Music makes the World go Round

I looooooooove music and am constantly awed by the effect it holds over me. I mean how boring would this journey be without a soundtrack playing in the background? I think we would all end up going crazy from the lack of connectivity between our souls and what we do/think/feel/say. There are so many times I've relied on music to help me cope with issues, vent anger, or even just express the emotions I'm feeling at that very moment. Music has helped shape my life and I can still recall what I was listening to during each period of my life. I can't remember what I wore two days ago but I can remember being 12 riding in my dad's car to go get a movie at Blockbuster and making him idle the car in the parking lot so I could finish listening to "Jelly Head". Don't judge me on the song (I still secretly love it).
Since about 8th grade my musical preferences have remained rooted pretty solidly in rock, more specifically punk, alt, and classic, but that doesn't mean I don't listen to anything else. I have a major weakness for simple songs consisting of an acoustic guitar and gravely voice. The contrast between the voice and guitar just make me swoon. And then there are days where all I can handle are cheesy pop songs, ala Britney, delivered via Top 40 radio. God help me I don't know why this is. I'm embarrassed that I'm actually admitting something like that. It just goes to show how powerful the cyclical effect of music on mood and vice versa is.
So like I said I love music but I feel lately that I'm stuck in a rut. I want to add some new music to my playlist but I don't even know where to start. Every time I search the itunes store I'm either overwhelmed by the selection or am disappointed to find they don't carry music by the band I'm looking for. I'm also a total ADD music collector, and have many artists with just one song in my song catalogue. I will hear a song I like, look up the band, and then discover that I don't like any of their other songs. I don't mind this and if you have any awesome song suggestions I would love to know them, but I'm really trying to find some awesome bands to get behind. I don't care how big/small they are in the music world all I care about is their sound. So please post your recommendations.

F.Y.I. I hate pretentious (ie too cool for school) bands. Skinny jeans, a psychedelic music video, and Ray Bans do not a good musician make.