Boards
Gateway artists
After David Bowie died a lot of obituaries mentioned the fact that he introduced then-obscure artists such as the Velvets, Iggy, Kraftwerk etc to a more mainstream audience.
Which of your favourite artists have introduced you to loads of other music you wouldn't have otherwise heard? For me it's:
New Order - was a teenage synthpop fan and hated anything with guitars on principle until Low-Life came out. "Sunrise" in particular opened my mind to guitar music & from there it was a short leap to the Smiths, Cure etc
Marc Almond - introduced me to the VU, Scott Walker and Jacques Brel
Nick Cave - found myself listening to Kicking Against the Pricks and realised to my horror I was enjoying what is essentially a country record, & from there investigated Johnny Cash, Jimmy Webb and Glenn Campbell