Wendy Carlos’ ‘Switched-On Bach’ turned synthesizers from a tool of avantgarde experimentalists into a mainstream instrument.

Kraftwerk’s ‘Autobahn’ is an obvious one.

Lou Reed’s ‘Metal Machine Music’ was trashed on release by critics, and returned en masse by the buyers, but it presaged industrial and noise music, and possibly noise-rock.

Then again, though industrial music properly started with live performances, if you wanted to revisit its roots, you’d listen to Throbbing Gristle’s ‘The Second Annual Report’ or the more warmly received ‘D.o.A: The Third and Final Report’.

The ‘No New York’ compilation was exemplary of the ‘no wave’ experimental jazz-rock of the downtown NYC scene and gave the genre its name.

Liaisons Dangereuses’ self-titled album was the progenitor of ebm, e.g. with the track ‘Los niños del parque’.

This Mortal Coil’s ‘It’ll End in Tears’ ‘set the template’ for dream pop, although the sound itself was already around in the work of Cocteau Twins and the ethereal wave movement.

The Winstons’ 1969 track ‘Amen, Brother’ didn’t start anything itself, but the ‘Amen break’ is one of the most sampled in history, beginning with the 80s breakbeat and with jungle, drum-and-bass and breakcore predominantly built on the sample.

Napalm Death’s ‘Scum’ is the origin of grindcore.

John Zorn’s ‘Naked City’ is a landmark in jazz-fusion: although the concept existed before, no one mixed jazz with other genres so aggressively outside of free-jazz. (Though arguably the band Massacre anticipated Zorn’s approach.)

The Prodigy’s ‘Experience’ is said to have birthed edm albums as a concept:

Moby credited ‘Experience’ with changing his perception about dance albums; previously he felt that “dance albums had always failed […] because they didn’t work over the full length of the record. Mostly they were singles collections which was exactly what I didn’t want to do,” and noted that ‘Experience’ “impressed me because they’d managed to create a full listening experience which encompassed various styles. This was the kind of vision I had for my debut album.”

The ‘Artificial Intelligence’ compilation on Warp started idm.

‘Wipeout’‘s electronic soundtrack, along with its acid visuals and nightclub-oriented promotion (by Designers Republic) was a big factor in targeting the first PlayStation to college-age people, instead of kids as it was with previous consoles. This shifted the console market from kids’ toys to entertainment for everyone.

Therion properly invented symphonic metal around ‘Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas’ / ‘Lepaca Kliffoth’ / ‘Theli’.

The ‘Hotline Miami’ soundtrack played a large role in the popularity of synthwave and the 2010s revival of associated genres like darkwave and ebm.

If you’re into edm, you might want to check out Ishkur’s Guide to Electronic Music for various branching points.

Great list. I’m a bit confused by the Hotline Miami/post-punk bit though. By the time the game comes out we’d just had a decade of post-punk revival bands with great albums and even some level of mainstream success. Bands like Interpol, the Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the Killers.

I’m referring rather to what is popularly known as ‘doomer music’, which includes coldwave, some darkwave, and post-punk, and to my knowledge emerged as a meme around mid-2010s. Netlabels like Detriti Records and Russian post-punk and online places like Harakiri Diat were cranking out both fresh gloomy music and some classic 80s-style sound. Dark Entries Records reissued some cool stuff from way back in the day.

Personally I’m unmoved by most indie-adjacent rock, but getting into modern underground-ish post-punk and darkwave really paid off, even though I was rather late to the party.

Check out e.g. toska po domu, My friend tape recorder, Dirty Beaches, Artificial intelligence created by a smart creature, Karl Kave, to some extent margenrot, and not least Glintshake. And Filmmaker for the company.