedom and zeal to watch movies. One fine day I come across this wonderful movie "Vanilla Sky" and its brilliant soundtrack captures my imagination and am very impressed by a few particular tracks . So I get hold of the entire soundtrack from the Internet and amazingly I find all the tracks of my liking to be of an indie Icelandic ambient rock band called "Sigur Rós". That gets me hooked on YouTube to listen to their discography and am left spellbound and speechless. Its nothing like I have ever heard before - angelic ! , further research reveals that the lyrics are in a language called "Hopelandic" that have no particular meaning and are meant for each listener to have a meaning of their own. And to this date I am hooked to Sigur Ros and ambient rock. Subsequently I developed a taste for the classics like Pink Floyd and other british rock bands. But Sigur Rós shall always remain my first love.