Things Falling Apart is definitely an awesome NIN single. Better than The Perfect Drug Versions in my opinion.

I'm not sure what the first electronic song I ever heard was, but Technotronic was the first electronic group I got into. I didn't keep up with electronic music very much, but when the Chemical Brothers released Dig Your Own Hole I was listening to nothing but electronic music. Even though I listened to tons of different groups my interest in electronic music faded with the Chemical Brothers venture into a more classic techno sound.

the life of rock and roll is seen presently in Jack and Meg White.

rock and roll is alive thanks to the million of die hard metalheads around the world. everything else is fashion.

I agree with ___________, the most impressive, original, creative rock-oriented music currently being made is in the extreme/progressive metal styles, although there's still some life in alternative/experimental/indie circles as well...

...then of course, are the many older groups/artists still releasing vital music. There just haven't been many "new" rock artists with anything to say artistically...

I was drawn to synth-pop in the early '80s. The first tier was British artists with hits on Top 40 radio--Gary Numan, Human League, Soft Cell, A Flock of Seagulls, Ultravox, Men Without Hats, Eurythmics, New Order, etc.
I didn't choose the artists because they used synths, but because they sounded cool to me. They deviated from the radio pop options at the time--disco, hard rock, or soft rock.

And then there was Depeche Mode. DM used a huge variety of electronic and electroacoustic sounds in the early days. The DM remixes stretched into pure experimentation.

Then came the industrial and dance artists such as Cabaret Voltaire, Front 242, Clan of Xymox, Cocteau Twins, E. Neubauten, Coil, Skinny Puppy, and so forth.

Somewhere in between I discovered older electronic popular music, such as Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, W. Carlos, Synergy, Cluster, etc.

"Techno" initially turned me off in its early incarnations. I have always thought House and Trance were boring. In the '90s I got interested in more of the drum & bass, jungle, downtempo, and ambient styles. I especially liked The Orb, Aphex Twin, Orbital, Future Sound of London, Muslimgauze, Autechre, Mu-ziq, and Seefeel.

My current passion for electroacoustic music developed as artists such as Francis Dhomont, Robert Normandeau, Jackson Mac Low, Paul Lansky, Maggi Payne, and Iannis Xenakis got sent as promos along with other electronica to my radio station in the mid-'90s.

Comparitively, it seems I'm pretty new to the electronic schtick then most of you. I'd always kind of liked it, but never really got into it until after hearing Juno Reactor and Don Davis - Mona Lisa Overdrive, in Revolutions. Downloaded that, thought it was cool, investigated some of their other material. Most of it was just marginal, aside from Komit, Fell The Universe, Pistolero, and Rotorblade. That's where the internet came in, and I started hitting music forums like this one, reading good reviews, downloading several different artists to test the water, and taking reccomendations from friends and forums. Hell, I discovered Boards of Canada here, thanks much. From then on out, I've been listening to BoC, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Orbital, and several others.

that's good to hear! check out Fold on Binemusic.

As far as rock and roll being dead, I still love bands like Muse, Sigur Ros etc. Music is music be it on a computer, a guitar or a breadboard. There's no need to discriminate.

i got into this shite by a simple accident.
i wanted to record on my vcr this yo la tengo gig, and what i got instead were this weird looking guys talking crap about their music (vladislav delay, mainly) and doing some weird shit on them laptops while stroking them chins.

<...a few weeks afterwards...>

zimske orders the new lesser, matmos and cex album.
the rest is historee.

<... more weeks pass...>

zimske catches up with good ole classics of ze genre.

<... months have passed by now...>

zimske is mesmerized by the stuff he keeps hearing.

<... nowadays....>

man. i keep thinking, where did it got me? well. i still love it. and mostly listen to it.
but for crying out loud, someone should whack that faction guy on the back of the head and destroy his laptop with it. disgraceful album.

[btw. keef. not only is 'betty swollocks' ace, much of the album is, as well. but 'betty' is the acest. cheers!]

as well all know, music is organized sound--no matter what it is.