I knew of NIN in the 90's but hadn't actually heard any songs or know anything about it. When I was that perfect age of "almost in High School" my sister (via her at the time boyfriend) played WITT and I fucking loved it. Not too long after, Napster became a thing and "too young for a job but no allowance" me turned to downloading. Of course I got a few random not-NIN songs (like Danny's remix of Symphony of Destruction) but got a good enough sampling to have a decent burned cd to listen to in school. By the time I was able to start buying cds, AATCHB came out, I saw what they're like live, and was SO UPSET that I had missed the opportunity to see them (since I thought that was it). I think I probably watched that DVD more than I listened to any of the cds at that point (side note: AATCHB is in my husband's top 3 NIN releases) and I spent the next few years buying the entire catalog... then nin.com started updating with talk of new music. And then the hidden clips of WT songs started. THTF was the first release I was able to get the night it came out, and I've gotten everything at release ever since.
I'm still mad I missed the Fragility tour, since it's my favorite album, but at least they kept touring.


But since Weird Al was my fav musician before that (because the guy is fucking awesome), technically Germs was my first "taste" of NIN. Seeing that one live was great.