One of the issues these days is the sheer amount of music out there to be listened to. There are more bands than one could ever hope to explore.
I feel that music is the art which can best express the emotions which flow within us. It conveys something bigger than it is.
Once you have a basic grasp of the theories underlying music, you can pretty much pick up any instrument you want.
I try to avoid categorizing music as much as I can, though. Everyone steals so much from everyone else these days, the lines between genres are very washed-out.
Every musician, I guess, wants to alter the world to his or her taste in some fashion... That's part of why I write music.