I don't mean your favorites, I mean records/CDs that got you interested in other types of music.

Mine, in chronological order of when I heard them:

Laurie Anderson: Big Science                                                  (1982/Warner Bros.)
A Flock Of Seagulls: Listen                                                      (1983/Jive--Arista)
Depeche Mode: People Are People*                                        (1984/Mute--Sire)
Talking Heads: Remain in Light                                                (1980/Sire)
Ministry: Twitch                                                                    (1985/Sire)
Orchestral Maneuvres in the Dark: Architecture and Morality        (1981/Virgin)
Ultravox: The Collection                                                          (1984/Chrysalis)
Brian Eno: Before & After Science                                            (1977/EG)
Einsturzende Neaubauten: 1/2 Mensch                                    (1983/Some Bizzare)
Shriekback: Oil and Gold                                                          (1985/Island)
Front 242: No Comment                                                        (1985/Play It Again Sam)
Frank Tovey: Snakes and Ladders                                            (1985/Mute--Sire)
Clan of Xymox: Clan of Xymox                                                  (1985/4AD)
Cocteau Twins: The Pink Opaque                                            (1986/4AD)
This Mortal Coil:  Filigree and Shadow                                        (1986/4AD)
Coil: Horse Rotorvator                                                            (1986/Some Bizzare) 
Various artists: Dry Lungs II                                                    (1986/Placebo)
African Head Charge: Off the Beaten Track                                (1986/On-U-Sound)
Negativland: Escape from Noise                                                (1987/SSP)
Cluster: Old Land*                                                                  (1985/Relativity)
The Legendary Pink Dots: Crushed Velvet Apocalypse                (1989/Play It Again Sam)

Horizons - Eddie Rabbitt (1980/Warner Brothers)

Through this album, I realized that not all country music is crap.  I delved furtner into country/pop cross-overs and found some real good ones.  I still can't stand most country music though LOL

Part II

Aphex Twin: Collected Ambient Works* 
Muslimgauze: United States of Islam
The Orb: Blue Room


I'll give it some more thught and come back.

"This is My Truth, Tell Me Yours" by Manic Street Preachers (1998) got me into rock music of the 90s and today.  I had heard their song 'The Masses Against the Classes' and I LOVED IT! so I bought the aforementioned CD and LOVED IT so I bought more of their CDs, and slowly got into other British 90s rock groups like Feeder, Texas, Ocean Colour Scene

The British rock scene of the 90s was wayy better than the American scene.  bands like Green Day, Good Charlotte, etc just don't cut it.  The Brits know how it's done 8)

Not in any particular order, but definitely an strong influence on my music tastes:

Wire – The Ideal Copy
Stevie Wonder – Talking Book
Woodentops – Giant
Dumptruck - Dumptruck
Steel Pulse – Handsworth Revolution
The Cure – Pornography
XTC – Skylarking
Nightmares On Wax – Smokers Delight
Various – Athens, Ga - Inside/Out (movie soundtrack)
Catherine Wheel – Ferment
Charlie Parker – Quintet of the Year
Steely Dan - Aja
The Replacements – Pleased To Meet Me
Swans – Children Of God
Isley Brothers – Go For Your Guns
Nitzer Ebb – That Total Age
The Clash – London Calling
Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Welcome to the Pleasuredome
Ween – The Pod
Barrington Levy – Broader Than Broadway
Morphine – Good
Sly & the Family Stone – Stand!
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
fIREHOSE – If’n
Colourbox – Colourbox
Various – Blue Note (Complete Recordings)
The Jam – Sound Affects
Various – James Brown’s Funky People

Again, not my favorite albums, but some good tunes that turned me on and opened my eyes (ears?) in different directions to new sounds and new directions in music.. I would not be enjoying the tunes I do today without the influence of these albums.

There are lots more, these are the first to come to mind, I’ll list more as I remember them all…. 8)

Blondie: Greatest Hits opened up a HUGE world of music for me: punk/new wave/indie. It all started in 2004....now i like everything from The Stooges to Wire to Jesus & The Mary Chain to The Cure to The Smiths to The B-52's, and it all started with that CD....

janet. by janet jackson influenced me to get into r&b.

Dreamboat Annie by Heart influenced me to get into 70's rock....like Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie....

The Best of Roxy Music influenced me to get into avante garde.

The British rock scene of the 90s was wayy better than the American scene.  bands like Green Day, Good Charlotte, etc just don't cut it.  The Brits know how it's done 8)


i can't believe what charts in Britain (like 'O Superman' by Laurie Anderson), and i'm mean that in the BEST way possible. the Brits have great taste....

I actually have quite a few albums that sorta "bridged the gap" and got me into certain types of music than I otherwise might have.

Even though I'm not much of a traditional metal fan, Slippery When Wet from Bon Jovi did get me into other hair metal bands, which made me more accepting of "harder rock" in general. If it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't have given, say AC/DC a chance.

Almost anything from The Beatles, especially Part 1 of The White Album, opened me up to deeper '60s music or psychedelic pop/rock.

I'll come up with more later.

In the opposite direction from everyone else...

'25 Fabulous Favourites From The Fifties' (K-Tel)

...which, despite having a nice little bit of alliteration in the title, opened my ears to the sounds that your parents/grandparents/possibly your great-grandparents were buying in that decade...

It neatly sidestepped that nasty Rock 'n Roll stuff and concentrated on the ballads and novelties (which before R'nR hit, was about the mainstay of things...)

Being K-Tel, the sound quality was dubious at best, but it was fascinating to look over the big wall of Rock and see what lay behind...and it certainly made me investigate further!

I have yet to compile this list...but from the very first post I saw the number one record that changed my life:
Laurie Anderson: Big Science                                                  (1982/Warner Bros.)

We'll see....gimme a day

This is an awesome question!  It's taken me some time to think these through, and I'm sure I'll have more, but here are a few:

Beatles - 62-66 : started me on my way to becaming a huge Beatles fan (which precipitated my interest in other 60's music in general)
Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy : this one got my interest going in harder Album Rock
Smokey Robinson & Miracles - Anthology : this one kindled my interest in 60's Motown music
Boston - Boston : started my interest in Power Pop/Rock
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Rastaman Vibration : my introduction to Reggae
American Graffiti Soundtrack : helped get me into late 50s rock and roll
Paul Simon - Graceland : got my interest going in World Music and Zydeco

I'll probably have to add more later...    ::)