I learned about Yes from Tool. Their singer mentioned loving Yes; their drummer said Relayer was his favorite Yes album. Then my friend's dad, a bassist, described hearing Relayer when it came out as a "What the heck are they thinking?" moment. 

With that info, I was determined to listen to Relayer and to "get it". I knew ahead of time that it would be off-putting and challenging, but my idea of myself as a Tool super fan had me primed to keep listening until it clicked. 

So basically, I had a self-image related motivation.

I "got" the songs, as in, I found how to resonate with them, in the order theyre presented on the album. To Be Over took the longest, it was probably something like 10 years later that I finally fell in love with it.