I wasn’t originally a fan of Moog but rather interested in the Oberheim and EMS gear!
FWIW, I wrote a bigger explanation here but it was wiped out with a stupid key click! 
I’ll fill in the blanks but I’m curious when you knew you needed to get a Moog synth?
basically when I found out what was making all the crazy sounds on the records my dad used to play when I was a kid was this thing called a synthesizer. So I sold a bunch of fx pedals I was using to make my guitar sound like synth, bought an electribe, got bored with the sounds and started to research synths more. I kept coming across one name over and over (moog obviously). Then I got a chance to play with the mf103 at sam ash, I was hooked. I scoured ebay for the most affordable moog I could find, got my micro moog and then realized the quirks of vintage synths 
And spent about as much on repairs and maintenance as I did on the synth it self
Very very common - the price of admission to owning vintage synths
When I first heard Lucky Man and Switched-On Bach–I’m sure lots of folks here have a similar experience. 
About a year later I was fortunate enough to play around in Vladimir Ussachevsky’s lab a time or two. The big Buchla, lots of Moog modules, tape machines, etc. Three years later I was working in a studio that had a Moog modular–I spent many nights on that machine. Then it was working retail music–I sold everything from Satellites to Polymoogs.
I now own a modular and a Source. A forty year love affair with no end in sight. 
Yes, Switched-on Bach changed my life. I attempted to build the various electronics kits, which I found very difficult and disappointing (random tuning, dc on vca output, hum and noise issues and not always my soldering fault). Could never have afforded any kind of synth. Then I forgot about synths altogether for decades. I bought a few midi romplers in the '90s and now am full circle but with brand new commercial analog synths. I can now afford (not easily) a Voyager or full on modular. But it was the sound of switched-on bach that started it all…
BTW I’m not really that interested in the lead sounds of the Voyager. Its the thick multi oscillator sequences with that filter I like. If I played a Voyager in a store without the Moog mystique, I probably would think “only one note?” and walk out. Its the almost modular abilities of the Voyager which seal the deal for me.
Isao Tomita of course.
He was able to squeeze a symphonic orchestra out of a System 55… and combined it with abstract synthetical stuff from the same instrument. Gorgeous. “Snowflakes are Dancing” changed my life.
Carsten
Furher aspects on http://www.analog-monster.de/index_en.html#intro
a friend of mine mentioned that Keith Emerson is playing an instrument called “MOOG SYNTHESIZER” on Tarkus. An instrument which have access to every sound you can imagine or even you cannot imagine. So this was first. Then I was hypnotised by the Luck Man finale which I recorded many times separately from radio stations whenever I could reach the red record button on the tape recorder. And thirdly I was magically attracked by the J.S. Bach model and the wonderful arrangement behind and on the floor of male rectangular structures mixed with female round shapes indicating an infinite amound of power to rule the empire of sound on the Switched-on Bach cover from Wendy Carlos.
I tried Arturia Minimoog V, and it was the first vsti which i couldn’t make ugly
sounds with.
prpellerhead rebirth > Korg Microkorg > Moog Little Phatty
sound!
Bernie Worrell/Parliament Funkadelic hooked me on the Moog sound. When I deceided I wanted to learn synthesis a couple of years back, the little phatty was at the top of the list of high quality entry level synths available. Since then, having played several other synths it amaizes me how perfect the LP was to learn subtractive synthesis on.
The Electric Light Orchestra’s Out of the Blue liner notes in 1977.
manfred mann’s music and being confronted with: first the difficulties to get exactly to the sweetspot of my korg ms20 when tweaking, thereafter finding the borders in thickness of the roland analogs , and finally earning enough money to buy me a multimoog. thereafter it was moog after moog after moog
I remember coming home from school as a lad before anyone else was home, pulling out ELP’s debut LP, and CRANKING Lucky Man. The end solo gives me chills to this day. Then I got eventually got Brain Salad Surgery and the ball really started rolling..
I got a record in highschool called “Commit This To Memory” by Motion City Soundtrack. The inner booklet credited a member of the band for playing the Moog, and I had no idea what it was, but I liked how it sounded, and I thought the name was pretty neat too. So I googled this weird “Moog” thing, and six years later, here I am. Addicted.
My father had a Micro that was given to him that used to sit atop his Rhodes. One day, he programmed the “Jet” preset from the manual and let me hear that and it always sounded awesome when he would play it. I learned the correct pronunciation of Moog early on.
The learning curve associated with Synthesis was such that I waited until I got a bit older before I could stomach the manual. My interests were piqued when I hooked it up to the bassamp and saw the windows and my eyeballs shake. That is when the romantization of the name began for me; my friend and I began to riff on the ideas that it could possible break glass, or that with enough power, crumble mountains. Then it became clear that the walls of Jericho were brought down not with trumpets, but with a Moog.
Obviously we took the romantization a bit to far…as someone on the forum once said “…take man/machine love a bit too far”
I was lucky to have cut my teeth on an instrument with as fine a name as Moog.
Eric
I saw an ad from Radio Shack selling the Concertmate new for $250, half original price. I knew the Moog name from Carlos and Tomita, knew it was obviously a little one but I was surprised I could afford one and get it locally, well I did strike out at the nearest Radio Shack but they found another store that had one for me. So it was both Moog albums and Radio Shack not being able to sell them at full price.
I was hooked after I saw ELP in August of 1972 at Saratoga performing arts center with my older brother. Pictures at an Exhibition and Tarkus live! It doesn’t get better.Emerson was beyond talented back then. By 1974 I was into anything associated with Jan Hammer.The First Seven Days Etc. No one can play Minimoog like that Guy.
In the late 70’s and early 80’s, the strange word “Moog” kept appearing in all the music I listened to. I probably thought it was a type of animal at first. I finally figured out what the thing was. When I eventually started playing in bands, I bought a Model D; it was about 1984. I sure wish I still owned it.
Unless there was another, later version, that I’m not aware of, I believe it is significant to note that Wendy Carlos did not record Switched On Bach. That was WALTER Carlos (before the name+ change).
My sister gave me a copy of the Whole Earth Catalog. Unrelated to anything else listed in the catalog was a Moog Model 55. I thought that was very significant at the time and decided to save the catalog. Somewhere, among boxes of old books stored in the basement waiting for me to finish the library shelves in the office, I believe I still have that catalog - 1972 I think.
A few years later after working at Tektronix for 5 years I decided it was time to merge my three top career interests - electronics, music and self employment. I started a business repairing music equipment in Portland, OR. A couple of music stores were lobbying to get a local Moog warranty station and recommended me to Moog Music. I had been scrambling for just a few short months to get my first business together so when Moog offered to pay transportation and per diem to go to Moog factory training in Buffalo how could I refuse? 34 years later I still have vivid memories of that trip.
I used to have an almost complete collection of Keyboard magazines in the late '80s and early '90s. I couldn’t afford a lot of gear, but I could afford to buy up old back issues for 50 cents a pop at local second hand book stores. That gave me a decent fundamental grounding in what was then considered “obsolete” synthesizer technology (this was back when MIDI was a must on every piece of gear and there was an almost perverse desire to have as few controls on the face of a synth as possible).
To my eyes, the Moog ads in old back issues of those old Keyboard magazine from the '70s were always better than ARP ads. Seriously. It was their graphic design ethos rather than any particular sonic qualities that made Moog more appealing to me. Well, that and ARP seemed to be played by what I then considered to be a rather naff collection of artists, whereas Moog had a bit of cachet.
Full disclosure: since that time my tastes have become significantly more broadminded.